Jacksonville Jaguars general manager James Gladstone met reporters on Tuesday, the day after the club traded for safety Jessie Bates III, defensive tackle Davon Godchaux and defensive tackle Jordan Davis. Asked what the three deals say about the 6-2 team, he pushed back on one label. “I think the idea that this is an all-in move isn’t necessarily how I characterize it,” Gladstone said. “I characterize it as getting better as a football team and prioritizing getting better as a football team.”
He opened the news conference by remembering a longtime Jaguars employee, one of the club’s original staff members, who died last week.
How Monday came together
Gladstone said the Bates talks with the Atlanta Falcons ran from the early hours of Monday into the morning. Before the deal was done, he spoke with head coach Liam Coen, executive vice president Tony Boselli, others in the building and ownership “to ensure that everybody was aligned and understood the why.” Talks with the New Orleans Saints for Godchaux took shape in the early afternoon. Then the Jaguars turned to the Philadelphia Eagles for Davis and finished that deal “roughly around 5:00 p.m.” Gladstone said the two clubs had talked during the season, but the Davis talks did not start until that afternoon.
He said the moves were about how the players fit together, not only talent. “While these are player acquisitions and they’re on an individual basis, it’s not rooted simply in talent. It’s rooted in much more. And this is about team building,” he said. “Good teams can be built in an offseason, but it’s important for the best teams to continue to evolve over the course of the regular season.” He mentioned the familiarity between Davis and edge rusher Travon Walker, who were teammates at Georgia, and said that makes the transition “a little bit more seamless.”
“That room filled up fast”
Asked how big the new defensive front is, Gladstone said he had not run the numbers. He did describe Godchaux and Davis walking into Coen’s office: “that room filled up fast between those two guys and Tony Boselli.” He said stopping the run is the top priority of the defense, ahead of limiting explosive plays and creating takeaways, and the Jaguars “did not want to feel void of options” on the interior with “more games in front of us than there are behind us.” On Davis, 26, he agreed the defensive tackle position “ages well” and called the trade “a longer term decision.” On Bates, who cost a second-round pick and is on an expiring contract, he said, “Jessie is a match for all the elements that we appreciate in both a player and a person,” and that what comes after this season will happen “in a natural way.”
Brian Thomas Jr. stays, and picks still matter
Receiver Brian Thomas Jr. was not traded. “We have a ton of value when it comes to BTJ,” Gladstone said. “His role and what I imagine his contribution will be down the stretch here is going to be notable. He’s such a good person to work with, such a good teammate.” He said the receiver room has “such a range of skill sets” and that the tight ends and running backs let the offense “be multiple.”
Gladstone also rejected the idea that the Jaguars do not care about draft picks. He said the label is “a headline” but “really not the approach or the process,” and pointed to his years with the Los Angeles Rams, who he said had the third-most selections in the league over that time. He said the club skipped outside free agents in the spring partly to earn compensatory picks. “We actually value picks. We don’t always use them on the three days that exist in April.” Asked whether the Jaguars got close to another trade on Tuesday, he joked, “I watched a lot of college football today in preparation for the draft.” On quarterback Trevor Lawrence, he said there is “a lot of trust” in the coaches, Lawrence and the team, but “football’s bigger than any one individual.”
Jacksonville plays at the Tennessee Titans on Sunday. Coen’s reaction to the Bates deal is in our Liam Coen story, and the three trades are laid out step by step in our Jaguars interactive.
No published comments yet. Start the conversation.