Jaguars general manager James Gladstone doesn’t view this week’s moves to acquire safety Jessie Bates, defensive tackle Jordan Davis and defensive tackle Davon Godchaux the same way many others in the football world have characterized them.
Gladstone returned the team’s 2027 first- and second-round picks, 2028 fifth- and sixth-round picks and 2029 second-round picks in three Monday trades, which were positioned as going all-in to maximize the team’s Super Bowl chances after a 6-2 start. At a news conference Tuesday, Gladstone said he wouldn’t “necessarily” use the same framing and said he would describe the team’s approach as always “improving as a football team and prioritizing improvement as a football team.”
Another popular response was that Gladstone adopted his former Rams boss Les Snead’s “F them picks” to build the team’s Super Bowl LVI winners and subsequent teams. Gladstone noted that the Rams have made numerous picks during his stay from 2017-2024 and that he is still considering the compensatory draft process during free agency as a way to supplement assets that can be used in a variety of ways.
“It is a very symbiotic process it encompasses many layers, but it’s certainly not ‘It’s up to them,'” Gladstone said. “While that has been characterized as the approach, that’s not necessarily the case — we actually value choices. We don’t always use them on the three days that exist in April.
Gladstone also acknowledged that “part of it” is acquiring known commodities rather than betting on the unknown trajectories of draft picks. There’s also a gamble in the Jaguars’ approach and how that is rewarded will be a big part of Gladstone’s ultimate legacy in Jacksonville.
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