JACKSONVILLE – The process went according to plan, and that was good.

James Gladstone made that clear this week discussing the Jaguars' roster – and the 2026 NFL Draft that concluded this past weekend. He made this clear, too:

His second draft with the organization was enjoyable. Very enjoyable.

"It was an absolute blast, this cycle," he said.

Gladstone, in his second offseason as the Jaguars' general manager, joined senior writer John Oehser for this week's post-2026 NFL Draft O-Zone Podcast. He discussed multiple topics, including what made this past weekend productive – and "a blast."

"It's really a window of time where we're all connected," he said. "It's the portion of the year where so many people are involved in the decision-making process, being in the bunker with the coaches and the scouts – the analytics members that we rely heavily on …

"Going to miss the fact that we're all so tied together. That's stuff that's special. Those are moments that because they're fleeting, you want to hang on to. But we look forward to ramping things back up now that we're moving into the next cycle."

Gladstone, too, discussed the concept of "consensus" as it relates to the draft.

"I listen to what's being said about players in a very real way," he said. "I care about it. I listen to those in this building and the people that we invited into this building. – and what their perspective is on these players. We build consensus internally. That is leveraged at every pick point.

"Our 'wisdom of the collective' is how we phrase it. It's what guides our decision-making. When we get on the clock, we're looking at the draft board and we see on it our sentiment and Duval DNA. Those are the two North Stars, so to speak."

Gladstone during the discussion also addressed having described the Jaguars' approach in the '26 draft – particularly their approach with their first selection, No. 56 overall – as "strategically bold."

The Jaguars explored trading up from the selection before staying there and selecting tight end Nate Boerkircher from Texas A&M.

The Jaguars, after entering the draft with 11 selections, executed two trades and finished the weekend having selected 10 players.

"We were being very targeted in the routes we would take to potentially move up from our position at 56 overall," Gladstone said. "We weren't going to overextend ourselves in that offering. Through that, we ended up with 10 selections.

"We knew we wanted to stay in the double-digit realm if at all possible while at the same time try to target guys we wanted to – and had circled in advance. A higher volume of draft capital was in fact what we were pursuing.

"Those were basically the dueling strategies coming into this draft on whether there was going to be an opportunity to strike and move up versus go ahead and lean into the volume."

To listen to the entire O-Zone Podcast with Gladstone, please click here.