The Jaguars believed they had to make a move. In the first round of the draft back in April, the chic pick to mount a serious bid for the Super Bowl knew it had one glaring void on its roster, a void that needed to be filled for the Jaguars to make good on the promise so many throughout the league saw in them.

With 25 teams sitting ahead of them, the chances of attracting one of the elite pass-rushing defensive ends seemed slim. With the way the spread formations and the passing attacks have shaped NFL offenses in recent years, the top defensive ends in the annual league lottery are valued like gold. And in a division where planting Peyton Manning on his backside might be the only chance the Jags have of emerging as AFC South top dogs, the need to beef up their DE corps took on an even greater importance.

So they picked up the phone, struck a deal with the Ravens to catapult themselves up to the eighth slot, and nabbed Florida’s Derrick Harvey. Unlike ultra-athletic but raw second-round DE Quentin Groves, Harvey was looked on as the type of polished player who could earn a starting job immediately, a veteran of the SEC wars who many believed was the most NFL-ready end in the ’08 class.

But in the 20 days since Jaguars camp opened, Harvey has been as visible as the rabbit who shares his name. On Thursday, Harvey’s holdout eclipsed that of Byron Leftwich (’03) for the dubious honor of the longest holdout in club history. He’s the only ’08 first-rounder yet to pen a deal.

The Jags and Ken Kremer, Harvey’s agent, seemingly have reached an impasse in negotiations. The sticking point is Kremer’s assertion that the deals of the two players picked directly ahead of his client — the Jets’ Vernon Gholston at No. 6 and the Saints’ Sedrick Ellis at No. 7 — should set the value for Harvey, while the Jags have countered that those deals are far too lucrative to be a reasonable backdrop.

News flash, Jacksonville: Picking in the top 10 means shelling out a lot of dough. And for as much as it may cost to get your guy signed, sealed and delivered, it will be even more costly to allow this holdout to extend much longer.

Unlike the case with JaMarcus Russell a season ago, the Jaguars can ill afford to have their prized draftee sit out training camp. The Raiders weren’t going to be making the playoffs no matter what they did in ’07, and having Russell learn from the bench was the plan all along.

Derrick Harvey

The onus here isn’t on Harvey to accept a lesser deal. Yeah, maybe Gholston’s and Ellis’ deals were a bit on the pricey side, but their deals — much to the Jags’ dismay — do lay the framework for Harvey. That’s just the way the NFL operates.

The Jaguars, on the other hand, operate in a frugal manner. Owner Wayne Weaver might not be the Donald Sterling of the NFL, but he certainly shares in the Clippers' owner’s penny-saving philosophy. Case in point: QB David Garrard only got his extension finalized this offseason because he told his agent he was willing to accept a deal below market value.

The Jags' position is certainly understandable. It’s a franchise struggling financially, most of which is not its fault. Jacksonville’s not only a small-market city, but it’s also a beach town whose citizens aren’t as football-crazed as those in Green Bay and Buffalo. But ultimately, the Jags must realize that building a championship-level team could help drum up fan support and subsequently boost the numbers in the accounting office. Harvey might very well be the guy to get them to that championship-contending level.

In the end, a couple of million dollars more is a small price to pay.