Analyst gives Jaguars worst offseason grade in AFC
· Yahoo Sports
NFL analysts continue to pile on the Jacksonville Jaguars' offseason.
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Tyler Sullivan of CBS Sports recently handed out offseason grades for each AFC team with free agency and the NFL draft behind us.
The Jaguars received a D -- the lowest mark of the 16 teams.
"So, what did the Jaguars actually do this offseason?" Sullivan began. "If anything, they saw talent walk out the door and didn't do much to replenish the holes they left behind."
Let's start with the Jaguars' quiet free agency period. The only outside addition made was bringing in running back Chris Rodriguez. In part, as GM James Gladstone explained, he was mindful of the 2027 compensatory draft picks that the Jaguars are projected to land.
As Gladstone described, those additional picks not only provide greater flexibility in next year's draft, but it also frees up the Jaguars more to make trades if deemed necessary.
This quiet free agency period is also a reflection of where Gladstone believes the roster is at. And just because a departure wasn't directly replaced with a household name, does not mean that those positions are now void of talent.
The Jaguars have remained bullish about Ventrell Miller at linebacker all offseason. Jacksonville has a strong trio of running backs to shoulder that workload, while Travis Hunter will now presumably start at cornerback following Greg Newsome's departure, and Antonio Johnson will step in at starting safety with Andrew Wingard in Arizona.
As far as the draft goes, many analysts were not fans of the Jaguars approach. Relative to the consensus big boards out there, many of the Jaguars' selections were considered "reaches."
That said, each of the Jaguars' selections also allows the Jaguars to counter emerging trends across the NFL. As Liam Coen has mentioned previously, it's all about finding an edge.
"We ended up with four guys who fit the bill for exactly what we're hunting up and feel like we were able to level up in a few different areas that going into 2026, we were really excited about addressing," Gladstone said of the Jaguars' Day 2 picks. "As the trends across the NFL begin to show themselves, not only over the last season, but the back half of the season and what we anticipate being big pieces to the puzzle over the course of this next season I think that was a real reflection of the decisions that we made."
While Gladstone may have gone against the grain this offseason with his roster-building approach, he did help orchestrate a 13-4 season in his first year as GM -- so maybe we should see how things play out first. Whether you like the plan or not, the Jaguars have one in place; they may just be taking an unexpected route to arrive at the destination.
This article originally appeared on Jaguars Wire: 2026 NFL offseason: How does Jaguars grade compare to rest of AFC?