Will Jaguars Have Leverage if Travis Hunter Falls?

Last week as a guest of the Savannah Bananas, Travis Hunter threw out a ceremonial first pitch that actually counted. Then, he choreographed dance moves with Bananas players and finished with a backflip.

Well, one week from Thursday, don’t be surprised to see NFL general managers dancing and flipping for Hunter.

James Gladstone will be prepared to participate. On Tuesday, the new Jacksonville GM revealed the most interesting item on his pre-draft agenda: Mock drafts. Like a quarterback drafting himself in a fantasy league, even GMs go through mock drafts. And in graduate-level mock drafts like the ones Gladstone will use to prepare, trades are a big factor.

Two years ago in his first draft as Arizona GM, Monti Ossenfort pulled off an incredible feat in a short period of time. The Cardinals, who entered the 2023 draft with the No. 3 overall selection, dealt that choice to the Texans for the No. 12 pick and moved back nine spots. Minutes later, Ossenfort went back up. He offered his newly acquired No. 12 selection to Detroit for the No. 6 choice.

The ramifications were stunning. Arizona used its No. 6 selection to draft the best left tackle in the class, Paris Johnson. Houston wound up with C.J. Stroud at No. 2 and Will Anderson at No. 3 – the respective offensive and defensive rookies of the year in 2023. Then, Gladstone’s former Rams colleague Brad Holmes landed at No. 12 the player he would’ve drafted at 6, Jahmyr Gibbs.

Something similar might happen next week involving Travis Hunter, if he somehow remains available when the Patriots are on the clock at 4. Could Eliot Wolf and Mike Vrabel work the phones, engineer a trade, then complete another trade with Jacksonville to move back up and take their left tackle at 5? It would make sense, especially because there's precedent for such a move in recent draft classes.

And if it does, don’t be surprised if Gladstone and the Jaguars are involved. The new Jaguars' regime is sitting at a spot of leverage at No. 5 overall, and we will soon see how the dealings of next week's draft impact the plans in Duval's war room.

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