JACKSONVILLE – Let's get to it …
Paul from St. Augustine, FL
Wake me up when the post-draft analysis has died down. I have hit my limit on the terms "consensus board," "12 Personnel" and internet "analysts" who act like they know more about my team than its general manager or executive vice president.
These are fair points – and I do sense as this weekend's rookie minicamp at the Miller Electric Center approaches that most Jaguars fans and observers are similarly approaching their limits on discussing the (manufactured) Drama That Was The Jaguars 2026 NFL Draft. The irony is the "drama" was created by observers and fueled by fans – with none of the drama having that much to do with reality or goings on inside the Jaguars' offices. There indeed has been a strong – and somewhat mindboggling – element of internet analysts believing they know more than Jaguars General Manager James Gladstone, Executive Vice President of Football Operations Tony Boselli and Head Coach Liam Coen about how to acquire players for the organization. This belief is absurd enough that there seems little point in commenting further about it in this forum. The good part about this whole ongoing – and waning(?) – discussion is that we absolutely in the long term will learn who is right. If the Jaguars win consistently, the decision-making trio will remain in place and they will be "right" in the only way that matters. If not, they will not remain in place and observers can move on to disliking other people. Jaguars 2026 rookie minicamp will be held at the MEC this weekend.
Charles from Riverside
Hello, John. Another few 13 Personnel questions. In this formation, if it's not a planned run by the running back, does quarterback Trevor Lawrence now have at least three potential tight ends and a wide receiver – and possibly a running back slipping out of the backfield – as receivers? Are they all in play, or are we talking a five-man checkdown? Also, does this formation make for a potentially good screen play?
I am not sure what five-man checkdown means – and you can run screens out of most formations if you have the timing of the play correct. But yes … when a team is in 13 personnel the quarterback has a running back, three tight ends and a receiver as potential receivers. How exactly each "skill player" is utilized depends on play call and circumstances, as is the case in most formations.
James from Salt Lake City, Utah via Jagsonville
Mr. O. I figure if we can't run with 12 or 13 Personnel, then we will be back to passing anyway. So don't worry about the receivers. I think we have pretty good pass-catchers also. So, we will wait and see.
OK.
Brendan from Yulee, FIU bound
Who is the best NFL player to have graduated from Florida International University? For the Jags specifically, it's probably safety Jonathan Cyprien.
The answer here probably is former Indianapolis Colts wide receiver T.Y. Hilton. Maybe ask the guy who answers questions every day for the FIU website.
Daniel from Johnston, IA
O, can you reach way back in your mind and recall a young running back drafted the same year as Fred Taylor, Tavian Banks? I was a really young fan and didn't know about this site then, but I remember him being absolutely electric in some preseason games. I believe he got injured and never really played. Is that what happened, do you remember him and did he look as good as my young memories suggested?
Banks, a fourth-round selection by the Jaguars in the 1998 NFL Draft from the University of Iowa, absolutely looked as good as your memory suggests. He was a dynamic, explosive back who was a dangerous element on an already mega-talented Jaguars offense. He played relatively sparingly in his 1998 rookie season but was excelling as an all-purpose back in 1999 until he sustained a horrific knee injury against the Atlanta Falcons that tore his anterior cruciate, posterior cruciate and fibular collateral ligaments. He spent time with the New Orleans Saints in 2002-2003 but never approached his previous level. NFL history is littered with what-if? stories. Banks was one.
Stephen from Sec 113 from Jacksonville via Pennsauke, NJ
John. For all that is holy, please bury the draft talk. It is over and done, so let's stop beating the dead horse. The next "big thing" on the NFL calendar is the schedule release. I know you don't want to travel to Dallas for Thanksgiving, but what are the odds we finally get a Thanksgiving Day game?
Fans ask questions. I answer. That's the forum. There's no horse. We will bury the draft talk when fans stop asking questions. I expect the NFL schedule will be released next week or the following week. The Jaguars are scheduled to play the Dallas Cowboys in Dallas next season. That does mean they could play on Thanksgiving, and I expect there's a decent chance it will happen. Will it indeed happen? I haven't the foggiest idea. It would be cool. The Jaguars played well enough last season to merit that sort of stage. We'll see.
Bo from Winter Springs, FL
I don't know about the NFL Draft NFL Media Consensus Board, but I do know that going with the "best available player" has yet to lead me to a fantasy football championship. Then again, neither has thinking I was smarter than them and going my own way. I think I pick a great team name each year, though, and my uniform is cool.
I have "played" fantasy football, by my count, four or five times. Once was in the late 1980s when I partnered with then-fellow Times-Union high school sportswriter Matt Hayes – now USA Today's national college football writer and 1010XL on-air guy – on a team in the sports T-U fantasy league. Maintaining the team in that era meant submitting – on paper – lineup changes, trades, etc., each week to the guy running the league. This turned out to be far too much "work," with our team collapsing under the weight of disinterested incompetence. I have played some recent seasons in a 1010XL league powered by Fantasy Football guru Mike Dempsey. I have fared better in these leagues, making the "postseason" the last two seasons – results attributable far more to chance than any particular skill or knowledge. My team name as I recall has been O-Zone or John. I'm clever that way. And I am the king of all funk.
Daniel from St J
With all these quasi-professional draftniks out there I just wanna know which ones picked Tom Brady as the No. 1 pick in his draft? The draft is difficult. Draftniks are trying to predict the future. They can have some insight, but they are never very accurate.
Fair.
JK from NY & Fernandina Beach, FL
Hey, John. Another Gladstonian element of the Duval DNA has been revealed: "Anti-Fragility" - the opposite of fragile! The man definitely has a way with words, but somehow we get it. Go Jags!
Gladstone communicates in a way that's different from many people. But the idea of communication is to ensure the message from the communicator is clearly understood by the communicatee. Gladstone therefore is a high-end communicator.
Daniel from Johnston, IA
I asked AI which teams had the best drafts over the past five years and it said the Detroit Lions (OK, fair) and the New York Jets. I was like, No Way! But then it listed some of their bigger draft hits and I was struck by the fact that if you don't have a winning quarterback, it doesn't matter how well you draft...
It's perhaps a little extreme to say nothing else matters in the NFL if you do not have a winning quarterback. It's not extreme enough to argue the point very vehemently.
Ed from Ponte Vedra Beach, FL
I can no longer understand the questions and much less the answers in the Ozone anymore. What is wrong with me?
Pizza tan lift by Kennedy space while as.
Jadon from Raleigh, NC
Who is the best player to wear No. 14 for the Jags in Jaguars history?
This is a notably short list, with wide receiver Justin Blackmon (2012-2013), wide receiver Elijah Cooks (2023-2024) and quarterback Nick Mullens (2025-present) the most likely possibilities. We will go with Blackmon here, because of what could have been. Oh, what could have been.
Eddie from Jagsonville
No. 99 is very obvious. But a packed stadium yelling Smeenge never got old.
We will speak in August.
Sam from Orlando, FL
Any truth to the rumor that John Candy's "you wanna hurt Me" monologue in "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" was actually first written by Eugene "Rocket Man" Frenette?
It is not true that former longtime Florida Times-Union sports columnist and Northeast Florida cultural icon/thought leader Eugene P. "Gene" Frenette wrote the monologue in Planes, Trains and Automobiles. He was busy doing stunts in Lethal Weapon. He did all his own stunts – and everybody else's, too.
