The Jacksonville Jaguars were one of the best teams in the entire NFL in 2025, and they seemed to have a golden opportunity to build on their AFC South division title in the 2026 offseason.
But they might have blown it.
The Jaguars are in one of the most competitive divisions in football, and they certainly don't have any reason to rest on their laurels after an early exit from the playoffs. With what we've seen so far this offseason, it really feels like the Jaguars have missed a golden opportunity to get better and take that next step toward contending for the first Super Bowl in franchise history.
FanSided's Cody Williams recently graded every NFL team's offseason moves and gave the Jaguars the lowest grade in the entire league: D. What led to the Jaguars getting such a low grade, and what was their thinking on that approach this offseason?
Jaguars receive NFL's lowest offseason grade from FanSided NFL expert
Here's what Williams had to say about the Jaguars' offseason, and how they might have blown a golden opportunity:
"It was a breath of fresh air a year ago when young Jacksonville Jaguars general manager James Gladstone made one gusty decision after another. It also might've been the worst thing for this offseason. After many of those moves paid off with a playoff berth, the Jags lost quite a bit in free agency and seemingly didn't do nearly enough to replace the losses. And that's before you get to their draft, where they made some of the biggest reaches of the entire proceedings."
- Cody Williams, FanSided.com
To say the Jaguars didn't do enough to replace their losses in NFL Free Agency might be an understatement at this point.
Running back Travis Etienne had 1,399 yards from scrimmage last season and 13 total touchdowns, and did some of the best work we've seen from him as a receiver with six receiving touchdowns. The Jaguars let Etienne leave for the Saints in free agency, and the only real substantial move they made to replace him was with Chris Rodriguez Jr., a backup of the Commanders last season.
Linebacker Devin Lloyd was also one of the most productive players at his position in the NFL last season, racking up 81 total tackles, five interceptions, and 10 quarterback hits. He was a big reason why the Jaguars had such a resurgence on the defensive side of the ball, and he was just allowed to walk on a very reasonable deal with the Panthers in free agency.
And it just feels like the Jaguars really don't have a great answer for replacing either of those guys. It feels like they are taking some big risks on in-house player development with guys who haven't shown anything, and almost like they let players like Etienne and Lloyd walk just because GM James Gladstone didn't draft them.
The same can be said of the somewhat random decision to trade Maason Smith, a 2nd-round pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.
And of course, the Jaguars' NFL Draft class was not well thought of by pretty much anyone in the NFL Draft community. The decision to take a huge swing on Travis Hunter was celebrated last year, but the strategy of loading up on players who were ranked way lower by the consensus didn't impress anyone.
If the Jaguars are going to build on what they started last season, they're going to need a lot of players to make James Gladstone look really smart. And it appears he's banking on that.
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