Jacksonville, Florida – As the brand change, it was a golden opportunity, a chance to show the world of football that Jacksonville jaguars can no longer be rejected as dull and dull. And when the moment has arrived, the instructions of the owner of Jags Shad Khan were clear.
“Let’s make the story,” Khan told his newly hired director general, James Gladstone, 34, causing Giddy applause in the team’s recovery room on Thursday evening. It was 8:13 p.m. he, and an exchange of superproductions that Gladstone had worked 17 days earlier could now be officially executed.
The Tennessee Titans had selected the quarter-Arrière Cam Ward with the first choice of the NFL 2025 draft, deleting the last possible possibility. The Cleveland Browns were on the stopwatch. Within the following 60 seconds, the Jaguars would be.
In an agreement designed to highlight the unveiling of a new era, the jags separated from a package which included choice n ° 5, a selection of second round in 2025 and a first round in 2026 to switch to three places at n ° 2 – with conceptions on the landing of a singular player whom they considered the last editor.
Thirty minutes later, still rushing into the glow to acquire the wide receiver / Cornerback winner of the Heisman trophy, Travis Hunter, Khan, whose team has only made two appearances in the playoffs since he bought the franchise in 2011, explained his euphoria.
“One thing that the jags have always done well is to build project capital,” said Khan. “We were excellent to store the choices. And when it gets there, what should you show for that?
“We need differences. This is what we have. “
Since the revision of its organization after the 2024 season with the hires of the Tony Boselli renowned temple as an executive vice -president of football operations, Liam Coen as a trainer and Gladstone as managing director, Khan has been encouraged by the aggressive – and daring approach to the trio.
“If there is an opportunity to be daring,” said Gladstone to say: “We don’t have a threw.”
On Thursday, wearing a beige sweatshirt under a light green linen blazer, Gladstone walked, ending a three -week process that he and his Cleveland Browns counterpart, Andrew Berry, managed to keep the public kingdom until the hours preceding the project.
Gladstone, the director general of the Rams protégé, the SNEAD, seems to have transported the mantra “F— their choice” to Jacksonville.
___ They choose 💀#Duuval pic.twitter.com/u2squ8kht4
– Jacksonville Jaguars (@jaguars) April 25, 2025
No one in the Jags draft room had a complaint on Thursday evening.
“He’s really a unique player,” said Boselli about Hunter. “In our mind, we obtained two seconds of choice in total this year.”
Hunter emblems the qualities that Gladstone, Coen and Boselli are looking for when they evoke a reset of this franchise often in difficulty. The Jags come out of a miserable 4-13 season which led to the rejection of coach Doug Pederson and, finally, of the director general Trent Baalke.
Gladstone aligned the Draft Digital painting to reflect the desire for the type of player than him, Coen and Boselli Covet. To the right of the name of each player, presented in a good place, is a color coded in color (from 1 to 9) designating “DNA jaguars”, a metric based on the collective evaluation of scouts and coaches. Competitiveness, tenacity and love of football are some of the attributes that invoice in this equation.
The players are divided into vertical columns by position and classified from top to bottom by category – with the most desirable landmarks parked at the top. The category at the top of the table: “Math Changers”, reserved for players Gladstone, Coen and Boselli believe they have a massive impact on the team’s fortune. (The category below: “Math Changers, buyer beware.”)
Over the process, only two players found themselves in the upper column: Hunter and Boisse State Running Back Ashton Jeanty.
Almost certainly, the jags could have stayed at n ° 5 and having taken Jeanty, but he plays a non -premium position (in terms of project value). They had an interest in negotiating to recover additional recovery capital, while obtaining a player whom they considered precious later in the Tour, but they were hardly alone. Most of the teams in the range of four to 15 had similar sensitivities, and the openings that the jags received teams later in the Tour were not too attractive. The brewing of the jags had the impression that other teams were trying to exploit the situation – the knowledge that many teams intended to negotiate – and, perhaps, to test a first managing director to see if they could extract favorable terms.
If this is the case, these efforts were unsuccessful.
“I’m going to say this,” said Boselli. “Undost James to your perils. He is a killer. He is intrepid.”
Three weeks ago, Gladstone transformed the equation and asked Boselli and Coen, during a meeting in the recovery room: “And if we exchange up?
Hunter, he said, is a generational player who could probably strengthen two important positions. In other words, he could change the calculations. Better still, it is an exceptionally fierce worker who is proud to perfect his job, the exact type of tones for the new diet.
“We had looked at his cassette and said on several occasions:” Wow – Can you believe this guy? “”, Recalls Boselli.
Travis Hunter’s bidirectional skills were special enough for the jaguars to move daring on the first evening of the NFL draft. (Ed Zurga / Getty Images)
Said Gladstone: “He had been an armband in my mind. Finally, I expressed it. It was like,” we are so close. We can almost touch it. Why not try to see if we can reach out and catch it? “”
After Boselli and Coen responded favorably, Gladstone called Berry, who lends himself to the discussion. This made sense, given the overall situation of the Browns: still paralyzed by the Deshaun Watson contract, and probably need a quarter of frankness in the very close future, guaranteeing an additional choice of first round for next year would put Cleveland in a better position to achieve this objective – while providing immediate aid to the Browns in the form of the second round selection this year.
On April 7, Gladstone and Berry established the terms of a profession, with two unforeseen events. First, it would only be completed once the Browns were on the chronometer, and only if the titans – or another team, via trade – selected Ward with the first choice. Otherwise, the Browns would remove the profession and take Ward themselves. And second, the owner of each team had to approve the agreement.
When Gladstone relayed all this to Boselli, he replied: “I think it’s time to go talk to Shad.”
Boselli, Gladstone and Coen then went to the Boselli office and called Khan, who listened to the reasoning of the trio: Hunter was special, and that was an opportunity to make a daring gesture that spoke to the new management of the team. It seemed to be Khan, who asked a few questions. Finally, he said to them: “If you think it’s better, let’s do it.”
Jags and Browns maintained their silent pact; Chatting on a possible business only surfaced until Thursday afternoon, around five hours before the start of the project.
Thursday morning, the buzz in the Jags training center was palpable. Gladstone and Boselli converged in the draft room – Gladstone rhythm and caressing football (which has become its custom), Boselli bowing in a chair facing the dashboard – and spoke with enthusiasm the night to come.
“It is a chance for us to highlight the fact that it is a new day in Jacksonville,” said Boselli. “We are not going to be shy. We may not always be right. But we are going to defend something, and we will not be afraid to go out and get what we want. ”
From the start, the jags considered Hunter as a bidirectional perspective. The plan is to use it as a wide receiver when he immerses himself in his professional career – “guess which side of the ball came from our head coach,” said Gladstone, laughing – while creating a packet of plays putting him into play as a cornerback. Finally, if everything goes well, his defensive charge could be increased.
Hunter said that he intended to become the first real, full -time bidirectional player in the NFL in several decades. In Jacksonville, it is quite possible that he will be lucky.
“It’s an organizational effort and we have a plan,” said Coen. “We are delighted with all the things he can do, and this is the kind of guy we want to have in our building.”
As the project project approaches, the new Jags power trio – with Khan, his son Tony and his daughter Shanna – enthusiastically rebounded in the repechage room otherwise not populated, while waiting for the excitement to begin.
Once Gladstone has executed the profession, Hunter was also caught off guard. In addition to an interview with the NFL Scouting combines, the Jags had no communication with the player throughout the project process, and he learned trade in real time.
“What do you know?” Gladstone said to Hunter, “Go ahead and take it. We exchange from n ° 5 to n ° 2, and we do it because you are the one we have driven out. ”
“Yes sir!” Said Hunter with enthusiasm and confidently. “It’s the best decision.”
The call 📱 @Travishunterjr X #Gobuffs pic.twitter.com/vmb1damfco
– Colorado Buffaloes Football (@cubuffsfootball) April 25, 2025
Later, Boselli – The first choice of draft of Jaguars’ history – told Hunter: “Thirty years ago, I was the second choice. … We came after you from the start.”
In the end, the jags obtained their man and made a resounding statement in the process.
(Top Photo: Stacy Revere / Getty Images)
