GM James Gladstone Latest Victim of Fantasy Football Analysis

Fantasy football tricks everyone into thinking they could be a better NFL GM than the ones actually in the league, including Jaguars' James Gladstone.

Sep 21, 2025; Jacksonville, Florida, USA; Jacksonville Jaguars general manager James Gladstone on the field during pregame against the Houston Texans at EverBank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Travis Register-Imagn Images | Travis Register-Imagn Images

Fantasy football is fun! It's a large part of why I'm currently employed. But like many fun spin-offs stemming from sports, it's starting to get too big for its own good.

What's happening is that fantasy football is becoming its own space, almost completely removed from the NFL itself. There are players and analysts out there who don't even watch the games. Some talking heads, such as The Ringer's Bill Simmons and Craig Horlbeck, do actually enjoy football, but have still let fantasy poison their minds and infect their takes.

The latest victim of this "fantasy football brain" analysis is Jacksonville Jaguars General Manager James Gladstone. He's rebuilt a team that won four games all of last season into a squad that's gone 3-1 to start the year. That hasn't stopped people like Simmons and Horlbeck from unfairly criticizing him through a fantasy football lens.

Sep 28, 2025; Santa Clara, California, USA; Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver Travis Hunter (12) before the game against the San Francisco 49ers at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images | Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

Unfair critiques of Travis Hunter Jr. trade continue to roll in

On a recent episode of The Bill Simmons Podcast, the host and his guest, Craig Horlbeck, found themselves scrutinizing Jacksonville Jaguars General Manager James Gladstone for his trade to move up and take Travis Hunter Jr. in the 2025 NFL Draft. They disparaged the team for giving up so much to acquire him, considering his usage, or lack thereof, so far this season.

Horlbeck: "They need to just give up. I think that they're trying to double down, because they want to prove that it was worth it to trade up for him, so like, 'No, no, we're going to stick to the, he's going to play both sides of the ball thing, because that's the only way we can explain trading away a first-round pick to move up to the spot.'"

Simmons: "That's the only way you make the trade is if you think you're getting two players, which is how they kind of soft-sold it after the draft, like, 'Look, this is like filling two positions at the same time."

Horlbeck: "It's filling none."

Bill Simmons and Craig Horlbeck go in on Travis Hunter Jr. and Jags' GM James Gladstone @BillSimmons @craighorlbeck pic.twitter.com/yKcRVtsxxb

— Andy Quach (@NBA_QuachBoy) October 2, 2025

The problem with this assessment is that it's completely disingenuous and reductive. Travis Hunter Jr. played a career-low snaps against the San Francisco 49ers last week and still had 47, 38 on offense and nine on defense. Obviously, he and the team are still trying to find a consistent role for him on both sides of the ball in his rookie year.

That doesn't mean he hasn't been impactful. In fact, he's been quite the game-changer anytime he has been on the field. In Week 4, he made one of the biggest plays of the game, notching a 28-yard catch on 3rd-and-long with the Jaguars deep in their own territory. He also earned a 68.9 grade from Pro Football Focus as a cornerback, which is above average for a veteran starter, let alone a rookie playing both sides of the ball.

The Jacksonville Jaguars’ first-round pick, Colorado Buffaloes wide receiver and defensive back Travis Hunter, left, answers questions as General Manager James Gladstone, right, sits next to him during a press conference Friday, March 25, 2025 at Miller Electric Center in Jacksonville, Fla. [Doug Engle/Florida Times-Union] | Doug Engle/Florida Times-Union / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

James Gladstone not getting the credit he deserves

Simmons and Horlbeck would know that Hunter Jr. has had multiple encouraging moments on both offense and defense if they ever bothered to look outside of the fantasy football box scores. They also wouldn't have made the following "evaluation" of James Gladstone if they knew what was going on with the Jaguars this year.

Simmons: "That guy that took over, Gladstone, he wanted to make a big move and be splashy and gutsy..."

Horlbeck: "We really do need a ranking of the new-GM, new-owners splashy move disaster power rankings. We need a list of that. [Phoenix Suns' owner Matt] Ishbia coming in and just signing Bradley Beal. We need a ranking of all of those."

Simmons: "... [Gladstone] was like, 'Oh, Travis Hunter! He's Deion Sanders. Here are all of our picks!"

Horlbeck: "Yeah, I mean, he's like 34, he's been watching football for 10 years. Travis Hunter's probably the best player he's even seen in his life."

Players in last 30 years to have multiple games w/ 3+ receptions & 2+ tackles in a single season:

2025 Travis Hunter
1996 Deion Sanders

That’s it. pic.twitter.com/yEnMlVY3G2

— Greg Harvey (@BetweenTheNums) September 29, 2025

Again, there are a few different problems with this. Firstly, Jacksonville essentially gave up a third-round pick and its first in 2026 to move up from five to two in this past draft. That's not an exorbitant price, especially if the Jaguars continue winning the way they have and end up conveying a selection in the 20s.

Secondly, Gladstone has been nothing short of excellent so far in his young tenure and deserves a large chunk of the credit for Jacksonville's hot start this season. Players he directly added, such as Jourdan Lewis, Eric Murray, Dennis Gardeck, Robert Hainsey, Bhayshul Tuten, and so on, have been absolutely huge for the Jaguars so far. But of course, none of that shows up in fantasy football.

Follow us on X (Twitter) @JaguarsOnSI and @_John_Shipley to keep up with all of James Gladstone's moves for the Jaguars.

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