Big Cat Country
The Jacksonville Jaguars’ magical 2025 season has come to an end after the team fell 27-24 to the Buffalo Bills in the Wild Card Round of the playoffs.
While the loss will sting for a little while, the future in Jacksonville has never looked brighter. Head coach Liam Coen is firmly in the discussion for NFL Coach of the Year, Trevor Lawrence had the best season of his career, the defense has playmakers all over the place — and all of that while missing their star draft pick, Travis Hunter, for their entire hot streak down the stretch.
Getting Hunter back into the mix legitimately makes this Jacksonville roster one of the league’s best entering the 2026 season, but there are some areas the team could upgrade. However, the trade up for Hunter last year did cost them their first-rounder this year, so GM James Gladstone will have to (barring another trade) find contributors to a hopeful AFC contender on Day 2 in Pittsburgh.
That said, Gladstone did net two additional third-round picks in a draft-day trade last season, which leaves him with four total picks to play with this go-around.
Let’s dive into a few players I believe could be in play for the Jacksonville Jaguars in this three-round 2026 mock draft.
The Jacksonville defense had a great year under first-year defensive coordinator Anthony Campanile, but it struggled in one vital area that will need to improve in 2026. The Jaguars had just 32 sacks on the season (27th) and had just two players finish the season with at least 4 sacks (Hines-Allen: 8, Armstead: 5.5).
The Jags need to prioritize players that can consistently get after the quarterback in the 2026 draft, and one name that could be an interesting target is the Canes’ Akheem Mesidor.
Mesidor had 10.5 sacks as a senior in 2025 and totaled 33.5 sacks in his career between his stays at West Virginia and Miami. However, his career sack total is so high because this was Mesidor’s sixth year of collegiate football, and he will be 25 years of age on draft night. That is a pretty significant red flag for most teams as it really expedites the timeline on a player’s development and caps their potential extension since he will be 29 by the time that comes.
That said, a team that expects to contend over the next few years makes sense for this scenario because they can afford the potential short-term impact while in a “win now” window. Not only does Jacksonville fit that category, but GM James Gladstone has already proven he will prioritize players who raise the team’s floor over all else, and Mesidor will do that. He’s a first-round talent that could absolutely be available when the Jags are on the clock at 56.
On paper, the Jags’ biggest need on the roster is on the interior of the defensive...
