Hours before the 2026 NFL Draft, rumors surfaced that the Jacksonville Jaguars were planning to jump into the first round. They ended up staying up at No. 56. However, general manager James Gladstone confirmed in the aftermath that the Jags did make an effort to trade up but ultimately weren't able to pull it off.
Just a few days later, Adam Schefter of ESPN confirmed that Jacksonville did try to move up and shared some jaw-dropping details about their failed (but bold) effort.
The Jaguars wanted to jump into Round 1 and acquire an extra selection
Adam Schefter had Mel Kiper Jr. and Field Yates on his podcast. He said that the Jags made an attempt to get into the first round, adding that they were willing to give up their first but also wanted a second this year because of how stacked the 2027 class is.
"Let me just say this about the Jaguars, and this was something we were not able to get onto the TV broadcast, I would have liked to talk about. They always think outside the box," Schefter told Kiper and Yates (15:48 mark). "One of the things that they thought about this past weekend, and I thought it was very interesting. In every draft, we get a team that sometimes trades a future One for a Two or something to that effect. We saw last year how aggressive the Falcons were trading up to the back into the first round for a future one."
Schefter continued, "The Jacksonville Jaguars actually considered this year trading up back into the first round in a draft that a lot of people didn't love to give away their first round draft pick next year, in the 2027 draft that everybody can't wait for, and because that draft is so coveted and highly anticipated, they wanted the team that was getting their one next year to give them their one this year and an additional day two or three pick."
"So they wanted extra compensation to trade into this draft for next year. Follow that that actually came up. Now, I don't know if there were many other teams that thought about doing that, but the Jaguars actually gave that idea some thought. They didn't go ahead to get it done, but it was something that came up in the Jaguars draft room, and they did not manage to get it done."
For context, the Jags gave up their first-round pick in 2026 as part of the Travis Hunter trade last year. That they still wanted to move into Round 1 shows that they were setting their sights on a specific prospect (maybe defensive tackle Kayden McDonald). On the other hand, general manager James Gladstone was also aware that their first-round pick in 2027 was more valuable than the one they would've gotten if they had traded up.
In the end, they waited until pick No. 56 to select tight end Nate Boarkircher, which raised eyebrows across the league.
The Jaguars would only have traded into Round 1 if they had gotten value
James Gladstone isn't afraid to make a bold swing, and the Jaguars entered the draft with 11 selections, more than enough ammo to take a wild swing. However, he wasn't just going to make a deal for the sake of it. Proof of it is that he wanted a second-rounder as part of the deal.
You could make the case that Gladstone wanted too much, but it didn't hurt to ask. Once he realized that no team was going to cave to his demands, he simply stuck to the plan.
While it's fair to wonder how things would've played out if the Jags had traded up, the truth is that they came out with a promising haul, even if not many NFL analysts are enthused about it.
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