As Jaguars go all-in for Super Bowl, it's time to praise them – and bury them | Opinion
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I come to bury James Gladstone but also to praise him. For now.
The Jacksonville Jaguars’ second-year general manager indulged his hyper-aggressive tendencies on Nov. 9, acquiring safety Jessie Bates III and defensive tackles Jordan Davis and Davon Godchaux in an obvious bid to further fuel his team’s championship aspirations. And why not? The Jags are one of four NFL franchises to never appear in a Super Bowl – and if they fail to play on Valentine’s Day this season, it won’t be for lack of trying.
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“We don’t give enough credit or enough discussion about the Jags,” former NFL head coach and current NFL Network analyst Steve Mariucci said Monday on “NFL GameDay Final.” “Rodney Dangerfield, get no respect. Nobody talks about those guys.
“What did they do? They said, ‘This is a window for us to win the darned Super Bowl. Let’s load up our defense, because in the playoffs we’re gonna be playing against some great quarterbacks, some MVP, great Hall of Fame-type quarterbacks.’”
Likely true. The Jaguars, who went 13-4 while winning the AFC South last year, couldn’t escape their wild-card round matchup in Jacksonville against Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills, who are currently locked in a race with the Jags in a bid for this year’s No. 1 playoff seed in the AFC.
And yet as focused as Gladstone, 36, is on reaching for the brass ring, he’s also drawn a clear line between himself and Philadelphia Eagles personnel czar Howie Roseman, with whom he brokered his biggest deal Monday. Moving forward, Jacksonville’s title opportunity is quite likely akin to a fleeting aperture, while Roseman's Lombardi bay window could look out on the league for another decade or so … after this year’s remodeling is done of course.
Should we fault Gladstone for trying to shed glory on a franchise that’s rarely won, has long had one foot in Europe and – next year – will have both feet in Orlando while EverBank Stadium’s $1.4 billion renovation is presumably completed? Not at all, even if only 42,000 fans can currently occupy the venue for what Gladstone and Co. hope are five more home dates this season, which presumes the Jags secure that top seed and win their playoff opener. After 31 mostly fruitless seasons, is this the time to strike with Trevor Lawrence belatedly justifying expectations that he could become a generational quarterback under the stewardship of second-year head coach Liam Coen? Yeah, probably.
But as far as what the people of Duval County should expect in 2028, when their stadium reopens in hopes of filling its 65,000 or so seats?
▶ They should expect that CB/WR Travis Hunter is an impact player and performing at a level commensurate with the contract extension he'd be positioning himself for by then. Whether that actually happens is anyone’s guess. Right now, the guy who was a two-way star for the University of Colorado and won the 2024 Heisman Trophy has decidedly not lived up to expectations after Gladstone surrendered a package to the Cleveland Browns that included two first-round picks and one in Round 2 in order to get Hunter with the No. 2 pick of the 2025 draft. Hunter has been better in Year 2 after an injury-curtailed rookie season, but that’s hardly an achievement. He’s not Darrelle Revis or Jalen Ramsey yet − not even close − but is starting for a foreboding defense. Offensively, he has seven catches this year. Gladstone needs him to truly flourish to justify the buy-in.
▶ They shouldn’t expect to still have coordinators Grant Udinski (offense) and Anthony Campanile (defense), who both interviewed for head jobs earlier this year, and will almost certainly land ones in the next year or two. How effectively Gladstone and Coen, who’s emerging into a superstar in his own right, are able to reload the staff remains an unknown that’s likely to be tested in short order.
▶ They should expect WR Parker Washington to remain their primary offensive weapon … after Gladstone is obligated to sign him to a massive extension next year after Washington – wisely – turned down a less lucrative offer a few months ago. And don’t forget, Gladstone acquired WR Jakobi Meyers at last year’s trade deadline for fourth- and sixth-round picks before signing him to a three-year, $60 million extension. The team’s approach to the receiver position is all the more befuddling given the investment in Hunter and Jacksonville’s apparent unwillingness to trade Brian Thomas Jr., who’s regressed from blossoming star as a rookie in 2024 to almost completely faded from the game plan nowadays.
▶ They should not expect this team to have a deeply set foundation. The Hunter trade has already limited the Jags’ ability to import quantity from the past two drafts, though getting RB Bhayshul Tuten in the fourth round last year was a heist. But Gladstone has no first- or second-round pick next year, Bates costing him the latter selection at extreme cost given the 29-year-old will be a free agent next year, same as Godchaux.
▶ They should not expect Davis to be the second coming of John Henderson or Marcus Stroud. Yet Roseman extracted a 2027 first-rounder and 2029 second-rounder from Gladstone for Davis, a good player, though hardly a dominant one and with nary a Pro Bowl nod on his résumé.
▶ Barring a Super Bowl MVP or some such, they should not expect the Bates trade to age well. Make no mistake, he's a cagey player and first-rate leader. But giving up Round 2 (2027) and Round 5 (2028) selections for what might be a rental of a dozen games is unlikely to look wise in hindsight (if not foresight). Perhaps worse, the Buffalo Bills basically paid the same price Tuesday for another high-end safety, Amani Hooker (formerly of the Tennessee Titans) ... who also happens to be under contract through the 2028 season. Woof.
Eagles' Howie Roseman takes anti-Jags route
Jacksonville's approach seems almost diametrically opposed to that of Roseman, who tends to stockpile draft picks, nails a good percentage of the selections he makes and locks up his home-grown players with early extensions, all while maintaining the flexibility to target players like A.J. Brown in a trade or Saquon Barkley in free agency without seemingly ever crippling the roster.
And, yes, the Eagles’ 2026 season has gone south for a variety of reasons. But Roseman is now in the process of laying the groundwork for the next iteration of the team. After spinning off Brown, Davis and offensive lineman Cam Jurgens over the past five months, Roseman has 10 total picks in the first two rounds of the next three NFL drafts. The ability to maximize and replenish his assets is why Roseman has positioned the Eagles, who have reached the Super Bowl three times in the past nine seasons and won it twice, alongside John Schneider’s Seattle Seahawks as the NFC’s most dominant organizations of the 21st century.
Based on the course they’ve charted, it's hard to envision the Jaguars achieving such consistent longevity. Gladstone, who worked in the Los Angeles Rams’ front office for nine years before coming to Jacksonville and was part of the 2021 Super Bowl winners, has taken former boss Les Snead’s “F--- them picks” to a new level. While the Jaguars are almost certainly better now than they were 10 days ago – when they lost starting safety Eric Murray and highly regarded defensive tackle DaVon Hamilton to season-ending injuries – Gladstone is also paying (overpaying?) for players without the pedigree to have nearly the same impact of stars like Ramsey, Von Miller or, certainly, Matthew Stafford, major difference-makers Snead once successfully imported at adjacent price points.
It’s a major – and quite possibly myopic – gamble for an organization that’s won one playoff game since the start of the 2018 season. And potentially a very costly one that will reverberate well into the future if Gladstone and the Jags have miscalculated.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: As Jaguars go all-in for Super Bowl, it's time to praise them – and bury them | Opinion