How James Gladstone Is Already Giving the Jaguars An Advantage

Jacksonville Jaguars general manager James Gladstone knows what it means to be a steward to a franchise. Now, he is using his talents to help guide the Jaguars back to winning ways on the field.

After several years serving as one of the top front office voices with the Los Angeles Rams under general manager Les Snead and head coach Sean McVay, Gladstone's experience, out-of-the-box thinking, and aggressive and calculated demeanor led to him becoming the Jaguars' next general manager.

Gladstone's experience and familiarity with new Jaguars head coach Liam Coen certainly didn't hurt. With the duo already having a good bit of chemistry after their time together with the Rams, the hope is they can hit the ground running.

And so far, it seems as if that plan is going exactly as intended and exactly as foreshadowed so many years ago in Los Angeles.

"It's not like that was—James and I weren't just like—we weren't like homies, you know? Like we worked together, he was always leading the undrafted free agent process after the Draft, and he spearheaded it," Coen said at the annual league meetings earlier this week.

"He was the guy communicating with both the coaches and the scouting department, right? That was what he did. He was in charge of it and led it. I was like, man, this dude's impressive."

Perhaps the most consistent thing that has been said about Gladstone and his abilities so far is how well he communicates. He can speak the same language as a coaching staff despite his scouting background, and he knows how to present difficult concepts with ease.

Gladstone was so versed in his ability to connect coaching and scouting through communication during his time in Los Angeles that his roles continued to grow and grow.

"This isn't easy to communicate, bullets, things are flying in that moment, and he's able to keep his head so cool, communicate at a high level, and then, man, go back in ‘22, and he's now doing that with the Draft," Coen said.

"He's really hand-in-hand with Les [Rams General Manager Les Snead] and working with Sean and those guys in that process, and I’m like, well, okay, that happened quickly. His ability to communicate with all walks of life is really cool, and his organizational skills have helped me out tremendously.”

When Gladstone was hired, he only had a few weeks to help prepare for free agency. But thanks to all that he brings to the table, he was able to navigate the transition period with ease -- already giving the Jaguars an edge.

“Yeah, I think you look at the buckets. We've really kind of started to put players in buckets, and each round has two, so we're able to have enough buckets there where it's not too much, but we do have enough on the board. Now also merging our players that were off their board in L.A. that maybe we have to have conversations about here, it's been so organized," Coen said.

"The way he kind of has things is like a call sheet, like an offensive or defensive coach’s call sheet, not your typical Draft board, if you will. So, it's easier for me to read and understand, which I think is really cool. He's a coach's kid. So he wants to do things that way, which I really appreciate.”