1010XL 2025 Draft Guide: Roundtable #1

Welcome to the first edition of our 2025 Draft Guide roundtable! All the football heads at 1010XL/92.5 FM have gathered to preview the upcoming draft in April.

Today’s question: What are the Jaguars’ top three positional needs entering the 2025 offseason?

Dave Campo: The Jaguars need to shore up their ability to run the football and protect Trevor Lawrence inside so that he can step up in the pocket. They also must give their outside rushers, Travon Walker and Josh Hines-Allen, some inside pressure to affect opposing quarterbacks. Right now they don’t have an answer at one of the corner spots and their safeties are not very good as well. Interior OL, Interior DL and Corner/Safety!

Hays Carlyon: The Jaguars must address right guard, safety and find a no. 2 cornerback to pair with Tyson Campbell. All of these can be adequately addressed in free agency, which would allow the draft emphasis to be placed on positions of greater value.

Mike Dempsey: The Jaguars have a lot of needs, but running back, cornerback and safety could all use an immediate starter. That doesn’t mean that they should limit themselves to those positions in free agency or early in the draft but I feel like those three positions are the biggest needs.

Dylan Denmark: Offensive guard, defensive tackle, cornerback. These positions are hard to find in free agency and in the draft. As much as NFL has been a passing league, it’s still won inside out at the line the of scrimmage. And with corner, not many guys are available in free agency, but you might fall into one in later rounds in the 3rd or 4th.

Ryan “Hacker” Green: 1 – Offensive Line. Liam Coen and James Gladstone have made it clear: the Jaguar offensive line needs an overhaul. I’m gonna take them at their word and believe that gets addressed early and often this off-season. 2 – Secondary. To say the Jaguar secondary was bad in 2024 would be putting it nicely. They need help at safety, they need help at corner, and they need a lot of it. 3 – Defensive Line. Groundhog Day here in Jacksonville… No one affects the quarterback outside of Hines-Allen and Walker, that needs to change and with new leadership in charge. It will change. Also interior defensive line could use an upgrade as well.

Gus Logue: Interior offensive linemen, pass rushers, and defensive backs. The Jaguars must do the following this offseason: find a replacement for Brandon Scherff at right guard and a successor for Mitch Morse at center; add pass rushers across the entire defensive front (not to mention, consider a contingency plan for run-stuffer DaVon Hamilton); and acquire a starter opposite Tyson Campbell at cornerback plus a playmaker over the middle of the field at safety.

Mia O’Brien: Offensive line is definitely one. Defensive tackle and cornerback are my other two — although given what I #heard at the NFL Combine, I don’t think the Jaguars will prioritize cornerback nearly as much as many believe. Philosophically, the Los Angeles Rams have long believed that if you can affect the quarterback and trust your defensive coordinator to effectively scheme the secondary, you do not need to have a treasure trove of first and second round picks at defensive back. If you look at the Rams current secondary, it reads as follows: former UDFA, former sixth-round pick, former fourth-round pick, rookie third-rounder, and an affordable, veteran free agent signing. And that rookie third-rounder, Kam Kinchens (Miami) was the 99th overall pick. That’s why I think there’s a chance the Jaguars go wide receiver or tight end, depending how the board falls, before cornerback this April — while prioritizing the trenches.

Trent Osborne: Cornerback is a popular pick for what the Jaguars need, but safeties are the real weakness in the Jaguars’ defensive backfield. If Andre Cisco isn’t retained in free agency, the Jaguars would not have a single safety on the roster that cracked the top 90 in PFF’s overall defense grading in 2024. Getting Trevor Lawrence more protection on the offensive line and another gamewrecker between Josh Hines-Allen and Travon Walker at defensive tackle need to be the next two things on Jacksonville’s docket come April.

Tony Smith: 1) Interior offensive line. Specifically, right guard. They don’t have an answer at center beyond this year either. 2) Cornerback. I like Jarrian Jones as the slot corner, but who will be playing opposite Tyson Campbell? 3) Safety. I would have no objections to the team adding two starting safeties this offseason.

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