It didn’t take long for James Gladstone to make a big move as the Jacksonville Jaguars general manager. During his first NFL Draft, in 2025, the first-time GM pulled off a huge trade to move up to No. 2 to select Travis Hunter. The trade, and all of the other moves Gladstone made last year paid off, because the Jags finished 13-4 and were a play away from a playoff win.
The impressive season earned Gladstone and first-year head coach Liam Coen a ton of praise. However, the NFL world is fickle, with criticism coming just as fast as the praise. Gladstone learned that during the 2026 Draft. After a year of praise, the general manager caught heat for his 2026 draft haul.
The most criticized selection was Jacksonville’s first pick, tight end Nate Boerkircher, who was drafted in the second round with the 56th-overall pick. The pick was immediately called a massive reach, and draft analysts were left asking what is Gladstone doing.
While time will tell who is right, Gladstone is starting to get more support for the pick, and the season hasn’t even started yet. In a recent Sports Illustrated piece, NFL writer Conor Orr laid out 100 bold predictions for the 2026 season. One of the predictions was that Nate Boerkircher will prove to be worth a second-round pick.
Nate Boerkircher predicted to prove Jaguars right in rookie season
Orr’s argument for Boerkircher was simple: the tight end will be a day-one contributor for a playoff contender and will emerge as one of the league’s best blocking tight ends as a rookie. The writer actually predicted, “Boerkircher, who went 56th to Jacksonville, will be one of the highest-graded run-blocking tight ends by Pro Football Focus.“
That’s the good about Boerkircher's game that has been highlighted since he was drafted: his blocking. However, there’s also a belief that he has some untapped potential as a receiver that wasn’t on display in college because of how he was used.
While Boerkircher only caught 19 passes for 198 yards with three touchdowns on the Aggie offense last year, he had a separation rate of 86.4 percent, showing that he wasn't targeted enough despite the fact that he was open more often than not.
With the former Texas A&M standout in the fold, the Jaguars can create matchup problems with 12 (two tight ends) and 13 (three tight ends personnel, as they could either deploy him as a blocker or a pass-catcher opposite Brenton Strange.
Liam Coen will certainly find a way to utilize Boerkircher‘s talent if it’s there. The tight end has been making Jacksonville happy with his early performance during the offseason program, so he could be on his way to making James Gladstone look like a genius.
Add us as a preferred source on Google