For the Jacksonville Jaguars to build something that lasts, James Gladstone’s fingerprints are going to be all over it. That’s the job description for a general manager, and in Gladstone’s first offseason running the show, the Jaguars made enough sharp, aggressive moves to help fuel a 13-4 season under Liam Coen.
A year later, three of those decisions stand out as the kind of bold calls that can define a front office.
One of the earliest tests came with Christian Kirk. The Jaguars had once paid him like a true No. 1 receiver in 2022, and he answered with a 1,000-yard season right away. But injuries changed the picture fast, limiting him to 20 games over the next two seasons and forcing the new regime to decide whether to keep paying for the past or move on.
Gladstone and the Jaguars chose the harder path. They released Kirk, and the Houston Texans sent Jacksonville a 2026 seventh-round pick after word of the move surfaced. That decision cleared cap space and also opened the door for Parker Washington and, later, Jakobi Meyers to slide into bigger roles without the offense missing a beat.
Kirk’s production in Houston told the rest of the story. He finished with 28 catches for 239 yards and one touchdown, while Washington and Meyers both gave the Jaguars far more in the offense last year.
Jacksonville then turned that Texans pick into a trade-up in the sixth round for Baylor receiver Josh Cameron. If Cameron turns into a useful depth piece or a quality return man, the deal only looks better.
At the time, plenty of people blasted the Jaguars for sending a talented receiver to an AFC South rival for a pick that was 15 months away. Now it looks a lot different.
The same basic arc played out with Evan Engram. After his 2023 season - the best single tight end year in franchise history - he was another expensive holdover from the previous era. He also spent much of 2024 injured, which only complicated the decision.
Jacksonville cut him loose, and Engram landed a sizable deal with the Denver Broncos. That move drew plenty of heat, especially because it came alongside the Kirk decision and stripped 402 combined catches from the last three seasons out of the pass-catching group all at once.
But the Jaguars had already seen enough from Brenton Strange to believe they could survive the change. Strange, the former second-round pick and Engram’s backup, delivered quickly.
He was strong in every phase last season, and Jacksonville went 11-1 with him in the lineup. He opened up as a pass-catcher, and his blocking stood out from the first game of the season.
That breakout made the Jaguars look smart in a hurry. Strange was so good in Engram’s old role that Jacksonville made him one of the NFL’s highest-paid tight ends last month, and he enters the 2026 season as one of the team’s most important players.
Gladstone’s work in the secondary has been just as important. In 2025, he made four major moves aimed at reshaping that group, and three of them already look like clear wins.
The first two were the free-agent additions of Jourdan Lewis and Eric Murray. Jacksonville paid Lewis like one of the highest-paid slot cornerbacks ever and gave Murray a bigger deal than many expected, but both players ended up being central to the team’s success. They led a young secondary, made impact plays throughout the year, and are set to remain major pieces.
Then came the trade-up for Travis Hunter in the 2025 NFL Draft. Hunter spent more time at wide receiver than cornerback as a rookie, but the expectation is that his cornerback workload will jump this season. Even after just seven games as a rookie, the NFL already sees him as a future shutdown corner, and he should be a major X-factor for the Jaguars’ defense.
The one move that didn’t land as cleanly was the Tyson Campbell trade. Jacksonville got out from under Campbell’s deal, but Greg Newsome was only so-so before his departure helped the Jaguars land a future sixth-round compensatory pick.
Even with that mixed result, the bigger picture is clear. Lewis, Murray and Hunter were all bold bets, and they helped transform a Jaguars secondary that was one of the NFL’s worst in 2024.
In Other News...
Jaguars Send 3 Pass Rushers To Sack Summit With NFL Elite
The Jaguars are sending three of their top pass rushers to the 2024 Sack Summit from July 9-11, a gathering for NFL edge defenders hosted by Maxx Crosby, Cameron Jordan and Von Miller. Josh Hines-Allen, Travon Walker and Arik Armstead will be among the players in the room, giving Jacksonville a chance to keep its front-line pressure group around some of the leagues most established names while the offseason still has room to shape their next step.
For Hines-Allen, it is another marker of a season in which he was among the leagues most productive pressure players. Walker arrives with the momentum of a recent extension that underscored how strongly the Jaguars still believe in his trajectory, while Armstead enters with a different kind of motivation after a hand injury affected his late-season production. The summit does not answer every question about what Jacksonvilles pass rush will become, but it does put three important pieces of it in the same place at the same time. [Read more 🡒]
Jaguars Veteran Is Forcing A Tough Backfield Decision In Camp
Ameer Abdullah has spent long enough in the league to know how camp battles work, and he is leaning on that experience in Jacksonville. Entering his 12th NFL season, the veteran running back is giving the Jaguars something every training camp needs: a steady hand in a crowded room, plus the kind of versatility that can help in more than one phase of the game. Coaches and teammates have taken notice of the way he works, especially as he helps guide a young backfield.
What makes Abdullah interesting is that his value is not limited to carries. He can help as a pass catcher and on special teams, which gives him a path to stick even as the Jaguars sort through their backfield mix. For a team that has to balance depth, roles and weekly game-day value, Abdullahs case is the kind that can make a late-summer decision tougher than it first looked. [Read more 🡒]
Jaguars Still Have One Huge Arik Armstead Question Up Front
Arik Armstead is still on the Jaguars roster as training camp opens, and for now that keeps one of the bigger questions up front from turning into an immediate roster move. The veteran defensive tackle is heading into the final year of his deal with a $19.385 million cap hit, and none of that money is guaranteed, which is why his status drew so much attention throughout the offseason.
Jacksonville weighed its options, but Armsteads presence on the defensive line still matters to a group that needs stability in the trenches. He also played through a hand injury late last season, and his production tailed off after a strong start, so the Jaguars are left balancing cost, health and value as they head deeper into camp with the decision still hanging over the front of the defense. [Read more 🡒]