Jaguars leaders set for April 25-27 NFL Draft

Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Liam Coen and General Manager James Gladstone are heading into their second NFL Draft with the franchise, with the selection meeting scheduled for April 25-27, 2024. The pair said the organization is operating in a more settled rhythm than it was a year ago, which they expect will make the draft process more targeted and efficient.

Coen and Gladstone are entering their second year in Jacksonville, and they described a clearer internal structure than during their first offseason. Last year’s preparation was shaped by timing: Coen was hired late in the postseason, while Gladstone arrived shortly before the Scouting Combine. Officials said that tight window forced the club to handle staff onboarding and draft planning at the same time, reducing the ability to run a streamlined evaluation cycle.

For the 2024 draft, the leadership group said established procedures and greater familiarity across the building should allow for more detailed analytical work on prospects. In practical terms, they indicated that the front office and coaching staff can spend more time aligning player evaluations with the team’s needs, rather than building the process while trying to execute it.

The Jaguars are coming off a first season under Coen and Gladstone that ended with a 13-4 record. That result marked a sharp change from the prior season’s 4-13 finish, and the team is treating the upcoming draft as a key step in sustaining that momentum. The stated goal of the current preparation is to add talent that strengthens the roster with an eye toward the 2026 season.

While the club did not outline specific positional targets, the emphasis from team leadership was on process and decision quality. The draft is one of the NFL’s primary mechanisms for roster construction, and Jacksonville’s approach reflects an effort to convert organizational stability into better-informed selections.

The team’s comments also underscore that the internal timeline—when leaders arrive, how quickly staff roles are defined, and how consistently evaluations are run—can shape how effectively a franchise uses the draft weekend.

What remains unclear is how the Jaguars will translate their more established workflow into concrete draft outcomes, since the team has not detailed its board, trade posture, or priority needs. The April 25-27 event will provide the first public test of the second-year operating model Coen and Gladstone described, as Jacksonville seeks to build on last season’s record and advance its longer-term roster plan for 2026.