Jaguars rookie quietly thriving (and nobody is paying attention)

As an Air Force veteran myself, I was hyped to see the Jacksonville Jaguars draft Naval Academy graduate Rayuan Lane III in the sixth round (200th overall) of the 2025 NFL Draft. Heck, I might have been more pumped for Lane's pickup than I was for Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter.

Okay, that's a stretch, but it was awesome to see the Jags select a Naval Academy graduate for their backfield.

Lane's draft selection was only possible thanks to a change in the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act, which allows athletes from service academies to pursue professional sports immediately after graduation. This means that Lane's mandatory military service commitment is only paused until after his (hopefully long) NFL career. He'll have to finish at some point, where he'll move from an NFL uniform to a Marine Corps one.

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Jaguars defensive back Rayuan Lane III shines on special teams

Just being a graduate of a military service academy doesn't guarantee you'll be good at football, but it's so far proved true for Rayuan Lane III. He's been utilized almost exclusively on special teams and has managed to stand out, earning himself a special teams game ball in the Jaguars' Week 6 31-28 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs. He's been a tackling machine on special teams.

No stranger to taking guidance from the more experienced, Lane talks about the veteran presence in the safety room around him. "They're awesome," he said (0:08 mark). "We have good vets. All of them take me under their wing. The room is great. We go out, get things to eat, all different kinds of stuff. It's been awesome working with them."

When asked about being a special teams contributor, he continued, "We talk about it every single day. Every single time we're in the meeting room, we want to be the best in the country. So just going out there, practicing like we want to be the best, so that when it comes time for game day, we can show them."

Plus, how cool is it that he played catch with the SecDef?

Final thoughts

Lane will be looking to find more opportunities to play on game day. Despite safeties Andrew Wingard and Eric Murray remaining ahead of Lane on the depth charts, I'd love to see the Jaguars find a way to get No. 25 more snaps on defense. Perhaps as the season moves on—and he keeps shining on special teams—we'll see more of him in the backfield.