Jaguars GM's Top 30 visit strategy proves he has a plan (even it's a crazy one)

The Jacksonville Jaguars are the only NFL team that hasn't had a top-30 visit ahead of the 2025 NFL Draft. And while they've done plenty of work behind the scenes, their peculiar approach has raised eyebrows across the league. Just recently, general manager James Gladstone gave an explanation for the unusual strategy.

Gladstone met with the local media ahead of the draft and said that he doesn't want visits to affect their evaluation process, arguing that there are other ways to evaluate prospects.

"Yeah, I think there's a lot of layers to not doing those facility visits that you all are probably accustomed to, or those top 30 visits, as they're phrased," Gladstone responded when asked why the Jags haven't done any in-person visits. "But that goes back a while for me and my experience. Just think about, let's take it this direction, the implicit bias that can come to life this late in the process, the last player you might sit down with, and how that might differ from the first player you sit down with, knowing that it's closer to the decision that's upcoming."

Gladstone continued, "In addition to that, so much of the work that's done in preparation for these decisions starts years in advance, the source to Intel from those who have lived with these individuals is likely to be more accurate than me sitting down with a prospect for a short period of time and attempting to dissect who that human being is. So I don't know that I have, I don't view myself as having this extreme superpower of deciphering the complexity of a person in an hour, right?"

"I would probably say I can work that in tandem. But there are other mechanisms that we tend to lean into to help us determine whether or not a player is, in fact, a fit for us more than just a singular touch point that would be a top 30 visit. We have a lot of additional mechanisms that we deploy that don't necessarily put us at risk for the rest of the world to know which direction we're heading as well, because so often those become public-facing touch points, at which point you're sacrificing some version of strategy come draft day as well."

The Jags hired Gladstone to replace Trent Baalke as the general manager in the offseason. He joined the Los Angeles front office in 2016 and worked his way up to director of scouting. Below is his exchange with the media. His remarks about the pre-draft visits, or lack thereof, start at the 4:07 mark.

James Glastone has a clear vision to improve the Jaguars

Whether you agree with James Gladstone's approach or not, it's clear that he has a plan to help the Jacksonville Jaguars enjoy short and long-term success. Moreover, he's been given the freedom to implement it, which makes sense given his track record with the Los Angeles Rams.

You could make the case that he's going out of the way to conceal his strategy, but he deserves the benefit of the doubt. After all, many of the things that the organization has tried haven't worked. Trent Baalke and Dave Caldwell had a more traditional approach and failed at their job, so why not do something different?

Granted, meeting with prospects gives teams an idea of their background, and the Jags are passing up the chance to collect additional intel. On the other hand, if they've been putting in their work and meeting with people close to players, it may not matter much.

In the end, though, we'll know in the NFL draft whether the Jaguars' strategy will work out. If it isn't, they can just rethink the strategy next year. But if it's successful, expect other teams to follow their blueprint.

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