The Jacksonville Jaguars reluctantly moved on from Trent Baalke after the 2024 season. To replace him, they hired James Gladstone after an extensive search. Following an impressive first week of free agency, the new general manager is bringing someone he's previously worked with to the Jaguars front office.
Seth Walder of ESPN reported that Jacksonville is hiring Jake Temme away from the Los Angeles Rams as their senior vice president of football analytics.
Temme joined the Los Angeles front office in 2018 as their manager of data and analytics. As Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic points out, the former Rams executive isn't "just an analytics and programming/expert but is also familiarized with the football and scouting side.
Rodrigue goes on to say that Temme will help the Jaguars build a version of the JAARS "Joint After-Action Review System."
Great hire for James Gladstone. Jake Temme isn’t just an analytics and programming/code expert but also immersed in football and scouting side. This also tells me Jacksonville is eventually getting its own version of JAARS. Temme helped build it in Los Angeles. Rare program. https://t.co/vs6Q8btyrJ
— Jourdan Rodrigue (@JourdanRodrigue) March 14, 2025
Following the 2024 NFL Draft, Rodrigue wrote a long feature where she describes JAARS as a system that "helps the Rams build out and combine hundreds of thousands of data points that form the DNA strand of any of one prospect profile." Temme created it and will build a similar mode in Jacksonville.
This begs the question, how will Temme and his methodology help the Jaguars? The Rams front office has put an emphasis on later-round picks. Some of it was out of necessity because they traded their first-round pick several years in a row. But even in recent years, when they've kept all or most of their selections, they've still put a premium on later rounds of the draft.
To have an idea, Los Angeles found defensive back Kamren Kinchens and offensive lineman Beaux Limmer in Rounds 3 and 6, respectively, in 2024. The year prior, it was wide receiver Puka Nakua in the fifth round.
Related story: Grading every signing the Jaguars made in 2025
The Jaguars hit it out of the ballpark with Jake Temme
Hiring Jake Temme doesn't guarantee the Jacksonville Jaguars will suddenly have success, but it surely increases their chances. While general manager James Gladstone has no prior experience as a general manager, his track record with the Los Angeles Rams backs him up. And to ensure he's in a position to succeed, he's bringing in someone he's familiar with.
Now, the impact of statistics is up for debate, but as Jourdan Rodrigue pointed out, Jake Tamme is more than just a bookwork. Like Gladstone, he's an intelligent football guy who happens to know about several fields and how to merge them.
Of course, observers might be skeptical of the approach the new regime is employing. Then again, the Jags had traditional football guys at the helm in recent years and it didn't account for much.
Ultimately, it's uncertain if James Gladstone will have success, but the Jacksonville Jaguars deserve lots of praise for letting him implement his vision without interference. It will either work or not, but he'll at least have carte blanch, and that's all he could ask for.
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