JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The Jacksonville Jaguars have a list of needs to fill heading into the NFL draft with 10 picks.
On defense, they could use a defensive tackle, edge rusher, safety, and outside cornerback to help fix a unit that ranked last in passing and turnovers forced, 31st in total defense, and 25th in rushing.
On offense, there are immediate holes at receiver and pass-catching tight end after the departures of Christian Kirk and Evan Engram in the offseason. And, of course, the offensive line can always be upgraded.
But with the No. 5 overall pick in the draft, will the Jaguars take Jacksonville-born running back Ashton Jeanty?
On Monday, ESPN's Adam Schefter wrote that a league source referred to Jacksonville as a wild-card at No. 5. Most mock drafts have projected DT Mason Graham at No. 5, but ESPN NFL national reporter Jeremy Fowler says the Jaguars could be a sleeper team for Jeanty.
.@JFowlerESPN says the Jacksonville Jaguars could be a sleeper to pick Ashton Jeanty at No. 5 📈 pic.twitter.com/dZWdzniNkK
— NFL on ESPN (@ESPNNFL) April 18, 2025
Jeanty rushed for 2,601 yards in 2024 at Boise State University -- the second-highest single-season total in NCAA history (Barry Sanders had 2,628 in 1998). And drafting him would make sense for the new Jaguars regime considering the things general manager James Gladstone and head coach Liam Coen have said over the past several months.
Just last week Gladstone said physical and mental toughness are things he and Coen "value innately."
"That stuff should show up at all levels of our offensive and defensive operation, and clearly on special teams," Gladstone said at the team's pre-draft news conference last week. "That's always going to remain at the forefront. Those two elements in tandem are really a real combination that we covet.
"You'll hear just about every time that Liam steps to a podium, he's going to mention some version of physical and mental toughness as really what he's hunting up."
Jeanty fits both. Not only did he force an FBS-high 126 missed tackles last season, but he also averaged 4.6 yards per rush after contact, best among all running backs with at least 100 carries.
In an April 16 piece he wrote for The Players' Tribune titled "A Letter to NFL GMs", Jeanty talked about growing up in a military family and moving around a lot, being unable to play football while spending a year in Italy, using that year to learn about a different culture, and his willingness to do anything his coaches needed on the field, even if it meant not playing running back until his senior season in high school, among other things.
He ended with this message:
"If you pick me, it's simple: I'm coming to your franchise to do what Saquon [Barkley] and the Eagles just did. I'm coming to win, big, soon.
"It's TACKLE football ... you know what I'm saying?
"I'd draft the guy they can't tackle."
One of the first things Coen said as the Jaguars coach was that he wanted to make quarterback Trevor Lawrence and the offense "as dynamic and explosive as we can be." With Kirk and Engram gone, receiver Brian Thomas Jr. is the only proven playmaker on the roster.
In his annual ranking of the top 100 draft prospects, ESPN's Jeff Legwold ranked Jeanty as his No. 3 overall prospect. The Jaguars have a chance to upgrade at running back position.
Running back Travis Etienne Jr.'s production has declined since 2022 when he rushed for 1,125 yards and five touchdowns and had 1,441 yards from scrimmage. In 2024, Etienne ran for 558 yards (missing two games due to a hamstring injury) as the offense struggled. He will be playing on the fifth-year option in 2025 and there hasn't been any indication the Jaguars are working on an extension.
The Jaguars drafted Tank Bigsby in the third round in 2023 and he led the team in rushing in 2024 (766 yards), but has fumbled six times and has eight catches in two seasons. The only other back on the roster is second-year player Keilan Robinson, who had five offensive snaps last season.
Jeanty would level up the Jaguars backfield. He led the FBS in yards gained between (1,366) and outside (1,235) the tackles and averaged 8.4 yards per carry outside the tackles last season. He gained 1,733 of his 2,601 yards rushing after contact and had 12 runs of 50 or more yards ---10 of which went for touchdowns.
Barkley led the NFL with six runs of 50 or more yards (four TDs) last season. Bigsby led the Jaguars with two last season and the Jaguars have had six in the last three seasons combined, per ESPN Research.
"Once I'm running that football, I swear: my instincts just take over," Jeanty wrote in The Players' Tribune. "This special gear kicks in, and it's like I'm 10 years old again and I'm making the older kids look silly. I turn into this unstoppable beast."