Bleeding Green Nation
With the 5th overall pick in the 2025 Bleeding Green Nation community mock draft, Jacksonville Jaguars GM eaglenomics selects ...
(Channeling my inner James Gladstone) Oh boy! I’m excited to make the very first pick of my GM career. I may look like I have just graduated from college, perhaps because I decided to rock the perhaps-too-bold hoodie-vest combo during my introductory press conference, but I am ready for this moment. As a late-stage millennial, I have been ripping mock draft after mock draft in preparation for this moment. PFF Mock Draft Simulator, you have positioned me in a winning position, and I’m excited to take whoever remains from the Travis Hunter-Abdul Carter-Will Campbell triad.
(Travis Hunter goes 1) Wait, what? This isn’t what the simulation promised.
(Abdul Carter goes 2) Good Lord, what is happening? PFF, did you lie to me?
(Will Campbell goes 4) I am not crying and physically shaking; I’m just… allergic to the starch they used to dry-clean my hoodie or something.
(Jacksonville Jaguars, you are ON THE CLOCK. You have 10) Alright, me, calm down. You can do this. You know what everyone says and knows about James Gladstone; when life punches him in the face, he punches right back. So, what do we do?
Who are the best players available? Pulling up some draft analyst big boards (not that I don’t trust the esteemed scouts within the Jaguars organization), it looks like most experts have Ashton Jeanty, Armand Membou, or Mason Graham as the top players remaining. James, you want cool NFL people to think you’re smart. Like you know how to allocate resources, so you WILL NOT take Ashton Jeanty.
Great, so we are down to Membou and Graham. Membou is an athletic offensive tackle prospect, and Graham is a meat-and-potatoes blue-chip defensive tackle from the National Championship-winning Michigan Wolverines. It looks like most analysts have Graham as the better player, and that aligns with our own needs, as we have decent tackles but nothing on the defensive interior.
Finally, I look up to the sky and recite the mantra I picked up when I got this job: What would Howie Roseman do? He’s the best in the game, and he’s the tops, so I must abide by his word. Well, he loves the trenches! As another final check, I look at the dirt and hiss: What would Trent Baalke do? Probably take some flashy, overly athletic player instead of the demonstrably awesome guy. That’s why he took Travon Walker over Aiden Hutchinson. What a doofus! He’d probably take Membou. Great, so I now know what to do / who to avoid.
Now that I have a guy in mind, I have to make sure I’m covering my butt. Remember, as Joe Shoen and Brain Daboll remind us every year, the true goal of an NFL GM is not to position their franchise for success but to stay employed another year. So this year, let’s just make...
