Confusing picks, a 'dream' selection, and missed value: The Athletic slams Jacksonville's draft haul as the league's worst.
After trading up to acquire Travis Hunter last year, the Jacksonville Jaguars were left without a first-round pick for the 2026 NFL draft, but had 11 other selections to work with.
After a series of picks that didn't quite match up with the players' draft positions and actual big-board rankings, The Athletic has named the Jaguars the team with the worst overall draft haul, ranking 32 of 32.
While this ranking may seem harsh, the Jaguars did make some confusing selections during the draft. Despite that, The Athletic still has Jacksonville as the tenth-best team in the NFL, dropping just one spot on their power rankings post-draft.
Jacksonville began the series of "reaches" by drafting Texas A&M tight end Nate Boerkircher with the No. 56 selection.
Boerkircher had just 38 catches in five college seasons, with the majority of his production coming last year.
During his lone season in College Station, Boerkircher recorded 19 receptions for 198 yards and three touchdowns.
Following the pick, both head coach Liam Coen and general manager James Gladstone gave their reasoning for drafting Boerkircher in the second round when he was projected to be a late third- to fourth-rounder.
"I did have a vision at night, so I guess it's a dream, that we were taking him [Boerkircher]" Coen said. "I don't remember where it was at or what pick or anything, I just remember that it was somebody we've had a lot of like for for a long time and then you saw that run of tight ends go, and so I'm kind of glad we did it."
Gladstone explained that their front office and decision makers had an "internal sentiment" that a run of "heavier" tight-ends would come in that late-second to early-third range and wanted to make sure they got their guy.
"He was the one we were hunting up and we weren't going to allow that [run] to ever be something that we risk," Gladstone said.
In the rankings, The Athletic's Dane Brugler was more intrigued with Jacksonville's fifth-round TE selection, Tanner Koziol, who's "pass-catching talent can give Trevor Lawrence a weapon."
Koziol is the exact opposite type of tight end than Boerkircher, as the First-Team All-Big 12 Conference performer led all FBS tight ends with 74 receptions, adding 727 yards and six touchdowns.
If anything, Koziol projects as more of a day-one contributor than Boerkircher, which adds another wrench into why Jacksonville picked him so early.
In the third round, the Jaguars made perhaps the only "value" pick of their draft class, selecting OG Emmanuel Pregnon in the third round.
Pregnon started all 15 games last season, earning First-team AP All-American honors and was perhaps the best offensive lineman on an Oregon team that made it to the second round of the College Football Playoff and finished as a finalist for the best offensive line in college football.
Of the 10 draft picks Jacksonville made, Pregnon projects as one of the only talents who will be competing for a starting job right away.
Following Pregnon, the Jaguars returned to making confusing selections, drafting Maryland CB Jalen Huskey at pick No. 100 despite his sixth-seventh round projection.
While Gladstone expressed major confidence following the draft, saying he nailed all ten selections, the way that Jacksonville went about getting the players they were high on was inefficient.
With the Jaguars propensity to make moves, it was surprising to see such massive reaches being taken without trading down to acquire both the targeted player and additional draft compensation.
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