{"id":246483,"date":"2026-04-25T18:51:24","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T18:51:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/246483\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T18:51:24","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T18:51:24","slug":"jaguars-trade-up-to-select-duke-edge-rusher-wesley-williams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/246483\/","title":{"rendered":"Jaguars Trade Up To Select Duke Edge Rusher Wesley Williams"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Jaguars have moved up five spots to No. 119 overall, trading with the Panthers to select Duke edge rusher Wesley Williams<\/a>. In addition to, the pick that landed Williams, Jacksonville received the 196th pick from Round 6, sending pick Nos. 124 (fourth round) and 166 (fifth round) in exchange.<\/p>\n

The Jaguars had a clear goal of improving the depth of their defensive line in April. Jacksonville had re-signed Dennis Gardeck<\/a> earlier on in the offseason, keeping him off the free agent market, but they weren\u2019t able to do the same with Emmanuel Ogbah<\/a> or Dawuane Smoot<\/a>. Days before the draft, they swapped out defensive tackle Maason Smith<\/a> for Ruke Orhorhoro<\/a>, and now, after adding Aggie defensive tackle Albert Regis<\/a> yesterday, Williams joins the fold.<\/p>\n

Williams will be heading to Duval after four years at Duke. After redshirting his freshman year, Williams became an immediate factor in Year 2. He began his redshirt freshman year coming off the bench, but quickly started to earn a bigger role, starting three games and leading the team\u2019s edge rushers in snap share. A breakout 2024 campaign put him on the map as a pass rusher as he recorded 7.5 sacks and 13.5 tackles for loss. His production took a slight step back in 2025, but he remained a reliable starter for the ACC champion Blue Devils.<\/p>\n

In Jacksonville, Williams projects as a rotational defensive end who shouldn\u2019t need much seasoning before getting involved. Williams plays with tenacity while still knowing his role in the greater defensive scheme. He\u2019s quick and strong but lacks top end speed to chase plays and can be a little stiff in his pass rush. His biggest impact in Duval may come on special teams. He blocked four field goals and a punt during his time with the Blue Devils.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Jaguars have moved up five spots to No. 119 overall, trading with the Panthers to select Duke…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":37745,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[54521,7600,116,118,121,117,15995,108356],"class_list":{"0":"post-246483","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-2026-nfl-draft","9":"tag-carolina-panthers","10":"tag-jacksonville","11":"tag-jacksonville-headlines","12":"tag-jacksonville-jaguars","13":"tag-jacksonville-news","14":"tag-transactions","15":"tag-wesley-williams"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246483"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246483\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}