NFL DraftNFL DraftAs the rest of the league largely played it safe in the first round of the draft, the Jaguars and their new general manager went all in for Colorado’s special two-way star
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By Nora PrinciottiApril 25, 5:01 am UTC • 5 min
No one picks a blazer over a hoodie as their fit for their first draft as an NFL general manager not to make an impression.
Early Thursday evening, I’d bet even some well-versed NFL fans couldn’t have named James Gladstone, the 34-year-old rookie general manager of the Jaguars (who, for the record, at least didn’t add a tie, à la Adam Schefter, to his ensemble). Heck, he’s still not even the first James Gladstone who shows up on my Google search—that’s James N. Gladstone, MD, who has a 4.9-star rating if you ever need an orthopedic surgeon in the Upper East Side of New York, for the record. But less than 20 minutes into the first round of the draft, Gladstone made the biggest move of the night, orchestrating a trade that could define his career and Jacksonville’s next era.
In a trade that Jacksonville had been discussing with Cleveland over the past two weeks (with the framework settled days before the draft), Gladstone and the Jags sent the Browns nos. 5 and 36 (in the second round), no. 126 (fourth round), and their 2026 first-rounder to move up three spots to no. 2 to draft Colorado wide receiver and cornerback Travis Hunter. As part of the trade, the Browns also sent the Jaguars picks 104 (fourth round) and 200 (sixth round).
In terms of value, it’s roughly comparable to the trade the Jets made in 2018, also to move up three spots near the top of the first round, from no. 6 to no. 3 (where they drafted quarterback Sam Darnold). Trades for quarterback prospects near the top of the first round are always expected to command a major premium, but the Jags could easily wind up giving up more draft capital than the Jets did, depending on where their first-round pick next year falls. Not that Gladstone is fussing over that.
“I’ve probably got some familiarity with the ‘F them picks’ sort of process,” Gladstone, who previously worked under Les Snead with the Rams, said Thursday night. “So for our fans, I’ll tell you, don’t be scared; this is something I’m uniquely positioned to navigate.”
Hunter’s unique dual-threat ability also justified the haul, according to Gladstone. Hunter was Colorado’s leading receiver last season, with 1,258 yards and 15 touchdowns. He also led the team in interceptions, with four, and played well over 100 snaps per game because of his work on both sides of the ball. His college football career is already historic—Hunter won the Heisman Trophy, the Biletnikoff Award as the nation’s top receiver, and the Bednarik Award as the nation’s best defensive player. Besides the haul the Jaguars spent to move up, Hunter’s draft slot suggests he was viewed as a historic prospect—he’s the highest-drafted cornerback in the modern era and the highest-drafted receiver since Calvin Johnson went no. 2 in 2007.
“He is someone who is worthy of a first-round pick as a wide receiver, and he is worthy of a first-round draft pick as a corner,” Gladstone said.
Still, Hunter’s unique role will present challenges for the Jaguars’ new regime. He’s been adamant that he wants to continue playing regularly on both offense and defense. The Jaguars are planning for him to do so, though he’ll likely get more snaps on offense.
“It’s a little bit more than ‘We’ll see,’ but we do have to be fluid throughout. We’ll have a plan right now of [him playing] primarily on offense, with learning the defensive system and practicing on the defensive side of the ball as well throughout the offseason program,” new Jaguars head coach Liam Coen said Thursday after the pick was made.
It figures the Jags’ plan would focus on offense. Coen is an offensive head coach, and the priority in Jacksonville under his and Gladstone’s new leadership is getting the offense right with quarterback Trevor Lawrence, who will now have Hunter to pair with Brian Thomas Jr., last year’s first-round receiver. Hunter, too, has more incentive to prioritize work as a receiver—not just because the Jags need him to but because long term, that’s where he can make more money.
But as long as he wants to do both, and the Jaguars are open to letting him try, the question will be how he’ll shoulder the mental load of preparing for two positions and the physical toll of playing additional snaps at the NFL level. If Hunter is focusing on offense, he’ll probably spend most of his time in those meeting rooms. At the same time, it’s easier to isolate a package of plays for an offensive player than a defensive one because of the reactive nature of defense. If Hunter is expecting to thrive as a defensive back guarding pro receivers, he’ll have to figure out how to fit a significant amount of week-to-week study into his prep.
Coen said he’d had many conversations with his staff, especially Jags employees working in athletic training and sports science, about the physical side of Hunter’s quest to play both ways, about how the organization can support Hunter. Both Coen and Gladstone brought up the fact that Hunter so badly wants to keep playing on both sides as a reason for their conviction that he’s a special player and the type of competitor they think can make a strong impact in their locker room.
Hunter is a special player. On a night when the rest of the league mostly played it safe, in a draft seen around the league as mostly underwhelming, particularly for quarterbacks and skill-position players, the Jaguars are one of the few teams that can walk away from the first round feeling electrified, with the real possibility of having done something that could change the direction of the franchise.
“Along the way—you can count however many drafts you want to—there are players who have the capacity to alter a game,” Gladstone said. “There are players who have the capacity to alter the trajectory of a team. There are very few players who have the capacity to alter the trajectory of the sport itself. Travis, while he has a lot to still earn, in our eyes, has the potential to do just that.”
It’s now on the Jaguars to not screw this up. The mental strain could be too much on a young player. Hunter’s body could wear down quickly. He could wind up at odds with the team over how to manage his dual roles. If he winds up playing mostly one way, he’ll have to be enormously successful to justify his draft position and the capital spent to trade up for him.
But Gladstone said he couldn’t be motivated by the fear of what could go wrong.
“Over the course of your life, you probably experience moments in which you didn’t do something out of fear, and you also experience the moments that you sort of take the leap,” Gladstone said. “You begin to level and balance the sensations that come with each, and I know that every step that I didn’t take that related to fear, I regretted. So that’s not something I intend on doing the rest of my life.”
Every NFL fan will want to watch what Hunter does next fall. For now, a few are probably getting more familiar with Gladstone’s game.
Nora Princiotti covers the NFL, culture, and pop music, sometimes all at once. She hosts the podcast ‘Every Single Album,’ appears on ‘The Ringer NFL Show,’ and is The Ringer’s resident Taylor Swift scholar.
