If the Jacksonville Jaguars are looking to trade down in the first round of the NFL draft, doing so might not come easily.
If the Jacksonville Jaguars are looking to trade down in the first round of the NFL draft, doing so might not come easily.
According to Pewter Report, Tampa Bay Bucs‘ GM Jason Licht said that he doesn’t see as many teams wanting to trade up this year. Ian Rapoport of NFL Network then added to that by echoing similar sentiments and saying, “not a lot of teams trying to move up.”
Perhaps the perceived strength of this year’s draft class is playing a key role in teams not wanting to move up. Daniel Jeremiah, one of the best in the NFL draft business, said earlier this offseason that picks 20-60 in this year’s draft are “pretty much the same.”
That kind of depth in the heart of the early rounds doesn’t exactly incentivize a team to trade up. For a team selecting in the back half of each round, instead of getting two players in that 20-60ish range, the team may only get one because of what they would have to part with in order to move up.
From the Jaguars‘ perspective, they are entering the 2025 NFL draft with one crucial element that every team wants to possess, and that is flexibility.
Like any team, the Jaguars have needs to address, and some are more pressing than others. However, with 10 draft picks at their disposal–the second-most of any team–the Jaguars can let the board that they’ve built out dictate their decision-making, rather than being in a position of feeling like they have to address a certain position. It’s in those instances when teams can reach, make rash decisions, and get in trouble.
Flexibility in the draft means options. It allows the team to take the best player available even if it’s not at a major position of need. It also provides a GM the ability to navigate the board by trading up and down.
So for those reasons, depending on who is available at pick No. 5 and how the Jaguars have evaluated this year’s draft class, I believe that trading down is absolutely an option for Jacksonville.
However, just because the Jaguars may be willing to make a move down the board doesn’t mean it’s going to happen. As we all know, it takes one more team to make a trade happen, and at this stage of the pre-draft process, the belief seems to be that finding a trade partner in the early going could prove to be a difficult task.