That was all pretty anticlimactic.<\/p>\n
The 2026 NFL Draft concluded Saturday, with the Jacksonville Jaguars drafting 10 players and starting in the second round for the first time ever. It was by no means the flashiest draft of all time, but one that looks to round out a roster that was a few plays away from a playoff win in the first year under new management. As Big Cat Country ourselves so eloquently put earlier in the week,\u201cthat was certainly one of the drafts of all time<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Let\u2019s take a look at winners and losers from the most recent Jags draft, the first of its kind to not feature a first-round pick but certainly not the first draft to be deemed potentially the worst ever.<\/p>\n The serious winners after the draft should be fans of the run game and the team\u2019s premier running backs themselves, Bhayshul Tuten and Chris Rodriguez Jr.<\/p>\n Jacksonville not only didn\u2019t draft or acquire another running back but they instead opted to draft two tight ends, highlighted by second round selection Nate Boerkircher who comes from the Chris Manhertz school of mauling people at the line. The Jags then drafted maybe their best player of the bunch in Oregon offensive guard Emmanuel Pregnon, who some thought could have been drafted dozens of picks earlier.<\/p>\n Establishing the run sets up the pass, and vice versa, while protecting the quarterback at the line of scrimmage is how championships are won. From that standpoint, the Jags knocked it out in the draft and made it clear they think that with a little help up front, Tuten and Rodriguez can help run the ball to victory.<\/p>\n Beefing up the front also leads into what can be considered our second winner\u2026<\/p>\n People ho Say Travis Hunter Should Play More Defense<\/p>\n If you\u2019re of the mind that second-year unicorn player Travis Hunter should play mostly defense, you might just be in luck. By drafting with a 12-personnel (two receivers, one running back and two tight ends) scheme in mind, the Jags now have a little bit less of a need for Hunter to play as much receiver. Coming off an injury suffered last year, using even slightly more 12-personnel could help extend Hunter\u2019s usefulness by keeping him more on one side of the ball. If Jacksonville is to have just two receivers on the field a decent bit, it stands to reason that Hunter will be off the field.<\/p>\n Also, the Jags didn\u2019t attack the cornerback market in free agency or the draft, so there is still a need for help on that side of the ball. If you are a Hunter At Corner truther, these past few days might have given you a huge boost in Twitter arguments.<\/p>\n The Nothing Ever Happens Believers<\/p>\n So much for the Jags making a splash in the first round.<\/p>\n As always, there was a bit of smoke that maybe Jacksonville would package some picks and move into the later stages of the first round. There was talk that maybe the Jags were about to draft the running back of the future in a guy like Jadarian Price out of Notre Dame, whom the Seattle Seahawks ended up taking at 32nd overall. General Manager James Gladstone got heavily aggressive in his first draft by trading the team\u2019s future first-round pick for Hunter, so why not do it again this year?<\/p>\n Instead, the Jags did\u2026 Well\u2026 Nothing.<\/p>\n Jacksonville stuck with the 56th overall pick and took Boerkircher, who may or may not have been a reach. They stayed put and later took Pregnon. It wasn\u2019t until the fourth round that Jacksonville made any sort of aggressive move, and all it was was trading up a handful of spots to select EDGE Wesley Williams. For those who believe nothing ever happens, you too got proven right during this draft.<\/p>\n There is also a bit of a cyclical nature to the draft, especially when it surrounds the Jags. Almost every draft is the \u201cworst draft ever\u201d and this one is certainly no exception. Maybe the Jags are always destined to draft in a weird way and it should never come as a surprise when the team takes a blocking tight end with their first selection. Nothing ever happens, after all.<\/p>\n At the end of the day, this is a franchise that took C.J. Henderson and Taven Bryan with first-round selections, so at least there seems to be palpable analytics behind what transpired with this draft class. As for splashy moves, or moves of any kind, that will be saved for next year. Or the year after that. Or the year after that. Or the\u2026<\/p>\n Now we can get into the not-so-humorous part of the draft: who the hell are half these guys?<\/p>\n If you had Boerkircher on your draft board as a serious target for the Jags, I wouldn\u2019t believe you. If you were always super high on the upside of Albert Regis as a third-rounder, I wouldn\u2019t believe you. Pregnon is one thing, but there is no way anyone could convince me they had this draft looking like this. Looping back to the above point, with no splashy moves came no splashy names.<\/p>\n Speaking of Henderson, the Jags have been spurned before by drafting pseudo-stars with name recognition, so maybe drafting data-driven roster-rounders isn\u2019t a bad approach. But with all respect given to our boy Boerkircher, I don\u2019t think I was the only one who wasn\u2019t exactly chomping at the bit to buy his jersey.<\/p>\n Somewhat jokingly, but somewhat seriously, the NFL doesn\u2019t even have headshots of Stanford wide receiver C.J. Williams (pick 203) and MTSU linebacker Parker Hughes (240) for the Jags website.<\/a> At least we don\u2019t draft like John Lynch<\/a>, but man, it was tough having to text my dad after every selection to justify and explain who some of these guys are.<\/p>\n Tight Ends Not Named Brenton Strange<\/p>\n With a more roster-focused idea in mind, this draft likely marks the beginning of the end of the road for guys like Hunter Long and Quintin Morris. Both players had strong years last year in their own right, but with two new tight ends coming in, it\u2019s hard to see a future for either Long or Morris. Incumbent starter Brenton Strange, however, should have little to worry about.<\/p>\n Strange is TE1 in Jacksonville because he can both block and catch. He showed last year that he can do both things at a high-end level. To help him out, the Jags spent draft capital to alleviate having an extra offensive lineman, or lesser pass catchers like Long and Morris, on the field and will replace them with the likes of Boerkircher or fifth-round tight end Tanner Kozoil.<\/p>\n Neither draft pick has a big resume of pass catching, but their blocking abilities mixed with pass catching upside might just see some of the Jags\u2019 more veteran tight ends out the door.<\/p>\n Strange is fine. The others, likely not so much.<\/p>\n It isn\u2019t often this winners and losers column finds someone in the middle, but after the draft, it\u2019s hard to put Gladstone anywhere else.<\/p>\n