Could Brandon Scherff Help Net the Jaguars a Draft Pick?

The Jacksonville Jaguars maintained one of the NFL's longest and most impressive streaks before 2024, going 13 years without a compensatory pick. The Jaguars are likely to not earn a pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, but could they have a chance to earn one next offseason?

Last season, the Jaguars broke the NFL's longest streak of not being awarded compensatory picks by earning the No. 96 overall selection (Round 3) and the No. 212 overall selection (Round 6) for losing offensive tackle Jawaan Taylor and Arden Key.

This year, the Jaguars will unlikely be as lucky. THE Jaguars lost two players in free agency last offseason that would have counted toward the compensatory pick formula in former wide receiver Calvin Ridley and former kicker Brandon McManus. But since the Jaguars signed free agents like wide receiver Gabe Davis, safety Darnell Savage, cornerback Ronald Darby, and wide receiver Devin Duvernay, these signings were cancelled out.

With that said, the Jaguars could have a chance to get back into the thick of things in terms of compensatory picks in the 2026 NFL Draft thanks to pending free agent Brandon Scherff.

Scherff, who is set to become a free agent next month after his contract with the Jaguars expires, has been a reliable force for the Jaguars at right guard. But with Scherff nearing the end of his career and with a completely new regime now in tow, it has felt unlikely for some time that Scherff would return to the Jaguars.

Instead, Scherff will likely come in high demand in free agency for teams that need a quick stop-gap solution at right guard. While Scherff is no longer the elite guard he once was, he is still one of the NFL's best guards in pass protection and has a lot to offer a team that wants to win now.

If Scherff were to sign elsewhere and the Jaguars don't make any signing that negates his, they could earn a late-round compensatory pick, likely not higher than a sixth-round pick. But at the end of the day, he seems like the Jaguars' best chance to start earning 2026 picks to build for the future.

Also, here's a list of pending UFAs who can only net their former teams a maximum of a 5th round compensatory pick.

But among these players, only Khalil Mack and maybe Amari Cooper strike me as players that can get more than the ~$13.5M APY needed to this to matter. pic.twitter.com/IbLZeqSqiI
— Nick Korte (@nickkorte) February 18, 2025

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