Jaguars Show Major Interest in Senior Bowl Prospects Moving Forward

The Jacksonville Jaguars showed in the 2025 NFL Draft their importance of taking all-star game prospects.

Jan 29, 2025; Mobile, AL, USA; National team running back Bhayshul Tuten of Virginia Tech (33) runs the ball during Senior Bowl practice for the National team at Hancock Whitney Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Vasha Hunt-Imagn Images / Vasha Hunt-Imagn Images

The Jacksonville Jaguars 2025 draft class has been obtained after three days of long hours, planning, and deliberations on who their selections were to be at each of their picks. It was an eventful weekend for the franchise, who made a blockbuster move to trade up with the Cleveland Browns for generational talent Travis Hunter with the No. 2 overall choice.

Many found out quickly how young general manager James Gladstone and head coach Liam Coen were wasting to operate as a franchise. They seemingly have an aggressive, yet patient attitude toward their roster construction and they feel they are much closer to playoff contention than some would say.

One of the unique aspects of the Jaguars draft class was their focus on players that participated in January's Reese’s Senior Bowl, where all 32 teams were in attendance to watch college football's best talents on the field together. Eight of the nine selections made by Jacksonville were Senior Bowl participants, showing that the game had a significant impact on the team’s decisions this past weekend.

During the interview process, especially pre-combine, Gladstone made note of three players that stood out for him as possible priority Day 3 targets: Virginia Tech running back Bhayshul Tuten (No. 104), Notre Dame linebacker Jack Kiser (No. 107), and USC center Jonah Monheim (No. 221). 

Gladstone further noted that the All-Star circuit was something they leveraged within their evaluations of players while getting to view them during the important week of practice and the game setting as well.

“So many of the guys that are willing to do more than what the norm might be, right?” Gladstone said. “Many are tapping out before they ever get to the game. To see somebody like Jack Kiser opt in to playing a position like safety when he is, in fact, an inside linebacker, when that could make him look worse than he would like, but was productive in that setting.”

Gladstone thinks back to last year at the 2024 Senior Bowl when he was with the Los Angeles Rams. The team drafted Florida State defensive lineman Braden Fiske in the second round, and he later led the team in sacks as a rookie. Fiske is a player that stood out to Gladstone and it's what he did that displays why they drafted players that would– for all intents and purposes– do anything for their respective football team.

“One of the things that really resonated for us was when during the game, the Senior Bowl, [Fiske] said, you know what, I'm going to go ahead and play defense on both sides,” Gladstone explained. “I'm going to fill the gap because there have been too many opt-outs.”

“These are guys that love the game of football regardless of if it might put them in a compromising position in the eyes of evaluators and decision makers by playing too many snaps or playing out of position, et cetera. These guys love ball, and that's what we're hunting up.”

Outside of Hunter, the Jaguars class may not look flashy but it offers a group of players that will fill whatever role they’re asked of. There are potential special teams standouts and future starters within the 2026 rookie class. Overall, it’s a group that brings toughness, physicality, and intangible acumen players to a roster that may have lacked these types of the years in the previous regime.

The players Jacksonville identified as such participated in the Senior Bowl, with the exception of Hunter. They are a team looking to show that the all-star game emulates immense value to how and what teams want within their franchise, offering the great importance of the game to the evaluation process. 

This is just one of the many examples of while a better player overall may be left on the board for the Jaguars, their board may show a more intangibly-sound player with a skill set to make an impact early in their career, similar to the approach the Rams have had in recent years.

Will this process turn out for the better under Gladstone and Coen? That remains to be seen, but this is why they play the games and to better understand what’s next for not just the roster of players but for the organization itself.

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