Jaguars voice breaks down GM James Gladstone's peculiar draft mantra

The Jacksonville Jaguars hired James Gladstone as their general manager because they believe he can put together a contending roster and help them get to the promised land. The 2025 NFL Draft will give him a chance to showcase his skills as an evaluator, and one thing he'll be looking for is "intangible rich" prospects, but what does he mean by that? Austen Lane of Action News Jax recently delved into it.

Lane broke down the meaning of intangible rich prospects, using the Los Angeles Rams' recent draft classes as a reference point.

"When we talk about intangible rich players and intangible rich players, like, Dude, this is his ethos, this is his religion. This is what he believes in," Lane told cohost Jason Hamby. "Let's look at how the draft went last year for Los Angeles Rams. Who they draft first? Jared Verse, production, where was he in production score, do you think? He was second? If you take him once again, this is like the next gen analytic thing. If you take his production score from his position, he was second. That's intangibly rich."

Lane continued, "Well, then let's go to the next one, Braden Fisk. What was Braden Fisk's big thing out of college? He's a little undersized, you know? I mean, he's athletic, but he's got some smaller hands, short arms, how is it going to work? Ran a 4.78, 9,9 in the broad jump. Where was his production score? It was third at defensive tackle. Next pick, maybe some people want to say, Oh, why do they really take him? Did they really need him?"

"Who's the next pick? Do you know Hamby? Blake Corum. Now, if you look at production score here, it's down the list a little bit. But who led the FBS and touchdowns in 2024? Did he have a great combine? Yeah, four or five at a running back. Not bad, right? 35-inch vertical, not two. Size. 5'8", 205 pounds, whatever. Did he have the stats to back it up?"

Lane goes on to break down defensive back Kamren Kitchen's production score to further solidify the case that Gladstone will use a similar approach to draft players in Jacksonville.

Gladstone's constant mention of intangible rich prospects was brought up during his latest exchange with the local media. He said that what he means by that is he's targeting players with physical and mental toughness.

Below's the clip of Lane breaking down the meaning of intangible rich players.

The Jaguars are giving James Gladstone carte blanche to rebuild the roster

While general manager Les Snead is the man calling the shots, the Rams have stated many times that Gladstone had a big say in their personnel decisions. Now with the Jags, he'll use a similar approach to revamp their roster. In fact, he brought collaborator Jake Tamme with him to implement his vision.

Back in Los Angeles, Tamme built the "Joint After Action Review System." He'll surely develop a similar system for the Jaguars.

It's hard to tell how things played out, but there's no doubt that the approach Trent Baalke took didn't work, so it makes sense to give James Gladstone's philosophy a shot. After all, it worked for the Rams, there's also a chance it will be successful in Jacksonville. We'll find out soon.

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