Episode 140: Pre-Draft Trade / 2026 Touchdown Jaguars Mock Draft

April 20, 2026

Episode Transcript

With the NFL Draft right around the corner, we’re diving all the way in on this episode of Touchdown Jaguars! We map out the future of the Jacksonville Jaguars with a full seven-round mock draft, while also reacting to the team’s latest move—adding a new piece to the defensive line. It’s all about building for now and what’s coming next as the roster continues to evolve.

The recent trade for Ruke Orhorhoro from the Atlanta Falcons, what he brings to the defensive front, and how he fits into the Jaguars’ rotation
Our full seven-round mock draft for the Jaguars, breaking down each pick and the overall strategy heading into draft weekend
A heavy focus on defense throughout the draft, targeting key areas of need and adding depth across multiple positions
The importance of planning ahead, with several current contributors getting older or becoming tougher to retain long-term
How this draft approach could help keep the Jaguars competitive while setting up the next wave of talent on the roster

Tune in as we lay out our blueprint for the Jaguars’ draft and react to the latest roster move ahead of a huge weekend.

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James Johnson and Phil Barrera bring you the best and most up to date Jacksonville Jaguars news. "Touchdown Jaguars!" is a tribute to the prospective ownership group "Touchdown Jacksonville!" In 1991, the NFL announced plans to add two expansion teams and "Touchdown Jacksonville!" announced its bid for a team, and Jacksonville was ultimately chosen as one of five finalists. In November 1993, the NFL owners voted 26–2 in favor of awarding the 30th franchise to Jacksonville. James and Phil have been fans of the franchise ever since and have had the honor (and sometimes dishonor) of covering the team professionally since 2017. The rest as they say, is history.

See full episode transcriptTranscript is autogenerated by AI

SPEAKER_00 0:59

Welcome to the Touchdown Jaguars Podcast. Here are your hosts, James Johnson and Phil Smith.

SPEAKER_01 1:08

Hey, what's up, everybody? Welcome back to another episode of Touchdown Jaguars. I am your co-host, Phil Barrera, and with us here as well as your other co-host, James Johnson. And happy draft week, everybody. Uh it has been a uh a little bit of a different road to the NFL draft this year, of course, with it being uh we know with the Jaguars not having a first round pick, uh, but having plenty of selections and plenty of options for really, really good players and players that can probably make an immediate impact on this football team as they continue to try and improve on last season's results. Uh, some people, uh, maybe outside of Jacksonville thought they were a little bit ahead of schedule. And you know what? I know the front office and everybody involved is determined to prove that that certainly was not the case. So, Jay, we're gonna talk about a little bit of news. Of course, there was a trade that happened just a couple of days ago, and then we'll also be doing your full uh mock draft here uh for this episode. So excited to get to it here, man, as we uh get ready to welcome in some new Jaguars.

SPEAKER_02 2:13

Yeah, man, it's always fun welcome or welcoming in new Jaguars, even you know, after you came off of a pretty good season like we did, right? Because at that point it's about inching closer to a Super Bowl. So you're always looking, as James Gladstone would say, you're always looking to improve and the acquisition of new talent. Um, you know, the excitement is always there, you know, because it's always something to gain. Even if you win the Super Bowl, it's always something to gain, man. So that being said, man, yeah, um, hopefully, you know, we can get some guys in here who can help us um improve upon last year, uh, whether that's in the regular season or in the playoffs or both, you know, we'll take both. But um, yeah, man, excited to go over this mock draft, man. I did it earlier in the week, and then I had to end up like making a few changes because of the trade, but I didn't change it too much. Um, so I just made a few changes at the very top of it due to the trade. Um, so that made it a quick fix, a quick easy fix, man. But yeah, I can't wait to um discuss some of these players and discuss um some news as we head into um you know what normally is the most exciting time of the year for us, Phil. As being that we've been a losing franchise, is this is probably the highlight, it has been, at least in the past, the highlight of our uh recording. So yeah, man, can't wait to get to it.

SPEAKER_01 3:39

Yeah, I mean, uh I'm I'm sure longtime listeners noticed, of course, they're like, we didn't you know put as much content out there here this month just because again, with the nature of this being uh a little bit different, you know, typically in what was it last year and years past, you know, you know, like, oh man, who are they gonna pick in the top five? Who are they gonna pick in the top 10? What wide receiver do they need to target? Those things aren't, you know, and those are the sexy things that people want to talk about. You know, six years ago, which quarterback are we gonna take? You know, who's gonna replace the guys that we have now? And that's just not where we are anymore because we've become, it seems, a competent franchise. And that's this is how competent franchises move, and it is uh, you know, we gotta it's it's something nice to get used to. It's it's kind of funny, Jay, because like, you know, as we head into next year, we're like we I was talking to Boogie about this and our buddy Eric, uh, my co-host over at the Wait for podcast. Like, it has been so long since the Jaguars made the playoffs in consecutive years. Like in the 90s, it happened quite a bit, and then, but in the 2000s, it was so sporadic. I think the only other opportunity was 2005, they missed it in 06, and then they went back in 07, and that was like the last real consistent run they had with like Jack Del Rio and and Levitch and Garrard, kind of a combination of those things. Um, and then it was like sporadic, it was you know, 2011, then 2017, then 2022, and then 2025. So it would be very nice to get some consistency around here. That's why whenever I hear Pittsburgh Steelers fans complaining, I'm just like, listen, man, you know, y'all wasn't with us. Y'all don't know what it's like down here. You just be appreciative of what you have. So hopefully uh there'll be some building blocks that will be selected here this weekend, Jay, that will allow us to continue that success. And uh part of that success, hopefully, is the uh addition of another player. I know you had something to add on here, really quick, though.

SPEAKER_02 5:24

Yeah, you know what? It's it's funny you bring that up because I was watching The Hunt. I don't know if you've seen the episode yet. It was it was pretty great, by the way.

SPEAKER_01 5:31

No, I gotta check it out.

SPEAKER_02 5:33

Yeah, man, like it it dove into the scouting element of things, and it feels night and day different from how the the past regime did it. Like they're they're using a lot of like um analytics, you know what I'm saying? It's like analytics heavy and what have you, uh, which I don't mind one bit. But no, it's it's funny you mentioned the consistency, right, about um the playoffs, because in the hunt, Liam Cohen said he was like, hey man, let's face it, man. A lot of where these new coaches run into trouble is that second year. He's like, let's face it, man. Especially, you know, when you look at the Jaguars history, you know, like we've had success with a new coach, and then they just fall off a cliff the next year. Doug Marone, Doug Peterson, right? You know what I'm saying? The Doug. So, you know, he you can tell that Liam is stressing the importance of year two and not wanting to regress and making that a point of emphasis. Um now, look, you know, they they had limited resources to do it with with the cap space, but you know, I don't think they're gonna use that as an excuse, you know what I'm saying, just based on what they were saying in the hunt as an excuse, you know, if things don't go right, and and you know it's a funny feeling because with those coaches that I mentioned with Doug, uh Peterson, um in the back of our mind we we could sense it, you know, like it could fall off, you know, like and go all off the rails. Um, but here I I have a little bit more security. You know, I'm not saying it's a given, but I feel a little more secure in retaining what we did last year and the success we had last year. Whereas I I had more concerns with the other coaches, with with um, especially Maron, because Tom Coughlin was there, right? And it was a lot of unhappy players. And Peterson, you know, with Peterson, it was more so I I think like his connection with Trevor Lawrence gave me doubts too. Like, yeah, it looked good that first year, but it's like, can this be a consistent thing, right? And also, too, also with Doug, too, he was paired with Trent Balkey. Right, that always gave me doubt. Like, if this can this remain the way it is, that was the biggest concern. It's like you're attached that to help with Trent Balkey. And if you trust Trent Balkey, then you know, I I'm concerned about you as a coach, you know what I'm saying? So uh yeah, man, I I do feel a little bit better about this regime's chances to not have that sophomore slumped in in years past.

SPEAKER_01 8:05

100%. You know, we talked about when Doug Peterson was here, like we felt that you know we lucked out, we kind of like fell into Doug Peterson, and and then when everything happened, then when everything went down the way that it did, to see you know all the Eagles fans coming out of the woodwork being like not out of the woodwork because they were I think a lot of them kind of knew this was coming. They were all like nobody was surprised that Doug Peterson was dying on the um oh my god, whatever the offensive coordinators. I can't even remember, I don't even remember his name because I don't even remember, yeah. Like we don't even need to speak about him, you know what I mean? So, like, so it with the fact that that franchise and those fans weren't surprised about what was happening, uh that spoke volume with with here, now you're seeing what what's happening, right? Tampa Bay fans are like, man, shouldn't shouldn't have led that guy out of the building, right? So a total 180 from how they were just like, Oh, well, you know, he he left us, we don't need him, he made a huge mistake, and now they're wishing that he was the guy down in Tampa. So um, yeah, it it definitely feels different. Uh again, as I've gotten as uh become an older football fan and an older Jacksonville Jaguar fan, you always gotta just kind of wait and see. And you know, last year, of course, was a really good idea, a really good example of just preaching patience and seeing how things go. And um, you know, we'll see how they uh they move. And this is gonna be a really, really telling draft, and uh, and I'm I'm excited that it's happening just in year two because it'll be very interesting to see how they maneuver and how they move. And we know we're already kind of getting an idea of that based off free agency, right? They didn't feel like they needed to go out and uh, you know, mortgage the their future on some sort of free agent or a trade or anything like that. You know, obviously Dexter Lawrence has been a big topic of conversation, which was always a pipe dream, right? I don't think we ever really thought, you know, because they just don't have the assets, right? Like the assets just aren't there in order to obtain him and also then pay him, you know, that what he is expecting. So it's uh we're we're getting to see very early on in the tenure how they manage this situation and fix what the last regime did. And I think that is um, you know, the the results have spoken for themselves so far. So we'll see who they target and and what happens. And uh they targeted somebody before the draft, Jay, because there was a trade as we talked about. It was uh just the other day, uh April 17th. This episode comes out on Monday, the 20th, but we're recording here on the afternoon of the 18th. Uh the Jaguars and the Falcons made a trade. Uh, they swapped defensive tackles. Rook Aurora Auroro uh is coming to the Jaguars for Maison Smith. Uh former 2024 second-round picks uh on both sides. Aurora had uh 36 tackles, three and a half sacks, uh, seven QB hits and one pass uh uh pass breakup in 25 games, eight starts. Um Mason Smith taking uh just 13 spots after 32 tackles, three sacks, four QB hits, and four pass breakups in 24 games, just seven starts. So Mason Smith was a big topic of comp conversation last year, right? Jay just wanting, you know, and amongst the fan base, waiting for him to take that next step, wanting him to get reps, wanting him to get in there, make an impact. It just never happened. Um, and they seemingly got a pretty good deal here with this swap. So uh Jay, you've been you talked about this a little bit before we got started. What does the addition of uh Aurora mean for this team? And also so close to the draft, does it change up things a little bit? I think it's already altered the way that you're looking uh that you looked at this mock draft that we're gonna talk about here in just a moment.

SPEAKER_02 11:34

Yeah, man. Um the interesting thing about Rook Um is that you know, his specialty is what we have been preaching all along, right? Um, about what they needed in the middle of this defense. They need a push, they need an interior pass rush, so on and so forth. And I remember, you know, that was one of the things I highlighted and connected with his career with when he um was coming out of college in Clemson. I don't know if I mocked him to us, but I do remember looking at him in college and saying, like, yeah, that'll be a guy um that we should take in the second round. Instead, we took Mason Smith, who I hadn't studied a lot at all, right? So I had to study Mason Smith after the fact we had taken him. And I even did a scout report on on Mason Smith afterwards. But that being said, though, I think the interesting thing about him um continuing on what I was saying is uh, and T Wig brought this up too, and I never really like thought of this until we said it, but he was saying that in his opinion, Rook Auroro is a player who you know would be a better three technique, a better pass rushing interior defensive tackle than anybody you would be able to get in the draft. And that makes a lot of sense because James Gladstone, me and you were talking about this beforehand uh beforehand, Phil. Um, James Gladstone actually kind of discussed this. Like one of the reporters asked him, like, hey, you know, when we look at this class, what you all need is an interior pass rush. And a lot of these guys are more so better uh run stuffers, right? It's a bunch of Devon Hamilton, is how I put it in the last podcast. Remember, Phil? A bunch of guys that eat double teams that cause piles but won't give you a pass rush necessarily. Um so that being said, um James Gladstone's response was, well, you know, that's typically the case at the defensive tackle position, right? Um normally these kids come into the NFL as better run support guys than pass rushers anyway, and they develop as pass rushers. So James Gladstone, you know, that kind of syncs up with what what Twig was saying, you know, like you got a guy who's you know at least been in the league twice uh two years here, who's kind of established himself a little bit as an interior pass rusher. And you know, there's a little bit of proof in the pudding too, because when you look at the tweet that I put out earlier, and you retweeted it as well, Phil, back in October, this young man Rook Aurororo was leading the league in interior pass rush, you know, in terms of the like the win rate and success there. So, you know, and again, like it didn't necessarily continue to be that way after that, but there's a lot of things that played into his career, and you know, like the PFF figures, which aren't great, um, that you see, and it's like, uh, is you know, what is this guy? Um, but you know, the the Falcons didn't use him in the best way. You know, it's people out there saying they were using him as a nose tackle, so they were trying to use him as Devon Hamilton, basically, you know, the anchor of their defense. So, you know, and then the defensive coordinator who I'm not gonna say is a bad defensive coordinator or anything, but um, you know, obviously a lot of people thought that he might not be the best scheme fit, and obviously the Falcons felt that way, you know. Um, so they they traded him, and I think the Falcons retained their defensive coordinator from last year. Phil, you um, I don't know if you could research it while I'm talking here, but I think they uh was it Jeff Albrich? And I think they kept him, if I'm not mistaken. We know they made a coaching change, obviously a head coaching change, but I think they kept him.

SPEAKER_01 15:10

So he was retained, yes.

SPEAKER_02 15:12

Okay, so I was right on that. Um, so yeah, you know, like that might be a sign that they felt like um he wasn't the best skiing fit. And Mason Smith might be a better skiing fit and adds more size um that they might want at, you know, in in their particular um defensive alignment and their defensive scheme. So I like this move, especially when looking back at, you know, where he was in October in terms of the pass rushing aspect of things. Um I also feel like, you know, like in one guy that I mentioned, and some of the guys I mentioned in that last podcast that we recorded, feel like Caleb Banks and uh Grayson Holton, you know, T-Wig put some things into perspective. I thought about it, I was like, well, yeah, you know, Rook Aurora feels like he is probably a better pass rusher at this point in his career than those guys that you would get in the draft. So that's a good point that you know they got a proven guy here who um, you know, only time will tell if he fulfills his potential. But um I like this this is another thing I like about it too, Phil. I like the aspect of bringing this young man in here where the sky's the limit. And also we have proof of how our uh coaches develop, right? You look at guys, like not necessarily at the same position he played, but you look at like a BJ Green last year and how he played. An undrafted rookie free agent was giving us uh productive numbers at a pass rush position. Um, Daniel Stragal, you know, he was in that rotation, that defensive end, helping out as well, you know. So like you see what these guys were able to get, these coaches were able to get out of undrafted guys. I like their chances to get something out of a second round pick way way better than I like their chances to get something out of an undrafted free agent, which they've proven they can do. So that's another way to look at it, too, is like I think they believe that their coaches can get root to get back to where he was in October into terms of that pass rush production.

SPEAKER_01 17:16

Yeah, you know, like we've kind of been talking about in our group chat, like it really just kind of puts into perspective what they are thinking of in terms of how they want to address and um run their defense going forward and how they want to um really get the guys in here that they feel like are going to fit this scheme best. And again, we saw this team and this defense specifically make uh improvement in leaps and bounds over the previous year and a lot of buy-in as well. So, you know, this is I mean, this is kind of a trade like you just don't see very often, you don't see second-round picks just swapped one for one for each other. Nobody had to give up any extra compensation, it just didn't happen. Uh, so again, just having an adult in the room is making the biggest, the biggest difference. Uh, you know, and we've worked with, of course, Atlanta in the past, you know, shout out shout out to Calvin Ridley, I guess. Uh, so that's a franchise we've dipped into when it comes to uh their roster. But um, yeah, I'm very excited about this edition. And uh with with everybody that they have identified so far, you know, we obviously we only have one draft and one free agency class to kind of look at proof of concept in terms of what happened. But if they have identified that this is a again, a very undercover move, like the national media is not going to talk about this, this isn't gonna be a big story or anything like that. These are the types of moves that you hope are made in April that pay off dividends in January and February, and things that you um again look back, like we'll look back on this trade in December and be like, man, what a upgrade you know, Rucaroro was for this defensive line. And that's what we're hoping happens here with this trade.

SPEAKER_02 18:58

And just looking at James Gladstone's trade history, I mean, we ain't got a lot to go by, but what we have to go by is pretty sensational. Like the trade for Jacoby Myers um turned out to be, you know, great, phenomenal. I mean, like it turned the offense around, it turned Trevor Lawrence's career around. Save the season.

SPEAKER_01 19:19

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 19:20

Yeah, it saved the season, you know, and we were at a point where we could have folded. I don't want to say we we were gonna fold, but we could have folded because we lost Travis Hunter, right? Which, you know, a lot of people will, you know, bring that trade up, but that's not the same type of trade. This we're talking about trading for a veteran player, right? But you know, we lost him for the season, and um, you know, it was clear as day, you know, hey, we need, and this is this is what we we're we're in a similar situation now, but back then it was like, hey, we need somebody who can catch passes in the middle of the defense, and somebody who doesn't have a high drop rate, and that's exactly what Jacoby Myers is, and that changed Trevor Lawrence's career. We're sitting here saying the same thing here in terms of the defensive side of the ball. Hey, now we need to push in the middle of our defense, right? And they've made a trade to possibly to fix that, possibly, and we'll see in time. We'll tell, man. But uh yeah, man, I mean, like I'm all for it, and it doesn't really even hurt us cap-wise. They're both making about the same amount of money. They were picked like three picks away from each other, right? So, you know, and I think that's the thing about it, too, is that's what probably sparked this. We had to be creative with how we acquired talent because of the cap space, right? We couldn't go out and sign like John Franklin Myers for freaking $30 million guaranteed or you know, something like that to fix the defense. It was always gonna have to be something creative, like a trade um or something like that. Even we saw it in free agency too, where they tried to um sign um uh exclusive free agent in um the kid, the the wide receiver from Seattle, right? Like we had to go these like non-traditional ways to kind of like fix our uh problems. And it's good to see that we have a GM that's open to that, right? Like in the past, it's like, okay, well, we're low on cap space, like our GM aren't our GM or our regime isn't gonna find a like a unique way to make something happen. Um, and it's good to see that James Gladstone is open to that, and he just basically and he mentioned this in in the um last episode of the hunt. It's like, you know, like you have to be creative and adjust to the circumstances that come before you and kind of uh come up with these unique ways to get better.

SPEAKER_01 21:33

Yeah, having to clean up the mess that was here before them is not obviously was not going to be an easy task. And what did they do? They won, uh, you know, they they played, they got to the playoffs, they won the division and hosted a playoff game. So uh, you know, it kind of gives you a uh uh an understandable reason for there to be some optimism. So we'll see what happens. But Jay, uh, like we talked about, you know, the draft is this week, and uh that. Means it is a uh time for your official mock draft here. Um, obviously, in years past, I have participated, uh, but this year I'm just going to be uh playing the role of uh just kind of guiding you through this process as I just did not have the time to look into some of these other prospects and uh you know just leaning on your expertise in navigating this conversation. So excited to see uh what adjustments you've made post-trade. Uh, we'll also talk about some other selections that some other people within the Jaguars uh media market have uh gone through, uh specifically Daniel Griffiths and then also uh Paul Bretel over at Jaguars Wire as well, and then you know, be providing the um kind of a little bit of the overview and analysis that we have on these selections from both uh NFL.com and also PFF. So uh Jay, obviously, their first pick is in the second round, and that is going to be pick number 56. Uh so where did you go? Was this one of those selections where you had to change things up a little bit? I know you jumped on a call there with uh Daniel Jeremiah a little bit earlier in the week last week. Um, so what you know, what were you uh initially thinking? And of course, where did you end up going with their first selection there in round two?

SPEAKER_02 23:16

Yeah, I um initially I went with Malachi Lawrence, and then you know, when I when I jumped in the conference with Daniel, he mentioned that this kid, quote unquote, as was his words too, um, has the potential to um maybe spoil the party and jump into the first round. And when he said that, I was like, oh God. Like, and that kind of like confirmed some of the things I were I was seeing on tape from Malachi Lawrence, uh UCF. And obviously, you know, the Jaguars probably have seen like every last one of his games because it's so close in proximity. UCF is so close in proximity to um to Jacksonville. So they probably seen everything you can see on the kid, right? Um, but yeah, no, when I looked at him and especially what he did at the senior bowl, like I was just having a hard time like believing he would be there, right? And I I do know, and me and you discussed this Phil. I do realize that somebody's gonna fall to us that shouldn't be there, right? But I had a hard time believing it would be him, right? I I could see maybe Caleb Banks because of the injury, which that's something Daniel Jeremiah mentioned. Um, I could see maybe a Kristen Miller or um a Lee Hunter from Texas Tech, one of the defense, the defensive tackle from Texas Tech and Miller's from UGA. I could see that happening because of um Miller's the lack of film he's put on as a pass rusher. He's a great run stuffer, but you know, the lack of film that there is out there at for what he could do as a pass rusher. And Lee Hunter, um, what Jer Daniel Jeremiah mentioned with him was just he didn't test all that great at the combine. And I'm not talking about like the like the mental stuff, but I'm talking about like running and all of that. Which to me that doesn't scare me, by the way. And I don't think that'll scare the Jacksonville Jaguars because they are a team that believes in being intangibly rich. So I don't think like tests and like measurables will scare them off. Um, but yeah, I can see one of those guys falling um instead of Lawrence. But I went with the same position instead of going with a defensive tackle, I went with the same position that I went um with when I selected Lawrence, and instead I got Derek Moore from the University of Michigan. I mean, we we've seen our share of University of Michigan film on TV Light Live because obviously they are one of those teams that, you know, they're always on TV, and you know, you can't help but mix them. Uh, you can't help, uh, you can't miss them when, especially when considering all the coverage that spot uh Fox Sports gives them um with their morning show, and they're always on there. But yeah, man, we're talking about a young man here who um 89.9 pass rush grade in terms of well, overall grade, should I say, uh, which is, you know, that's almost in the 90s right there. So that's good alone, right there, according to um PFF. And we're talking about a kid with a 92.4 pass rush grade, which that ranked, I got it pulled up here, eight out of eight hundred and fifty-two edge rushers, by the way, Phil. His overall grade ranks 18th out of 82 edge rushers. So um, we're talking about a young man who really, if we're being honest, um, he also just statistically, if you look at PFF, he shouldn't be there either, right? But um, as we mentioned, man, like somebody's gonna fall that shouldn't be there, right? Somebody and it we've been proving this over and over again. Man, you we can argue with people too we're blue in the face and somebody always falls to us that shouldn't be there, right? Whether it's been in the second round or you know, the first round, you know, it was Miles Jack in the second round at one time, even though we had to trade up to get him. We would have argued that Jalen Ramsey never should have been there when we took him. We would have argued that Josh Allen shouldn't have been there when we took him. Like, we the Jaguars have this luck of kids falling to them that should be.

SPEAKER_01 27:10

Allen Robinson, Maurice Jones Drew.

SPEAKER_02 27:12

Right, right. And our luck in the second round, especially, like we can complain about a lot of things with this team, but our luck in the second round is what has kept this franchise afloat, bro. Some of our best picks, our best players have come out of the second round, by the way. Brad Meester, right? He came out of the second round, if I can. Tony Brackens, I think, was a second round pick. Yeah, man. Like the second round has been great to us, right? Um, so and and I think we're gonna have Paul Puss Leslie making the pick for us, by the way. So uh shout out to Puzz, man. But yeah, I mean, like going back to what I was saying, man. Um, you know, after Trayvon Walker and Josh Allen, uh there is a bit of a fall off. I know I mentioned DJ uh BJ Green and just Stragal earlier today, uh, who were undrafted, and they we got great production out of them, but it's still like a big gap between them and the two starters, right? And I think we need to get that fixed if we want to be a Super Bowl caliber team. Derrick Moore is the perfect option to do that. Um, he's a guy that also, too, you have to start considering this too. Um, you know, Josh Allen is getting up there in age, so we need to maybe start grooming the next Josh Allen. We all we based on the deal that Trayvon Walker got, and we didn't even talk about the hitfield, but the deal that Trayvon Walker, you know, got he's gonna be here long term. And we got to feel like, you know, he would be the guy to take the torch, so to speak, from Josh Allen if we ever move from Josh Allen. But yeah, you got to start considering, um, you know, and this team is always looking. That's the thing about James Gladstone, they're always looking like a three years ahead of time, right? Um, is that, you know, one day we're, you know, Josh Allen's gonna be in his 30s and his his production might drop off. And um, I think that Derek Moore by that time would be a polished prospect at that point, and it'll be the perfect changing of the guard right there, man. And um, I'm all for it, man. I love this pick, and I love the idea of this pick, especially just you know, looking at his background and coming from Michigan and so on and so forth.

SPEAKER_01 29:16

Yeah, uh PFF has him ranked as number 65 on their board. A little summary here on him. Uh, more is a smaller edge defender who wins with quickness and pass rush IQ. His lack of length may limit sack totals, but he can contribute as a rotational 3-4 outside linebacker. Um, as far as some of the strengths that NFL.com has listed, good size and length as a rusher, leveraged hand strike and leg drive propel his bull rush above average football IQ and awareness of a play design uh gets in the top of the rush with good forward lean. So um, yeah, Jay, like you said, I think it would be a really good opportunity for them to uh, you know, you know to look obviously, you know, immediate in the immediate future, but you know, long term, uh hopefully this would be a guy, again, that would be able to uh contribute right away as part of that rotation as they continue to try and uh improve on the defensive line. Uh, we always kind of you know are are always talking about both sides of the interior um when it comes to uh improving this team, both in the offensive line and the defensive line. So yeah, would love to add some some depth here and what seems like it would be uh a guy that could um kind of uh you wouldn't have to lean on him too much, of course, with the guys that are already here now. Uh go ahead.

SPEAKER_02 30:29

Yeah, yeah. Um and as I say, um, you got to feel great about his chances to be what he's destined to be, just looking at how Stragal and BJ Green have fared in their first year as undrafted guys. But also, too, in that blurb, you mentioned something that you know also stands out, right? When you look at the Jaguars DNA, right? We got we actually got a DNA now. The Jaguars, the IQ, right? Intangibly rich. That's what we beat, that's what um James Gladstone leans in towards. And also, too, you mentioned um just the twitch that he has. That's something that the Jaguars lack on the edge, right? They don't really have anybody that's twitchy on the edge. They have these, you know, solidly built young men, especially like uh Trayvon Walker, but none of them offer that quickness and twitch that you, you know, that that's that's lacking for this defense. Um, so they do need a kind of a change of pace pass rusher, if you will. Um, kind of like um, I guess one way I can sum it up is um, you know, how we had Calais Campbell playing defensive end for a little bit, and then you you can change the pace up with Yannick and Gakway, two totally different size guys, you know what I'm saying? Two totally different uh pass rushers. So I think we need a little bit of that is like, you know, because you don't want to have uh like too many of the same guys at the defensive end position, you want to throw different body types at these defensive tackles and keep them on their toes, or these offensive tackles, excuse me, and keep them on their toes um in this day and age. So yeah, that that was all I wanted to add.

SPEAKER_01 32:05

Yep, and then moving on uh before we move on to the next pick at 81, uh, just to put it uh just to bring it up here, Daniel Griffiths had also, I believe, has uh the Jaguars taking Derek Moore at 56. Uh as uh oh, and then over on the Jaguars wire, uh Paul Bretle has them actually still going edge, but with uh Danny Dennis Sutton out of Penn State. Um depth and more pass rush consistency behind uh beyond Heinz Allen and Walker is needed. The Jaguars is rank ranked 18th in pressure rate, 27th in sacks. Uh Dennis Sutton checks a lot of boxes, experience tested very uh and tested very well. The Combine uh has high end production. Um, so those are the picks made uh by a couple of other outlets here. But yeah, Jay, uh let's move on to the next pick here at 81. I know this is also changed up a little bit, most uh very uh I think as early as today. So what do you have the Jaguars doing there at pick 81?

SPEAKER_02 33:01

Yeah, so I had them trading with our buddies over there on the West Coast of Rams and uh trading up to get Grayson Holton because it as I expressed in our last podcast, you know, there's concern that if we wait after our first pick that we have, then that next pick, he's not gonna be there, right? And I asked Daniel Jeremiah about this as well, and he kind of gave me a range of where he could go. Um, Holton does fit the range um in terms of him being available when we pick again in the third round. But I just think like based on all the conversations we had, right, Phil, about this need for interior pass rushing, just not from the Jaguars, but from the league in general. Like it's it's a league thing that's needed. Um, that somebody's gonna trade up for Grayson Holton and like snag him before the the third round starts or get him early in the third round or something like that. Um, so I traded up for him with the Rams, did a deal, and I got Grayson Holton, but I had to change that after we got Rook or Rora Roll. Um, and I think with them getting Rook, now it's not set in stone that you know um they won't get a defensive tackle or anything like that. But um when when just looking at his specialty and the ability of the coaches to probably get him to perform as you know as best as he can, the thing that T-Wig said earlier came to mind, and it does feel like he would be better than any defensive tackle that you can get that could rush the pass or rush um from the interior of the defense. And that being said, that kind of moved me off of them maybe getting Holton and maybe going with an interior rusher later in the draft. You know what I'm saying? Getting you a guy in the fifth round, so on and so forth. So um instead, um, I kept pick number 81. Um, I think it was pick number 81. Yeah, I kept pick number 81 um after the trade we made, and I went with Dominique Orange, Big Citrus. Um, we can go back as far as my my tweets, or not even my tweets, but my um my text and our thread feel back to it probably was um January or December. I was always high on getting Big Orange, man. He's a guy that, you know, in terms of it kind of goes along the lines of with the Josh Allen thing of finding a new option to replace, in this case, Devon Hamilton, right? Um, because Devon Hamilton, uh, I think he's on the last year of his deal, if I'm not mistaken. Um, and you know, if you can find a cheap nose tackle, you should definitely do it, right? And do it for as long as possible because that helps you to a lot money in other places. So I did get a guy who I think can replace Devon Hamilton here in Big Citrus. Uh, he's a guy that a lot of people were praising, you know, last year and you know, before this year in the draft, like just back in December and so on and so forth. A lot of people were praising him out of Iowa State, man. Um, I like the kid, man. And um, you know, I just want to get somebody to pair with Rook or Roro if he's the answer long term, you know, somebody who would be cheap. So we would have a pretty cheap defensive interior heading forward, and we could like spend money elsewhere, which we got a lot of things we got to take care of, right? We still got to take care of Parker Washington, still got to take care of um Brenton Strange, um, Antonio Johnson. You know, I we I know we ain't thought that far, but next year, Antonio Johnson, the best safety in the league, arguably, according to PFF. So, yeah, man, I went with Big Orange here, man. And um, yeah, I just love the havoc and chaos he would create in that middle for. I think he also too could give us a little bit more than being an anchor for that defense. I think he can help in the pass rush regard as well, a little bit, at least, at least better than a little bit. Um, at least a little bit better than Devon Hamilton does. Um, so there's that as well. But yeah, man, we get a replacement for Devon Hamilton down the road, not necessarily this year, but down the road. Groom him for a year under Hamilton, let him take the reins next year.

SPEAKER_01 37:07

Man, think about how hard like a big orange Duval Tobi die shop t-shirt is gonna go if this guy turns out to you know be a fan favorite guy. Um, yeah, ranked number 72 in the PFF board. Orange is a massive defensive line prospect with a lead power potential, supported by impressive weight room strength. His first step explosiveness allows him to generate strong speed to power as a bull rusher, particularly in attack mode. However, his hand speed and pass rush finesse are limited, which impacts his ability to disengage consistently. He projects uh best as a high effort power-based lineman in a 3-4 scheme, um, in terms of some takeaways uh and uh strengths from NFL.com, long arms with big hands, explosive power in both upper and lower body, uh pairs of slide step and arm over move to create gap penetration, sturdy base makes him hard to clear from the A gap. So, yeah, like you said, Jay, you know, a guy that fills uh a lot of needs that the Jaguars have there on that interior line. And um, you know, honestly, big citrus to Florida to the Sunshine State. Like, come on, man. The story writes itself. So I mean, you gotta you gotta wonder if maybe Syracuse got in on the uh recruiting recruitment process for for Tomanique.

SPEAKER_02 38:19

Yo, man, the money would have printed itself if Syracuse could have gotten him, man. Like the he would have been set with whatever NIL deal they could have given him, and the marketing standpoint for Syracuse, man, would have made a lot of money as well in in that marketing department, man. But yeah, man, that is interesting. I want to look and see if they were one of the teams that tried to recruit him because I didn't think of that, man. That would have been like just that would have been goal, man. But yeah, no, um, yeah, I agree with a lot of what that blurb said. Um, especially, yeah, like you said, the quick step thing. That's why I think like that that kind of puts into perspective why I think like he might be a little bit better at pass rushing than Devon Hamilton is in terms of where he could be at the end of his career and where where Hamilton is now is that first step. I think his first step is a little bit quicker than Devon Hamilton. So yeah, that put things into perspective when you said that. So yeah, man, I would love to have Big Citrus in Duval, man. I I think me and you would be the first people at the the what they call it, the um the pro shop there at the um at the stadium. We'd be the first people at the pro shops getting rocking Big Citrus jerseys or whatever, getting Big Citrus shirts, whatever they selling, whatever merch they throw, man, we're down, or or they could send it to us for the f for the free. We could advertise it on the podcast here and you know, do a little marketing deal there. But yeah, man, uh love the idea of getting him. Um, and um, yeah, man, instead of going with Holton, I just went with him instead because um again, you know, I think this class is better in the nose tackle, uh nose tackle category, more so than it is in terms of getting an interior pass rusher. So why not take advantage of that strength of this draft and get you a replacement for Devon Hamilton, who um, you know, is not like a super high deal on our books, but he's definitely one when you look at the salary cap that we have, that it's like, yeah, we could find a cheaper option that could be just as productive.

SPEAKER_01 40:26

Yeah, 100%. Um, to bring up Daniel Griffiths and the Wires mock draft. Uh, they uh they have Grace, they both have Grayson Holton is the pick at number 81. And funnily enough, uh Griffiths actually has nominee orange at pick 88. I did look up the time frame because Griffiths did two, you know, defensive tackle back to back. He did he posted this mock to Action News Jack four hours before the trade was made. So I do wonder if Daniel has done a new one since then and see if I can if I can find it since the trade happened. No, I don't think he has posted one since. Yeah, obviously, addition of Aurora Road changes a little bit. I'm still happy with the mock. So he was probably like, come on, man, like I had to put up my mock draft. And then that trade happened. You gotta wonder if that will likely have changed things a little bit um as far as them going back to back defensive tackle. Uh, but yeah, Jay, uh, they pick again just seven selections later at number eighty-eight. Uh, where do you have the Jaguars going? Uh, obviously, I know a little bit about this guy. So, who do you have uh uh the Jaguars targeting and who would you like to see them take at pick 88?

SPEAKER_02 41:32

Yeah, so I I did go with a guy that um you are quite familiar with at Texas and Anthony Hill Jr. Um, you know, off obviously, you know, we want to bolster our linebacker core after losing Devin Lloyd. Um, and Hill is a guy, if I'm not mistaken, that we met with two, by the way. And just the value there at the time that I picked um seemed right about where he should go. Um, I think PFF has him 86th overall. And that pick that I took him at was 88th. So you always want to go with value there. I don't want to sound like our old GM other past, but the value fit in that regard, man. We talk about a kid who has um been against SEC competition for many, many years, right? Um when he played Georgia, I couldn't help but notice him. And of course, and with you being a Texas fan, Phil, you've noticed him for quite a while now. Um looking at his PFF grades, man, right now they have him at overall 71.6 is what he registered last year. And then here in their little blurb here, um, I want to take a job here, Phil. In their little blurb, they mentioned Hill is a strong athlete uh with good length who fits as a will linebacker in a 4-3 scheme where uh he can play in space and avoid consistent blocking engagement. The blocking engagement part um doesn't worry me because I think Anthony Campanili, that's one thing that they kind of like preach and that they've been able to get players to do better is disengaging and being blocked, right? Devin Lloyd mentioned them this himself, actually. Now that I'm mentioning it, when he went to Carolina in his first interview, they asked him, you know, um, about his the improvements in his game and you know how he got where he got. And he mentioned he singled out um our linebackers coach. I forget his name, by the way, but he singled out our linebackers coach and he singled out Coach Campanely as two um members of the staff that really told him, like, hey man, the part of your game where you can improve is disengagement, man. So that sounds a lot like what Hill has um has to improve on. Um and we've heard Coach Camp say it, man, we don't stay blocked. Coach Camp does not like to see people staying blocked for more than two seconds or one second or whatever the case may be. So I think they can help that help him in that regard. And uh yeah, yeah, get a new young buck in there in that. Room with Foyer because I mean Foyer is the ultimate pro man. Like, you know what I'm saying? Get him in there with Foyer. Let him learn from Foyer a little bit and uh let him learn from some of the others there. And uh yeah, just add to a place where we took a big hit at in terms of the linebacker room in general, took a big hit at this offseason after losing, you know, a guy who was a big time leader for us.

SPEAKER_01 44:23

Yeah, Anthony Hill, a fan favorite. At least, you know, I believe so. Obviously, I'm a little bit removed from like most Texas fans with my by being over here. Um, but yeah, all these SEC second team um Buckets Award finalist last year, a guy that really, really, like you said, is a Georgia fan. You know, he you he just can't help but pop off of the screen. Um, I think a guy that would bring a lot of value here. I've really, really enjoyed watching him play uh with Texas over the last couple of years uh since 2023. Um they have him ranked on PFF, the number 86 ranked prospect, uh strong athlete with good length and fits best as a wheel linebacker, as you kind of were talking about in a 4-3, where he can play in space and avoid consistent block engagement, um, diagnosis cleanly, no wasted steps, uh key offense, keys offensive line movement without overreacting, uh, avoids unnecessary block engagement, staying free to make plays, impressive instincts when covering in space. Uh, that's a big thing we saw him do a lot in Texas whenever you watch him. Um, he just seems to be kind of everywhere whenever uh and being able to be uh covering a lot of ground uh from his position. So I would be very, very excited about this pick for obvious reasons, but also I do think that he would be a really great addition, um, as you mentioned after losing, you know, Devin Loyne and wanting to fill in that space and pairing him with a guy like Foyer would be great for him to learn from.

SPEAKER_02 45:44

Yeah, if even if um not re you know replacing Devin Lloyd, you know, like it's somewhere in that room for him, you know what I'm saying, especially a talent like him, and especially a talent that's faced the um that's faced the talent that he's faced and and been in the SEC for so long. Um but yeah, man, I I he's just like really a guy I can see Anthony Campanili falling in love with, you know what I'm saying, and like really um asking to be a part of this team. Um, but yeah, we'll see in time we'll tell, you know, how much they value um, you know, getting more linebackers in that room after the loss of Devin Lloyd, whether it's his same position or different positions, because a lot of people feel like they might not um be that down on the current linebacker in the room that they have, right? A lot of people think that they like what they have and they they may go without getting a linebacker for a while in this draft. Um, we'll see, and maybe they'll do it later in the draft. But um, yeah, no man, the value, like I said, the value just stood out to me when I was doing a mock draft. Um, this is right about where he should go. And um, we'll see, and time will tell what they do at linebacker, if anything at all. But um I wouldn't mind having a kid that every time I saw him playing Georgia, it's like it's hard to miss him. And not just him, but Mohammed, the cornerback. That's another one. You you can't help but you know, see him when we were playing him. And it's one more kid that's escaping me right now. Um, but him and Mohammed or the two that I noticed as a Georgia fan the most um when we played Simmons. Yeah, Simmons, he was another one. Yep, yep.

SPEAKER_01 47:27

So he'll be in the top 10 next year, probably.

SPEAKER_02 47:30

Likely, likely, the way he plays, and but yeah, man. Uh yeah, so yeah, I would I would be all for adding Hill into this group.

SPEAKER_01 47:40

Yeah, I would be uh obviously very, very excited for the Jaguars to hook a horn there at pick number 88. Um, as I mentioned, Daniel Griffiths had them going uh with Dominique Orange. Um, so uh kind of take that with a grain of salt since it came up with uh came out before the uh the trade. Uh pick eighty eight Jay over on the wire. They went with Sam Rausch, tight end from Stanford. So going offense there uh here in the uh third round at pick number eighty eight. Uh Raush brings a well-rounded skill set at the NFL level, able to impact the game as a pass catcher and blocker, ability for a tight end to hold their own as a blocker in the run game is a key part of playing in uh the Liam Cohen offense. Uh so you know we're first three selections in here, and um, did any of these uh did you consider offense at any of these picks? I guess is just what I'll ask before we move on to the next one, and then kind of run through the rest of the draft.

SPEAKER_02 48:31

Oh yeah, of course, of course. I um consider Ted Hurst, the kid from Georgia's Southern uh wide receiver, round 6'4, um great speed. Um he's a guy that feels like he could replace um Tim Patrick, right? So I thought about him. Um, and you know, you you always you you're never mad about taking a kid, even if it's not from the University of Georgia, a kid that played college football in Georgia, right? But um Hearst is a guy that he he balled out at the senior bowl, like he was uncoverable. And it's crazy because like he, you know, like he's going up against D1 guys, right? He's on obviously playing at Georgia Southern. He plays at another level of college football. Um, but yeah, man, like he he had no issues with torching the corners, man. Like from the D1 corners, man. Like whether it was the kid from um uh that I really like Julian Neal or any of those other corners that I think Price Ot was there from Washington, some other corners that you know, D1 guys. But yeah, no, I thought about him. Um, I thought about going running back, but then you know, we we've added a running back in free agency, one of the only things we did in free agency. Um, and I think if they go running back with the gentleman that we got um out of um from Washington from the commanders, um, I think if we go running back with the addition of him, it probably won't be until like later in the draft. A kid that you could probably stuff on practice squad. Uh, so that's why I didn't go that direction. But yeah, that those came to mind. I kind of looked at tight end too, but it wasn't a tight end, um, at least available that I liked that I was crazy about because we obviously need somebody behind Brenton Strange and Morris. Um, so I thought about tight end too, um, but didn't go that route. Ultimately decided to go with defense, man.

SPEAKER_01 50:25

Hey, no complaints here. I definitely uh understand that train of thought there. So um uh but yeah, Jay, uh we have another pick there in the third round at pick 100. So we'll go over this one before we kind of uh group the selections between round five and round seven all together. Uh so their final pick there in the third round. Uh, where what did you target? Where did you go?

SPEAKER_02 50:46

Yeah, I went with Zakey Wheatley, um a rangey safety from Penn State. Um, so you know, my mindset there was we we lost Dewey, who um, you know, love him or hate him. One thing about Dewey is he had a lot of reps on defense, right? The Jaguars put him on the field a lot at defense. While, you know, me and you and some others would be like, hey, he's better suited on special teams. Dewey saw a lot of snaps um at safety. And I mean, we do see where they um they use a wide range of safeties, right, in this defense. Um, you can argue that they make it take a safety in the the second round with the way that they use safeties, but I went too I wasn't that comfortable with going with a safety that early, especially when um you know our defensive line is in the shape that it's in. And I'm not saying we're in horrible shape there, but it does need some upgrades. Um, so yeah, I went with Wheatley. Um, not only that, too, but we also um, you know, we're gonna be losing another body in that safety room. Again, might not be the same type of safety, but we're losing Eric Murray next year because they put void years on his contract. Remember, they restructured his deal. So I think this is the last year of his deal, too. So um, yeah, sure, we got Caleb Ransall last year. Um, and we have Antonio Johnson who is playing at a very high level. Um, again, and another thing too, with him with Johnson, are we gonna be able to keep him next year? You know what I'm saying? Like, so that's kind of looking ahead. As I said, James Gladstone likes to do is if you know they have concern that they might uh lose Johnson or they can let him go and just have a replacement already on the spot. Um, that is the reason that I went with a safety in Wheatley again, a rangey safety with great coverage skills, man. His um overall grade 85.9 on PFF, that was good for 32nd out of uh 936 safeties. Um, and yeah, man, I think like when you look at a lot of mocks, a lot of people are mocking safeties to the Jags for the reasons that I mentioned. It's just that they had a lot of people going outbound or who will be going outbound from the team um eventually down the road. And it's a position that, yeah, they need to start like getting some bodies there just in case they lose Murray or don't re-sign Murray, who's over 30 years old, by the way, or they lose Johnson.

SPEAKER_01 53:12

Yeah, it's it's kind of crazy, you know. Like what you said, you know, we we have strong opinions about about Dewey and his time here, but you know, you still have to, you know, the only way to get better at football is to play football. And he played a lot of football while he was here in Jacksonville. And you know what? Credit to him. He definitely made plays here and there for the team, obviously a big time fan favorite. Um, but yeah, needing to kind of bolster that safety room and the secondary there in in general, I think would be a really, really good call. Uh, number 104 up rank on the PFF big board. Wheatley is a long springy athlete, best suited for single high rolls. Slender build can be exposed in the box, but he offers strong range and coverage ability in space. Uh, some of the strengths listed here on NFL.com, more alert and decisive in coverage in 2025. Uh drives downhill for physical finishes to plays, rangeing to the football uh from down or high safety, reads run and closes quickly, patching up leaky gaps. Uh, some of the uh the takeaways there for him. So um, yeah, just straight, straight defense there on your end for all of those picks. Uh number 100 for Daniel Griffiths they want uh he went Jake Slaughter, uh, which I believe a center from Florida, offensive lineman, however you want to group him. Um, and then for the wire, uh Jay Sean Barum, defensive end from Michigan. So uh the going edge rusher there on the wire's end, but then on the offensive side with our buddy uh Daniel Griffith. So uh a little bit of uh a range of opinions there in terms of where they can go. But um, Jay, if we come away from you know day two, you know, rounds two and three, and we add some really solid defensive guys that you've been talking about here, I'm pretty happy. I would be I would feel pretty good about bringing those guys in.

SPEAKER_02 54:56

Yeah, I mean, I think the key is to go into this draft with the mindset of uh with the way our roster is shaped, the chances of us getting immediate starters out of it, right, aren't super high. Because we're set at a lot of positions, right? Like, and that's that's a different mindset that we haven't had to have in years. So it's admittedly, it's hard to wrap your mind around that because we've normally been going into the draft like needing starters, you know, here and there. Um, but the Jaguars last half did a great job of um minimizing what they already had on this team and getting those players to play better. They got a lot of Trent Balkey picks to play better, they got a lot of them out of here, too. You know what I'm saying? But the ones that they kept were pretty much starters, and you know, that's what the good teams do, that's what the good regimes do. It's like you get we'll take what we have and we'll cater the scheme around them and we'll get the best out of them collectively, right? And that's what happened um last year. And now we're in a position where, you know, again, man, you it's not a lot of holes in terms of starters, man. And even with Rook, Aurora, you know, he who knows he might end up starting for us, you know, alongside Devon Hamilton, or if they get another nose tackle like Big Orange, Bit Citrus, um, starting alongside him. So like maybe two rookies. But I mean, that's not a lot of areas like that we can look at, right, Phil, and say, like, oh, we need a starter there, or we need a starter there, man. Like, defense is covered for the most part. Cornerbacks are set, Buster and Hunter, right? Um, Trayvon and Um Josh Hines Allen have the the exterior part of the defensive line fixed, you know. Um, you got Devon Hamilton coming back, you know, either Rook or somebody, maybe that's where you can find your starter at is Rook or another kid at the other defensive tackle position. But linebackers pretty set. I mean, you you obviously got to find a solution for for missing out on Devin Lloyd, but everything else is set. And then safety is set in the regards of we got Johnson, we got Murray coming back at least for this year. So you look at that defense, everything's set. Offense, all five starters are returning, I think. James Gladstone said on the offensive line. Um, Trevor Lawrence obviously returning. We already covered running back last year, right? So we covered that last year, jumping ahead of the curve. They're getting ready for Travis Etienne again, something that we've preached, jumping ahead of the curve before guys are ready to go out. Um, wide receiver, you know, you can argue that you can add a fourth wide receiver, but I mean, like our third guy's Parker Washington, for crying out loud. That shows that we are good there. And you know, like I said, even at tight end, at starter, we're fine at tight end. Just need a guy behind Brenton Strange and Morris, you know, there. So it's a not a lot of starting roles that need to be replaced. And um, I think we we owe some kudos to the staff for for making it that way.

SPEAKER_01 58:00

Yeah, I mean, obviously there are positions of need and holes to fill here, but it's not as egregious as it has been in the past, mostly because of again how quickly a lot of these guys took to this new scheme, to this new regime, to the playbook and the coaches, and you know, with the continuity coming back between the offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator, all of that, uh, that is gonna, I think, really, really pay dividends when uh when it comes to uh the actual game. So um, let's get to the next pick. Actually, I totally forgot because you made a trade in the mock draft. That's why there's no fourth round pick uh in the one that you initially sent. So they do pick at number 124 here in the fourth round. So if you do want to go over uh where you went there in round four, I'm not sure if you have that written down or not, because that was changed up uh a little bit. But um, so they do pick 124 in the fourth round. Did you have uh something prepared for that?

SPEAKER_02 58:53

I didn't. I actually didn't. Um you caught me there, Phil. But so um the next pick was actually we'll just go over what I have for the remainder. Okay. Um, it was uh the fifth round, 164. Um, I took Julian Neal there, who would be a steal there. I know I just talked about him, uh, I think it was Ted Hurst that burnt him at the senior ball. Um, but aside from that, like I know a lot of people look at like that and be like, oh man, I don't know about that kid. But I love Julian Neal's tape, man, at Arkansas. Um, he's a kid that um he's got like he's got a speaking of Arkansas cornerbacks, um, he's kind of got a Monterik Brown bill, maybe a little bit sturdier than Monteric Brown. Um, a guy that like, you know, I was he was probably one of the top guys I wanted to watch at the senior bowl. Um and I, you know, I know he didn't like stand out in the senior bowl like people were thinking, but that doesn't scare this Jaguars team, right? We we talked about that in the past, like they don't get scared by, you know, somebody not flashing as much as they should have in an all-star game. Um, they took a kid from Auburn last year who played at the senior bowl out of position, the defensive end. I forgot the guy that we took. Um, we took him in the sixth round field. But James Gladstone was like, hey, this kid's playing out of position. He could probably better serve us at a better position if we put him in better position here and we still drafted him. And they didn't really put too much into that. I think they could do that with Julian Neal. Um, I took DJ Campbell in the fifth round here as well, a guy you're familiar with, a guard, um, you know, big Texas guard that uh would definitely help us in regards to we, I think one thing we got to start thinking about here, Phil, is um and like see this was knowledge that we kind of weren't um me and you admittedly weren't um on to here yet, but uh there's a belief that um the Jaguars uh might be without Cobe and Lennon uh for some time and that he um you know some people and some reporters out there saying that he might have had to have um ACL surgery after his injury. Um so we definitely need to um do something at the offensive line position. Um even you know, if it's it's getting a guard and you know, we don't want Walker Little playing tackle, but you know, um you you do have to have some depth there, and the Jaguars are big on having depth at that position. Um I I didn't really see any like standout tackles there at the time. So I wanted to get something at the offensive line. So that's what I did there. Um Chase Roberts, I went with in the sixth round, um, who was a you know 6'5, 6'4 kid from BYU. Um, a kid who, again, kind of thinking along the mindset that I mentioned earlier, getting a replacement for Tim Patrick, right? Somebody with that same size and somebody who can help out on special teams and develop into a decent receiver eventually down the road. And um, I think last time James Gladstone was with the association that took a wide receiver from BYU this late in the draft, that was, you know, he's had some off-the-field stuff going on, but Puka Nakura, and that worked out quite well. That worked out quite well. So um Chase Roberts is a guy, though, I think we met with him too. So that kind of makes sense. Um, I got Max Brenderson um after that in the seventh round, the tight end from uh Michigan. Um his run blocking grades were pretty good, at least um in terms of what you were looking at at the seventh round. At that point, again, and at the seventh round, it's a crapshoot. But his run blocking grades really stood out. Um, he's a guy that, you know, PFF said they feel like he has potential as a pass catcher as well. That's probably what you want right behind Brenton Strange, right? He's uh a guy that at least shows up um in the blocking regard and that can develop as a receiver. Um, James Thompson Jr., uh defensive lineman I got after that in the seventh round from Illinois. So there we go with a guy from the orange there. Um but James Thompson he stood out to me in terms of he went to not the senior bowl, but he went to the trine game. And he was a guy that um he showed up in multiple reports, and I even went back and watched some of his film um because I watched Jay uh Gabe Atkiss. Remember, we were talking about Gabe Atkins last week, Phil, um, in terms of an option in the second round. But um Thompson also stood out to me when I was watching Atkiss. And then lastly, I got Luke Altmeyer, um, quarterback from Illinois. Um, the mindset there was um a lot of us aren't high on Nick Mullins, right? A lot of us would be concerned if we have to play him for multiple games and the you know, arm strength isn't there, and then this, that, and the other. And I, you know, I'm not saying like Altmeyer has a canon either, but we do need somebody to like push Mullins and uh maybe get a better option that we would feel a little bit more secure with. Um, and Altmire, you know, has all of those intangible things that James Gladstone looks for. So I went with him. Um, another kid who we have met with, and another kid that I would like to see Liam Cohen get his hands on after um seeing how he performed at Illinois.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:12

Yeah, there you have it. I mean, listen, a lot of these selections, especially with uh, like you said, with um James Gladstone being in the room uh where uh you know a smart organization will identify those players that uh you think that maybe you're just taking a flyer on, uh, but then end up being uh, you know, of course, low risk, but very, very high reward. And and maybe there'll be some gems amongst that group. So um there you have it. Uh, I'm sure Jay, you'll be posting this over on social media maybe a couple days after the uh this episode actually comes out. Uh that way, if you want to see a uh physical manifestation about uh of how this uh mock draft looks, we'll make sure that gets out here. Um, Jay, I guess I want to ask one question here uh pertaining a different team's draft, uh, because of course a team we're very familiar with picks at number four, and that's the Tennessee Titans, and they're gonna have an opportunity there. I think we can one through three is pretty like we feel like it's gonna be, you know, some kind of combination. Of course, Mendoza goes number one, some kind of combination of what Reese and probably uh David Bailey, right? That's probably some sort of combination of what that means, but that still means there's gonna be a really, really good player, maybe even arguably the best player in the draft available for the Titans to take. I would like to know, just because we are in our this division, I'm projecting the Titans are gonna take a big leap in 2026, and that pains me to say. Um, but just the way that the Texans are kind of trending and not trusting CJ Stroud. I've been a fan of Cam Ward and kind of what they we talked about this during the season. Every Cam Ward highlight is him running for his life and then trying making a play somehow. Titans have an opportunity to get somebody pretty good in number four. What is Your worst case scenario, you think that they could take with that new regime with an up-and-coming quarterback? What's the worst case scenario you think that if they if the Titans select this guy, we have to be like, uh oh, because I I have a couple of opinions on this. Uh one guy specifically, I really don't want them to get.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:18

You know what? I haven't really thought about it that much, Phil, in terms of um the worst case scenario for them. Now, I've seen a bunch of drafts that have uh mocked them. Ruben Bain there at that position. And um, I despite the short arms, I'm not a fan of that. You know, I know it was some things that they said came up like um off the field, but he cleared his name. And um all I think all 32 teams, or at least all like 31, at least 31 of the teams, um, have heard his explanation on the thing that happened off the field in terms of it was a car accident regard. Um, but yeah, man, like it's just something that um makes me feel like Ruben Bain is just gonna come in the league, just ticked off, man, because everybody keeps talking about his arm length and like you know, he he's not gonna hold up in the NFL for that reason, this, that, and the other. And I just don't like my favorite teams getting ticked off players, you know what I'm saying? Like, that's miscreant like that. So I I guess I would say um Ruben Bain. Now I've um I think Daniel Jeremiah brought this up. Um, he mentioned the running back. Jeez, I'm blanking out.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:29

Jeremiah Love. Yeah, Jeremiah Love with the guy, the uh Notre Dame. That's the guy. I don't I I really hope they pass on. I I I really don't want to play Jeremiah Love for the next 10, 12 years after getting away from Derek Harvey.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:45

Yeah, yeah. Um, Derrick Henry, you mean Derrick Henry, yeah, sorry. Yeah, yeah, no, no, yeah, man. We have nightmares about Derrick Henry stiff arming the whole team to this day, man.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:55

Listen, and it's obviously two different players, but the what Jeremiah Love does, a lot of people have been talking about Jeremiah Love has been put in this running back box, and that's not all he is. Like he blocks, he's a pass catcher, probably like literally one of the best possible safety valves you could get for Cam Ward. And I am terrified that they will be like, yeah, we'll we'll do that. I I guess what you have to decipher is like some people think that running back is a a luxury pick, you know. Like if this if the Chiefs got R J uh got Jeremiah Love, obviously that would be like fantastic for them, you know, even though they have a litany of other issues on the defensive side. So I I just think because he is in, he is, he does so many different things, it would be a nightmare to have to again play that guy for the next like decade or so.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:47

Yeah, well twice a year. My thing with the Titans is I don't love their offensive line, you know what I'm saying? So like that's why love doesn't um doesn't like scare me as much as he probably should. Um don't get me wrong, but like I get scared when I think of Ruben Bain lining up next to Jeff Simmons, right? Like, sure, but not something I want to deal with, you know what I'm saying? So I think that's why. But yeah, like the the Titans offensive line, um, from what I can recollect last year was not great. Like it well, we mentioned it, Cam Ward was running for his life. Most of the most of uh not just in the season, but against us too. He was running for his life, and really like the only name that sticks out on that offensive line is uh Skarnski. You know, he's pretty good, but aside from him, nobody on that offensive line scares me, man. Like, and I feel like it'll be a situation where love is just like you know, they're giving him a bunch of handoffs, but somebody's in his lap before he can break the line of scrimmage type of thing. Now, again, now they do have a new GM in Mike Berngunzi who does know how to fix the offensive line. That's the concern, right? And what we've seen him, and we've all heard, you know, my thoughts and your thoughts and our thread's thoughts on we wanted Mike Berngunzi as our next GM. Not even mad about getting James Gladstone at this point, though. So it all worked out. Um, but James Gladstone was an unknown, you know what I'm saying? Like at that time, so like nobody had dug that deep into the Rams' front office to where like we were looking at James Gladstone because he was like hidden deep within their front office, right? So like we were looking at the guys like that that were basically the right hands of um their respective GMs, like Bernzi and you know, these guys from the Ravens tree and so on and so forth. Um, but yeah, give Mike Berngunzi some time, and and you do make a good point. If they don't have the offensive line for love, they will have him eventually. And that that is a scary thought, too. But in the immediate future, in terms of this year, just Ruben Bain learning from Simmons and just lining up next to him, uh, is something that I'm not too thrilled about.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:08

Yeah, like you know, like you said, there is just a there's so many different ways they could go at four. And yeah, I also agree. Obviously, their their offensive line needs a lot of work, but because they're they're in such a good spot, they'll have their pick of whoever that may be. I'm some people are calling, you know, they think Jeremiah Love's the best player in the draft, uh, you know, and a top five guy definitely deserves to go there. I'll be very surprised if he gets past. I like I don't see John Harbaugh skipping out on an opportunity to take him for New York, uh, you know, even though they got scatterboo, but like shout out to the that viral clip. Like, is his his egg is scrambled. You know, how long, how much longer is Cam Scott Boo? Like, with the way that he plays, the physicality, him and Jackson Dart, man, they need to figure it out, they need to alter their playstyle. But uh, there's an opportunity again for them to get a really, really good player, and for a team, I think, like I said, is gonna take a leap exponentially, even though their offensive line uh still, of course, does need work. Yeah, for me, I I'll I'll go Jeremiah Love, but yeah, you're right, Ruben Bain's not far behind. Uh, I would also be pretty upset about them getting getting him. And the and chances are, Jay, they're gonna have the choice of either one of those guys.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:26

Oh, yeah. Yeah, bro, they just they're in, and you know, we've been in that position too, where you just have to sit, you're you're in a spot where you're picking early in the draft, but you just gotta just sit back and wait for the best player. You know what I'm saying? Like, we've been in that spot before. Like, obviously, we had Trevor Lawrence these last few years, so like everybody who was crazy about um and and that had a team that needed a quarterback, that wasn't us. While we were picking in the top five, we knew we weren't getting a quarterback, so it's like, okay, well, we'll just take the best non-quarterback that falls to us, right? So we're familiar with that territory. Um, but yeah, man. Um I I never liked the idea of them getting Born Gunsy, and I do think it's a matter of time just before he um just what he's learned from Brett Veach and that tree, it's just a matter of time before he gets those guys rolling. Now, again, now they are a team with a lot of holes, right? You know, it is a lot to fix, but at the same time, we've seen in modern times where teams with a lot of holes can be fixed pretty easily with the right GM and with the right staff who will cater the scheme to what they have. We kind of just mentioned that with the Jacksonville Jab war. So, yeah, and um, like I say, man, just not looking forward to the future of playing the Titans regardless of who they have, right? This year it might it might not click this year for them, but next year I'm a little bit more terrified.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:00

Yeah, but yeah, I I can see them like being in like week 17, week 18, like in like a at a 7-8 win pace, you know what I mean, like just really disrupting things. Like, who knows what the schedule looks like. Um but well actually is the is the sketch, the schedule's out, right? 2026 schedule, or no, it's not out yet. No, that happens like in the summer, right? Yeah, it happens first or second week of May. Yeah, that's right. So like if we were to play, like say if we were if we needed to try and secure either like whether it be wild card or or even if it is a divisional win, uh divisional title win, and we had to play Tennessee week 18, like I'd be I'd be pretty upset about it. I wouldn't feel good about them wanting to wreck our chances and then also them having a whole year to progress, and you know, who knows what happens. I think actually the action the the worst the real worst case scenario is them pulling uh a Houston Texans and picking like back to back like they did a couple of years ago. Now, granted, CJ Stroud is you know, he's regressing, but you know, to get Will Anderson and CJ Stroud essentially their two cornerstones back to back that one year, that was a real nightmare. So if that happens for Tennessee, if they figure out a way to do that, that would be the ultimate nightmare. Say they walk away Jay with Sonny uh with with Jeremiah Love and Ruben Bain. Then we both get to be, yeah, then we're both right. So that's the real nightmare.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:16

Yeah, if they pull a Houston Texans, bro. I can remember the look on our faces when the Texans got um who they got uh it was Stroud Stroud and then Will Anderson, yeah, who just got a pressure. Yeah, we were in the press box, man. And I I remember getting the remote from Demetrius, and one of us had it on um the ESPN broadcast, and then on our side we had it on like the NFL broadcast, and then you were like, Jay, they just traded again after taking Anderson. They just traded up again, and we all knew like you didn't even have to say who they were trading up for. Me and you just looked at each other, we were like, Oh, snap! Like, they really finna do this two-for-one thing, you know what I'm saying? And and look, man, like both of those guys have been a thorn to this day. I know, like, we now our opinions on Stroud now is a little different than it was now, like we don't trust him as much as we once did. But Anderson is still a problem. He just got a new deal, by the way. Anderson's still a problem. The problem now, and and you know, when we face the Texans, we always um we always discuss this. The problem now is the Texans defense. It's like, can we score enough to beat the Texans defense? And Anderson's a big reason why we why we have that conversation. So, yeah, man, it wouldn't surprise me if we see a situation where the Titans try and pull some craziness off like that as well.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:45

Yeah, 100%. Well, Jay, this was fun. Very excited for um for our round two. Uh you know, crazier things have happened. Is there somebody they're gonna target if somebody falls at the end of round one? Could we all of a sudden find ourselves uh in a position where you know we'll hear a name called for the Jacksonville Jaguars earlier than expected? Who knows? We we it happened last year with a big trade. Could it happen again? I don't think so, but never say never, especially when it comes to this group and this front office. But Jay, anything else you want to mention before we get out of here and uh look forward to the weekend ahead uh here at the NFL draft?

SPEAKER_02 1:17:26

Nah, man, that's it, man. Um, yeah, excited for the draft. Um you know, heading into the draft, man. Um again, we weren't as excited as we had previously been, but like now that we're getting closer to it, man, and um, you know, the idea of how much talent we can add to our already talented team uh does intrigue me, man. And I can't wait. Um, as we mentioned, I don't think they're having a draft party this year, right, Phil?

SPEAKER_01 1:17:54

So that's part of that's probably part of I haven't seen an email come through, so I don't I don't think so. But I also haven't really been looking.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:03

Yeah, yeah, nah. Um, and I mean that's okay. Like we, you know, we don't have a first round pick, it's all good, man. But yeah, man, I can't wait for the draft, man. And um, of course, we'll be tuned in, we'll be locked in and tweeting and all of that stuff throughout the process. Even through day one, I you know, I think I'll be able to get some tweets out and things on day one, even though we're not picking. And well, you can never rule James Gladstone out of trading up, but I doubt that happens this year in the first round. But yeah, man, we'll still be getting content out. We'll post this mock draft episode. And uh, yeah, man, can't wait um to see what we end up with and the hall that we end up with as we look to um, you know, it's all about the Super Bowl this year, you know. That's that's the conversation, or advancing in the playoffs, at least. Um, as we look to advance in the playoffs or potentially get into the Super Bowl.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:54

Hey, listen, the the guys that you add in those, like we said earlier, those middle rounds uh end up being um key pieces uh to a run. So uh yeah, guys, thanks so much for joining us for this episode. Uh, we'll try and get out some content as quickly as possible post round one, of um post-round two, of course. Sorry about that. Uh so we'll we'll um keep you guys updated over there. Make sure to click the link tree link in the show notes of this episode. Keep up with us over on Twitter where we have been the most active. Jay has been keeping you guys up to date with everything going on over at TD Jaguars Pod. Uh so make sure you follow us over there as well as him at sportsgrind underscore Don D-O-N. So, folks, thank you so much. My name is Phil Barrera. That is my co-host, James Johnson. Thanks for tuning in to Touchdown Jaguars, and we'll see you next week after the draft. Take care, y'all.

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Touchdown Jaguars!

James Johnson/Phil Smith

James Johnson and Phil Smith from The Jaguars Wire (USA Today) bring you the best and most up to date Jacksonville Jaguars news. “Touchdown Jaguars!” is a tribute to the prospective ownership group “Touchdown Jacksonville!” In 1991, the NFL announced plans to add two expansion teams and “Touchdown Jacksonville!” announced its bid for a team, and Jacksonville was ultimately chosen as one of five finalists. In November 1993, the NFL owners voted 26–2 in favor of awarding the 30th franchise to Jacksonville. James and Phil have been fans of the franchise ever since and have had the honor (and sometimes dishonor) of covering the team professionally since 2017. The rest as they say, is history.

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