JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The stopwatch era is dying. The Jacksonville Jaguars are holding the shovel. Head coach Liam Coen and general manager James Gladstone are officially skipping next week’s Jaguars NFL Combine events. Instead of freezing in Indianapolis and logging endless hours in sterile hotel suites, the duo will remain at the Miller Electric Center to hammer out their 2026 offseason blueprint. The 13-4 Jaguars are officially done playing the traditional scouting game.
Data Over Binoculars
Coen and Gladstone aren’t flying blind. The move directly mirrors the strategy of the Los Angeles Rams—where both executives cut their teeth. The traditional combine model forces evaluators to sit through 15-minute speed dates with exhausted, heavily rehearsed athletes. Jacksonville sees zero value in that recycled routine.
Teams spend years compiling college tracking metrics, GPS numbers, and relentless film grades. The Jaguars trust that existing data. Look at the raw numbers from last season’s stunning turnaround. Coen flipped a broken 4-13 roster into an AFC South champion. He strapped a rocket to the offense, spiking the scoring average from 18.8 to 27.9 points per game. Gladstone ruthlessly retooled the defense to fit Anthony Campanile’s hybrid zone scheme. They built that division-winning machine through aggressive, tape-based evaluation not by watching athletes run 40-yard dashes in spandex.
“You don’t build a 13-win roster by staring at stopwatches in the stands. We trust the thousands of hours our scouts already put in. The tape tells the truth, and 15 minutes of rehearsed interview answers won’t change our board.”
— Anonymous NFL Executive on the evolving scouting process
Draft Implications / What’s Next
This decision is about holding the cards tight. Last year, the Jaguars bypassed hosting prospects on top-30 in-facility visits. The result? A perfectly executed draft that opposing front offices never saw coming. By staying out of the Indianapolis spotlight, Jacksonville completely masks its draft intentions. Opposing general managers get zero reads on which prospects make Coen lean forward in a meeting room.
Jacksonville will still deploy a designated crew of medical representatives and lower-level scouts to gather the essential physical data. However, the heavy lifting happens in the film room back home. As free agency approaches, expect the Jaguars to quietly target interior offensive line reinforcements and secondary depth to defend their division crown. They are operating entirely on their own terms, and after a 13-win season, no one in the league is doubting them.
