JACKSONVILLE – Let's get to it …
Jadon from Raleigh, NC
Ohh to be a Jags fan. We finished the 2025 season as Nos. 2 or 3 in most power rankings. Now (it's still early and doesn't matter) we're outside most Top 10s. Media people would put the Dallas Cowboys higher than us even if they won no games.
My first instinct was to simply answer this question "Who cares" – and that's my second and third instinct, too. The reality about this topic is precisely the same in mid-to-late March as in the preseason as in the regular season as in the postseason – that power rankings are perhaps the most meaningless, silly and over-discussed element of the NFL. They're up there in this vein with mock drafts. And as silly and meaningless as power rankings are in the regular season, they – unbelievably – are even sillier and more meaningless in the offseason. In the regular season, you at least have some level of evidence of a team's "power" in the form of on-field performance. It therefore makes at least a bit of sense to rank this power. There is nothing to rank in the offseason other than free-agency gains and losses – and considering the year-to-year nature of NFL rosters, this speculation is ridiculously premature. I therefore conclude this old-man rant with a thought familiar to longtime O-Zone readers (and he knows who he is): Don't concern oneself with NFL power rankings, offseason or otherwise. This is not the Southeastern Conference. Where you're "ranked" does not get you into the postseason. It does not determine where you are seeded in the postseason. You play your way in. Once you're there, you win or you lose. Period.
Mikey from TLH
What do you think of the Cleveland Browns' proposal to allow trades involving picks five years into the future? Does it have any chance of passing?
The Browns indeed are proposing a rule change that would allow teams to trade draft selections up to five years in the future, with the current rule allowing teams to trade draft selections up to three years in the future. The rule, which needs approval from 24 of 32 owners at the NFL Meetings in Phoenix, Ariz., late this month, would be a significant change – and the thought here is it would be bad for the league. And for a lot of individual teams. While trading is wonderful, and while allowing teams to trade compensatory selections has increased trades in recent seasons, allowing trades so far in advance as five seasons almost certainly from this view would promote and lead to a lot of reckless behavior on the part of general managers. This behavior could cripple teams years into future. Say, for instance, a general manager desperate to save his job wanted to stack his team's roster for 2026 by trading first-and-second-round selections from 2026-2030. If that general manager and head coach gets fired after the 2026 season, a new regime would be without premium draft selections until 2031. Sometimes NFL owners vote in rules to protect themselves from themselves. Here's hoping they do so in this case and the guess here is they will.
Tony from Johns Creek, GA
O, in regards to evaluating players, there is a use for the NFL Scouting Combine and Pro Days. It's easy to become enamored with 40-yard-dash times and arm strength. Whatever. Game tapes don't lie. Draft the best football player available that fills a need. Go Jags!
OK.
Eric at the Beaches from Jacksonville Beach
I have heard a lot of people talk about how we would handle bringing in another edge and it's always thrown out that they would pivot defensive end Travon Walker inside, part time, to make that rotation work. What about moving defensive end Josh Hines-Allen to linebacker on those plays? His season at lineacker is when he set the franchise record for sacks and it would put three rushers on the field at the same time. I would love to see that!
Hines-Allen in seven NFL/Jaguars seasons always has played relatively the same position since in that he either has been a four-three defensive end or a three-four outside linebacker – and while there are subtle differences based on scheme, they are both essentially pass-rush-first edge defenders. That is a somewhat longwinded way of saying that Hines-Allen is going to play edge pretty much exclusively whatever the scheme. As for moving Walker inside at times if the Jaguars acquire another quality edge, we saw the beginnings of that last season. I expect to see more moving forward.
Kevin from Jacksonville
You said this is the "Dead Zone." Is this really the Dead Zone? Say it ain't so, Zone.
I didn't say this is the dead zone. I know this because while this time between the "free-agency frenzy" and the NFL Draft is a bit slower than other times, it's far from dead – and I know this well enough that I never would have misidentified it. The true "dead zone" will take place at the same time it does every offseason – the time between the end of the offseason program and the beginning of training camp. Whoo.
Yeti Daddy from Somewhere and Yet Nowhere
Mr. O. Every year, skillful players leave good teams, and bad players leave good teams, and bad teams lose skillful players, and so on. So, we lost four free agents. Some think it was horrible, some are not as concerned. In your vast experience was this loss abnormally high, low, or in the middle in terms of numbers of players leaving a team? I think it is about par for the caliber team we are. I do also believe that we lost a low percentage of coaches this year.
Losing four players, including four starters, is maybe a player or so higher than the NFL "norm" – but it's certainly not so high as to be even close to tragic. The Jaguars lost no coordinators and didn't lose their head coach. They also retained quarterback Trevor Lawrence, all offensive linemen, their primary edge defenders and essentially their entire receiving corps. They "lost" a safety, outside linebacker, a running back and a cornerback who was with the team a half a season. Those are replaceable losses. Bottom line: Turnover to the extent the Jaguars have had it this offseason had better be manageable because you're going to be managing it pretty much every offseason.
Al from Orange Park, FL
The Colts just signed a college basketball player to play tight end. What determines who must go through the draft process, and who can bypass it?
A player can bypass the NFL Draft if he never played college football and if four NFL seasons have elapsed since the player first entered college.
Dan from St. Augustine, FL
Fans gonna f
So close.
Gregg from Jax
Looks like Dewey and Uncle Rico have the ability to be roommates again….
You're referencing former Jaguars quarterback Gardner "Uncle Rico" Minshew and former Jaguars safety Andrew "Dewey" Wingard now being teammates with the Arizona Cardinals. The two somewhat notably were roommates as rookies in 2019. So, yeah …
Tim from Fernandina Beach, FL
John: As a follow-up to a recent question on re-signing Travon Walker during this season, do you wait to see if he is the 10.5-sack guy (14th in the league) or the 3.5-injured-sack guy. It's hard to justify top 10 money like Detroit Lions defensive end Aiden Hutchison got with his stats.
I don't know exactly where Walker's offer/contract will rank in the NFL. I do think there's a chance the Jaguars re-sign him this offseason. If they do, I expect it will be very expensive and I expect the Jaguars will want it to reflect who Walker is as a player – and what he means to this franchise. I think it's pretty clear after four seasons Walker's level when healthy is very high – and I think it's pretty clear that's a lot better than the injured guy from 2025.
Dave from Southwood area of Jacksonville
Your answer to the question of physical development past college included a reference to college teams versus the NFL. I am old enough to remember when the Pro Bowl was a game after the NFL champion playing an all-star college team after the championship or Super Bowl. I believe the college all-stars beat the NFL team a few times. Do you remember those games, Dr. O?
I do remember those games, though they weren't exactly as you recall. You're referring to the Chicago Charities College All-Star Game, held annually from 1934-1976 – a game played each July/August in which the previous season's NFL champion played a team of college all-stars entering the NFL. The NFL defending champions went 30-9-2 in the series and the NFL's 12-game winning streak at the end of the series indicates that even five decades ago the difference in professional and college football players was becoming significant enough to make the series uncompetitive.
