JACKSONVILLE – Let's get to it …

Taylor from Columbia, MD

Jaguars General Manager James Gladstone can still be a good general manager and have a bad draft. Immediate draft grades are "meaningless," but the fact that nearly every evaluator disagrees with Gladstone's process doesn't concern you at all? Do you really believe he is smarter/better than everyone else? I am referencing a compiled report of 34 different draft analysis grades, many of which include former NFL scouts and personnel people. Just wondering if you have absolute faith in Gladstone?

Immediate draft grades are meaningless, with no "quotation marks" needed – and there is no legitimate reason to believe the Jaguars had a "bad draft" last weekend. This is because draft analysis and grades are indeed meaningless and therefore without meaning. Remember: Most draft grades evaluators inevitably operate with at least some degree of "herd mentality," meaning their grades and rankings influence one another. One evaluator might start the process in January with a player comparatively low or high on their rankings. They often will move a player up or down if they are in the minority because they worry they are missing something "everyone else" sees. It's sort of like how I didn't care as much how my stereo sounded when I was a teenager as I cared my friends thinking it was cool. "Every evaluator" disagreeing with Gladstone therefore concerns me not in the slightest. I don't know if I have absolute faith in very much of anything. I do know there's no real reason to think anything was wrong with the approach Gladstone and the Jaguars took during the '26 draft.

Brendan from Yulee

Is Caleb Ransaw still going to play safety? With the turnover at cornerback and time away, do you think Gladstone puts him back at cornerback to get comfortable again first?

The Jaguars have plenty of cornerbacks. Ransaw is a safety. I expect Ransaw, a third-round selection by the Jaguars in the 2025 NFL Draft, to play safety in 2026 and to push for a starting position.

Bonington from Jax, Fl

Need a favor. Tell the brass they're okay in my book.

Word.

Adam from Allentown

Are we devaluing the wide receiver position? Seems like some of our best receiving weapons are going to be riding the bench while we're in 12 and 13 personnel.

The Jaguars will run more 12 and 13 personnel packages – two and three tight ends – in the 2026 season than they did this past season. They will not do so exclusively. Teams run more than one personnel package in the NFL.

Ray from Jax

John: McPizza? Oh God, I feel old. I remember when McDonald's had only hamburgers and cheeseburgers and they added the Big Mac. It was also before Lady Bird Johnson's anti-litter campaign so you threw the bags and cups out the window of the car on the way home!

That's the nice thing about a litter bag in your car. When it fills up you can just throw it out the window.

Sally from Jacksonville

I know your job is to protect the decisions of the Jaguars' front office and their decisions. But I literally cannot find one NFL analyst that thinks the Jaguars had a decent (forget good) draft this year. How can you say the analysts are all wrong and Gladstone is right. Only one selection was good.

My job is to answer write and talk about what the Jaguars do – and explain it – in as an informative, entertaining and interesting a manner as possible. Part of that is answering questions here in the -O-Zone. I have no idea if the Jaguars had a good draft in 2026. No one does. We will start getting a little better idea about this by the end of the 2026 season. That idea will still be very incomplete at that time. We'll start getting a real, more complete, idea sometime in the 2027 season. I do know the Jaguars took a very logical, measured approach to the 2026 draft and what they did made sense if you take the time and make the effort to listen – and understand – what they wanted to accomplish. I also know that analysts not liking or liking a draft has nothing to do with much of anything, particularly if the draft was good or not.

Johnny from Jax

So, if the Jags have a 95 percent first down rate on first- and second downs next year and we never need to run 12-13 personnel because our run game and receivers are No. 1 in both categories and we go undefeated with only needing to run a handful of short-yardage situations … then this draft will have been a complete failure. Isn't that right, Johnny Zone,?

I expect the Jaguars to use some multiple tight-end formations in various down-and-distance situations, including early downs. The Jaguars will be successful in 2026 if they make the postseason and make a deep run there.

Jeff from Atlantic Beach, FL

It's kind of funny how the talking head draft "experts" are calling Gladstone arrogant, and "thinking he's the smartest guy in the room" while at the same time telling everyone how THEIR draft board was the correct one. Hello, lack of self-awareness.

There's a certain arrogance required to call someone arrogant because they didn't do something you wanted them to do. The Jaguars went 13-4 last season and won the AFC South. It seems as if a lot of people either forgot that or were irritated by it. We have also seen a lot of periphery people very passionate and emotional about something on which they have a lot to say but not a lot of impact. That can make people emotional and frustrated if they don't have the humility to know where they fit in a grand scheme of things.

JAY from THE BURG FL.

I get it: Tight end is not a flashy pick. And I can see it's no coincidence we slumped last year when tight end Brenton Strange was injured. They always say that the tight end is the security blanket, the safety valve for the quarterback. It's much more than that. The tight end is the foundation to create mismatches against the defense. Either through blocking or motion, they alter the center of the defense. They are just bigger than their competitor, and size combined with speed matters. That's where great teams lean, especially when it counts in the third and fourth quarter. That shows up big in the biggest moments. Without great tight end play down the stretch of that playoff game against the Bills last season, the Bills don't get back in and go on to win that game.

Pretty much.

Drinkin' the Kool-Aid from Jacksonville

Hey, Zone. A couple quick questions: Any notable absences from workouts so far? Process-wise, are all the draft picks and undrafted free agents in town working out and learning the playbook – or is that optional for them. too? Are they all housed in one location like training camp? Thanks.

Attendance at the Jaguars' offseason workout program is really good. It's also very voluntary with exact attendance therefore not always at this point for public consumption. All the draft selections and undrafted free agents will arrive late next week for rookie minicamp and they will remain in town after that with most housed in one location.

Shawn from Moore County, NC

Have the videos of the Jags calling the draft picks came out yet? What about the ones where they show the players arriving at the stadium and signing their contracts and answering questions?

The draft video calls will be out soon. The players arriving at the stadium and signing contracts will be out once they arrive at the stadium and sign their contracts.

Nicholas from Fort Hood, Texas

KOAF: Last weekend I was changing the tire tube on my bicycle. When I went to stand back up after 20 minutes of fighting with the bike, my lower back was killing me and making me walk around like a hunchback. Do you know any former Jaguar players that might have some insight on navigating through random lower back pain?

We talk a lot here in the O-Zone about being nice. This was somewhat obscured and forced, but it was decidedly not "nice."

Joe from Jacksonville

John, we hear about the Year 1 to Year 2 leap, but that's usually centered on the game slowing down mentally. With Caleb Ransaw missing his entire rookie season physically, how does that development curve change? Is he essentially a rookie all over again in terms of his body being "NFL ready," or has a year in a professional weight room, even while rehabbing, given him a physical head start over the incoming class? Thanks KOAF

He's more rookie at the point than second-year veteran, though there is an element of maturity, being around the team and being in meetings that should benefit Ransaw.

Joseph from Jacksonville

Enough talkin'. Let's get to poping!

I think you left out an "o."