As the Jacksonville Jaguars approach the 2025 NFL Draft this week, fans can take heart in the fact that, so far, the new triumvirate of James Gladstone, Liam Coen, and Tony Boselli have done exactly what they've said they were going to do.
The first thing they promised from a personnel standpoint was to "raise the floor" of the organization. Fans are free to interpret the exact meaning of that phrase. But, it seems pretty clear in light of their actions that free agency was primarily about adding depth, competition, and a couple of solid starters. By solidifying the roster's bottom half, the Jags have hopefully capped the number of losses they could endure and thereby "raised the floor."
But, limiting worst case scenarios for next season and beyond only do so much for the team's ambitions, and now the Jags must take steps to improve the top half of their roster - they must "raise the roof."
The Jacksonville Jaguars need better "best players"
For years, previous Jaguars regimes attempted to add star players in free agency, and that has proven to be a failed strategy. By using free agency to instead buoy the roster overall, the Jaguars are now free to add star players via the draft, which is a far more sound approach.
And make no mistake, the Jaguars are in desperate need of star players.
Another early talking point from the new Jaguars brass was that the team "wasn't far away." The Jaguars have their quarterback, pass rushers, a stud wide receiver, and a handful of other positions under contract. Most four-win teams don't have so many key positions settled.
Obviously, some would take exception with the notion that the Jaguars' best players outside of BTJ aren't elite, citing Trevor Lawrence, Josh Hines-Allen, and Travon Walker as their three next best players. But, none of those players are thought of as elite at their positions in circles outside of Jacksonville, with Lawrence coming in as low as number 26 on some lists. JHA and Travon Walker are not thought of by many as top 10 players, either.
Throw in players like Tyson Campbell, Walker Little, and Travis Etienne, and you have a core group of top players who fail to shine compared to their counterparts around the league. That's not to say any of those players are bad players. They just haven't shown themselves to be elite, despite what their contracts or draft status might suggest.
In order to compete with the Eagles and Chiefs of the league, the Jags will have to do far more than just solidify their depth and add a few reliable starters. They must now focus on adding elite players.
Of course, for that to work, they have to hit on their draft picks, which is no small feat. It's not as if previous regimes weren't trying to draft well. They just weren't good at it, overall. So, therein lies the rub.
"It's all the same. Only the names will change."Jon Bon Jovi
Building a team through the draft is not a controversial approach. It is the correct approach, as indicated by the years-long free agency experiment that has been the Jacksonville Jaguars. It makes sense, in spite of what fans of the Jaguars have wanted to believe for many years. Teams, for the most part, retain their best players and allow their pretty-good players to get to free agency.
Meanwhile, the Jags have come up short on drafting premium players along the way. The difference between what a star player looks like vs. non-star players was never so well illustrated than by the performance of Brian Thomas, Jr. last year.
THAT is what a great draft pick looks like, and moving forward, those are the types of players that will be required in order to raise the high end expectations for the team.