Jaguars
Adam Schefter mentioned Michigan DT Mason Graham and Georgia LB Jalon Walker as two prospects to keep an eye on when it comes to the Jaguars’ first-round draft pick.
“The fifth pick there, they’ve got a lot of needs,” Schefter said, via Jaguars on SI. “There’s a lot of different ways that they could go. I think the feeling across the league seems to be that they would lean defense,” Schefter said. “They might lean defensive line. I think the name that you continue to see mocked there is Mason Graham, the Michigan defensive tackle. Don’t think it would be a surprise if they went in that direction.”
“Think there are a lot of different ways they still could go. They could wind up using that pick on a pass rusher. It depends, of course, on what goes on with the four picks in front of them. But yeah, I’ve heard the name Jalon Walker, the pass-rusher from Georgia, there as well,” Schefter added. “Those seem to be the two names that are most linked to them, Mason Graham, Jalon Walker, and obviously, we’ll find out here in a couple of weeks which way they decided to go in the first draft for the new general manager of James Gladstone.”
Jaguars
The Jaguars signed C Robert Hainsey and G Patrick Mekari in free agency to help bolster their starting offensive line. Despite the interior offensive line additions, Jacksonville GM James Gladstone wouldn’t rule out adding another lineman in the draft.
“I do think that we answered some questions there with our decisions here in pro-free agency, addressing both center and guard, as well as the tackle position,” Gladstone said, via ESPN’s Michael DiRocco. “… We’re setting the standard for what we’re actually looking to do and that doesn’t count offensive line out of the equation in the draft either. But at the same time, that’s another position that does have attrition throughout the course of a season, so we’ll never feel like we’ve got enough.”
Texans
The Texans hold the No. 25 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. When asked if there’s uncertainty with how they will proceed, GM Nick Caserio said they are comfortable staying put and believe there are solid options scattered across the board.
“Yeah, no, we’re always prepared to pick,” Caserio said, via TexansWire. “If we pick at 25, we’re going to get a good football player. That’s what we’re focused on. Honestly, like we feel good about this Draft. There are players littered throughout the Draft, so we are pretty well positioned. Right now, we don’t have a fourth-round pick. We got four in the top 89. Don’t have a fourth, got a fifth, don’t have a sixth, have two sevens. We’ll have an opportunity. We think throughout the Draft to add players that we think are going to create some competition on this football team. I would say whoever we bring in being it’s going to be hard to make this football team. Just trying to get the right players. We feel good about the players. Our board is probably smaller than some other boards and that’s okay. There will be players to pick on Thursday and players to pick on Friday. Honestly, there will be players for us to pick on Saturday that we feel good about. Yeah, going to get a good player if we pick at 25. If we don’t pick at 25, then wherever we pick next, we think we’re going to get a pretty good player.”
Caserio feels they positioned themselves well in free agency to take the best player available in the draft and says “pretty much any position is on the table” outside of quarterback.
“We’ve never drafted for need around here. Never going to. We’re going to pick the best player we feel fits our program regardless of the position. I would say other than quarterback pretty much any position is on the table, like it always is. Try to stay true to the board. That’s the reason we created the players. We put the players on the board, we grade them accordingly to what we think the role is going to be, then we take them off the board as we see fit. That’s not going to change.”
Houston made extensive changes to their offensive line this offseason by trading Laremy Tunsil and signing players like Cam Robinson, Laken Tomlinson, and Trent Brown. Caserio thinks they made the best decisions for the team.
“Yeah, I mean, honestly, it’s the same every year. Every year is different. We understand there will be turnover on the team. There are certain players whose contracts will expire, some we’ll keep, others are under contract and might be here and might not be here. We didn’t go into the offseason and say, ‘Okay, here are the things we’re going to do’. Some of this you have to be adaptable and flexible and take the information in and make the decisions you feel are best for the football team, which is what we did. So there is never a, ‘Well, this is what we’re going to do, what we think is going to happen’. Some of that responded to the information around you and if we didn’t make any changes, if we had to go into the season with the group that we had, then we would have done that. But that wasn’t the case. Each case I would say was a little bit different. Each situation was a little bit different. But, yeah, I wouldn’t say there was anything specifically we said there is what we’re going to do and need to do. Then even moving forward, we feel good about the players in the building. Are we going to add some players we think can potentially help our football team? That’s always the goal.”
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