The reports are blasted out almost hourly in the final run-up to the NFL Draft.
A guard visited the Cincinnati Bengals and New York Giants. A defensive tackle was headed to Charlotte, N.C., and Denver to meet with the Panthers and Broncos, respectively. And a defensive end spent a day apiece with the Atlanta Falcons and Houston Texans.
Teams around the league are taking advantage of their “top 30,” visits, which allows them to host up to 30 prospects to cross final T’s and dot final I’s.
The Jacksonville Jaguars are doing the same … albeit with a different approach. They are not doing top 30 visits. They are doing video conferences with prospects. And they don’t concentrate on sending assistant coaches around the country for on-campus workouts.
The Jaguars Way will be on display when they start the draft with 11 picks (none until No. 56 in the second round).
Instead of spending hours with a prospect, the Jaguars are talking to myriad people in the player’s orbit. And instead of traveling to Pro Days, the Jaguars are spending their time grinding on video and having multiple discussions about said player.
“At the end of the day, we are doing everything we can to understand who these players are and how they fit, starting with the film and how they play the game of football, which is what we’re asking them to do,” executive vice president of football operations Tony Boselli said.
Keeping coaches at home
There is no right way to prepare for a draft. Let’s get that out of the way. Thirty-two teams, 32 approaches.
The Jaguars did not send their top decision makers or any assistant coaches to the scouting combine in Indianapolis. You won’t see them at a school’s Pro Day, either.
“Before we hired James, (owner) Shad (Khan) was very clear in saying, ‘We want to be forward thinking and innovative and we don’t want to stand still in how we approach things,’” Boselli said. “That is James’ approach to a T.”
Gladstone said he is “open” to sending a position coach on the road to work out a player.
But …
“One of the things that I’m really mindful of, though, is trying to keep our coaches in a controlled environment so they can focus their attention on the things we feel like they need to prioritize the most,” Gladstone said. “Sometimes (sending a coach on the road) can impact their rhythm and focus on some of the things we feel like are most (important).”
Translation: Why send a position coach on a 24-hour road trip to work out one player when they can do background work on the prospect by calling those around him and maybe do a video conference with multiple prospects in the same day?
How players are graded
Gladstone arrived from the Los Angeles Rams’ organization on the eve of the February 2025 combine and for most new general managers, their initial draft process is equal parts surviving and thriving. Survive having to connect two ways of executing a draft, but still thriving despite that challenge.
Has Gladstone been able to introduce his grading scale?
“Last year, we were translating and this year, we evolved the grading scale in a collaborative way,” he said. “It wasn’t something where I just said, ‘This is my way of doing it.’ It was a mesh of what I was familiar with and what was already in place.”
So the Jaguars’ grading process is a combination of BG (Before Gladstone) and AG (After Gladstone)?
“We have morphed things into our current mode of operation that does not mirror either of the two that existed previously, my own experience and anybody with the Jaguars,” Gladstone said.
The Jaguars don’t apply a round grade to a player.
“No, because players in the NFL aren’t anything other than ‘starter’ and ‘contributor,’ so we’re within the scope of that,” Gladstone said.
The Jaguars don’t have a set-in-permanent-ink approach to the combine and draft. This is merely the strategy they are using this year.
“We’ll have after-action reports (post-draft) and evaluate everything we did during this process and sit down as an organization and leadership team just like did after the season,” Boselli said. “What it looks like next year? No telling. No different than Year 1 to Year 2 on the field, we will always be evolving, learning and trying to get better.”
Contact O’Halloran at rohalloran@gannett.com
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jaguars go on fact finding missions to learn about draft prospects
Reporting by Ryan O’Halloran, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union / Florida Times-Union
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
