Former Tennessee quarterback Joey Aguilar is headed to Jacksonville.
Aguilar was one of 18 undrafted free agents to agree to terms with the Jaguars after the draft ended on Saturday. Aguilar initially transferred from Appalachian State to UCLA before the 2025 season, but then moved on to Tennessee after Nico Iamaleava chose to transfer from the Volunteers to the Bruins.
Aguilar threw for 3,565 yards, 24 touchdowns and 10 interceptions while completing 67.3 percent of his passes.
Trevor Lawrence, Nick Mullens and Carter Bradley are the other quarterbacks on the Jacksonville roster.
The Jaguars also announced agreements with Cal defensive lineman T.J. Bollers, Utah State wide receiver Brady Boyd, South Dakota State wide receiver Alex Bullock, Troy tight end Ethan Conner, UCLA offensive lineman Garrett DiGiorgio, Michigan State defensive end Quindarius Dunnigan, Colorado cornerback Preston Hodge, Cincinnati defensive lineman Jalen Hunt, North Carolina State cornerback Devon Marshall, Virginia safety Devin Neal, North Texas offensive lineman Jimto Obidegwu, Texas-Permian Basin wide receiver Ben Patterson, Penn State wide receiver Trebor Pena, Virginia running back J’Mari Taylor, South Carolina defensive end Bryan Thomas Jr., Vanderbilt offensive lineman Jordan White, and Montana wide receiver Michael Wortham.
Jaguars Clips
Day 2 of the 2026 NFL Draft has come to an end with the Jaguars picking the last player of the night.
At No. 100 overall, Jacksonville selected safety Jalen Huskey out of Maryland.
Huskey spent his first two collegiate seasons at Bowling Green before transferring to Maryland in 2024. He was a Second-team All-Big Ten honoree in 2025, having recorded 72 total tackles with 1.5 tackles for loss and four interceptions.
The Bills are currently set to start the final day of the 2026 NFL Draft at pick No. 101 in the fourth round.
The Jaguars traded their 2026 first-round pick as part of a package to move up to No. 2 overall to select Travis Hunter in 2025. They had a long wait to make their first pick of 2026.
Jaguars head coach Liam Coen joked Thursday that he “waited a lot longer before,” referring to 2022 when he was offensive coordinator of the Rams. Los Angeles didn’t make its first pick until No. 104 overall, the next-to-last pick in the third round.
The Jaguars had only to wait until 56th overall this year.
They used the choice on Texas A&M tight end Nate Boerkircher.
The Jaguars have only four players under contract at the position, with Brenton Strange, Quintin Morris and Hunter Long all scheduled for free agency in 2027. (Strange will return.)
Boerkircher, a one-year starter for the Aggies, was a Y tight end with 69 percent of snaps in line. He made a career-high 19 catches for 198 yards and three touchdowns in his only season in College Station after transferring from Nebraska.
The Jaguars have 11 total picks, including four in the top 100.
Last year, the Jaguars gave up this year’s first-round pick as part of the effort to move up three spots to get Travis Hunter. This year, the Jaguars may be using a prior first-round pick to get another one.
As the draft approaches, we’re told that the Jaguars may be trying to lay the foundation for a potential trade into the bottom of round one. The potential bait could include receiver Brian Thomas Jr.
Thomas has been a consistent subject of trade chatter. Last month, G.M. James Gladstone called such talk “fraudulent.”
A first-round pick in 2024, Thomas had a strong rookie season — 87 catches, 1,282 yards, 10 touchdowns in 17 games. In 14 games last year, Thomas had 48 catches for 707 yards and two touchdowns.
In 2025, receiver Parker Washington led the team with 58 catches and 847 receiving yards. In nine games after a trade from the Raiders, receiver Jakobi Meyers had 42 catches for 483 yards.
Hunter becomes the wild card. He was primarily a receiver a year ago. If that continues, he’d join Washington and Meyers as the top three options at the position, if the rumors end up not being quite so fraudulent.
For whatever reason, Thomas didn’t have the same impact under Liam Coen. With both the coach and G.M. who were with the team when Thomas was drafted gone, he becomes an asset the Jaguars could utilize in an effort to crash the round-one party.
Much of it depends on whether a player the Jaguars covet is available as the first round moves past the first 20 picks or so — and whether there’s a team in that window that would prefer to trade its first-round pick for Thomas.
The reality is that every first-round pick, when used, becomes essentially a trade for that player. The question is whether a team would rather trade that pick for an unproven incoming player, or whether that team would trade the pick for a player who made a significant splash in his first NFL season.
For now, the Jaguars won’t be on the clock until the 24th pick in round two, after 55 other players are selected. They have ten other picks, including three third-round selections.
The Jaguars formally exercised the fifth-year option on Anton Harrison’s contract for 2027, the team announced on Monday.
General Manager James Gladstone announced last month that the team would pick up the one-year fully guaranteed option for $19 million on the right tackle’s deal.
The Jaguars hope to sign Harrison to a long-term deal.
Harrison has started all 49 regular-season and playoff games he has played since Jacksonville selected him with the 27th pick of the 2023 draft.
He played 15 games in 2025.
Despite Dianna Russini’s recent resignation from The Athletic, the company continues to review her reporting in the aftermath of the photos with Patriots coach Mike Vrabel that emerged twelve days ago. Since 2022, the year before she joined The Athletic, Russini has had one of the 50 ballots for the annual Associated Press/NFL awards and the All-Pro team.
Here’s a question we’ve gotten from multiple members of the media: Is the Associated Press reviewing her ballots as a result of recent developments?
The AP has not responded to two emails from PFT asking that specific question.
Previously, after three tries via email, the AP declined to release her full 2025 ballot.
That speaks to another odd quirk as it relates to the AP awards. In 2024, the AP did not tell the panel that the ballots would be released. After the 2024 awards were announced, all ballots were released. After the 2025 awards were announced, the AP did not release the ballots.
There’s obvious reason for curiosity as to Russini’s coach of the year ballot. Vrabel won the award, with 302 points and 19 first-place votes. Jaguars coach Liam Coen finished second, with 239 points and 16 first-place votes. Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald finished third, Bears coach Ben Johnson landed in fourth place, and 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan was fifth.
Given the apparent relationship with Vrabel, based solely on the photos, there is clear interest in seeing Russini’s ballot. And it goes beyond whether she gave her first-place vote to Vrabel; if so, 18 others did. The question is where the other perceived candidates landed. For example, was Coen second? Was he fifth? Was he omitted from the ballot entirely?
It’s a basic, and fair, question. These are the official NFL awards. People wager money on them (for some reason). The process of voting requires a full commitment to set aside any relationship with the candidates (whatever the relationship may be) and make decisions detached from bias or agenda.
It’s possible there are no irregularities, especially since the AP released all ballots for the 2024 awards without telling the voters the ballots would be released. Russini complained about the 2024 disclosure in an appearance on Pardon My Take.
“I was out to dinner and my phone was blowing up with people in football very angry that I voted for people that I voted for,” she said, via Awful Announcing. “That stunk. I wish I knew that because — it would not have changed my vote — but I love Josh Allen, and I am avoiding him for a really long time.”
It’s unclear why that would be the case. In 2024, I voted for Lamar Jackson as the MVP, with Allen in second place. I got no pushback from any “people in football” for that decision, or any of the other votes on my ballot. And Allen later appeared on PFT Live.
Regardless, if The Athletic is reviewing her reporting, the AP arguably should be reviewing her ballots. And the NFL, which has made the AP awards the NFL’s official awards for the annual NFL Honors event, arguably should want that to happen. (The league did not respond to an email regarding this point.)
At a time when there has been much debate and discussion about various other aspects and ramifications of the original New York Post report, it’s appropriate to be curious about the specific contents of her awards ballots from 2022 through 2025. It’s arguably necessary for the entity that selects the panel of voters to act on that feeling.
The Jaguars have officially traded for defensive tackle Ruke Orhorhoro.
The team announced that they sent defensive tackle Maason Smith to Atlanta for Orhorhoro on Friday afternoon. The exchange of 2024 second-round picks was first reported earlier in the day.
Orhorhoro will not be teammates with offensive lineman Cooper Hodges when he reports for his first work with Jacksonville. The Jaguars announced that they have waived Hodges in the same release that confirmed the trade was done.
Hodges was a 2023 seventh-round pick in Jacksonville. He spent his rookie season on injured reserve and appeared in nine games in 2024 before landing on the physically unable to perform list for the 2025 campaign.
The Falcons and Jaguars have agreed to a swap of defensive linemen.
Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that Atlanta has agreed to send defensive tackle Ruke Orhorhoro to Jacksonville in exchange for defensive tackle Maason Smith. Both players were second-round picks in 2024 with Orhorhoro going to the Falcons at No. 35 and Smith going to the Jags at No. 48.
Orhorhoro played in eight games as a rookie and all 17 games last season. He made eight starts and finished the season with 25 tackles and 3.5 sacks.
Smith played 24 games and started seven times over his first two seasons. He had 32 tackles and three sacks in those appearances.
The NFL has announced the names of the current and former players that will take part in next week’s draft by announcing second-round picks.
The list includes players associated with all 32 teams, including Cardinals running back James Conner. Conner has strong ties to the Pittsburgh area after playing for the Steelers and attending Pitt, which likely made him an easy choice as the Cardinals’ representative.
Former Bears tackle Jimbo Covert, former Cowboys running back Tony Dorsett, former Chiefs defensive lineman Bill Maas, current Vikings tackle Brian O’Neill, former Jets running back Curtis Martin, and former 49ers punter Andy Lee are other Pitt alums who are set to take part.
The hometown team will be represented by four players. Former Steelers Jerome Bettis and John Stallworth will be joined by Joey Porter Sr. and Jr. next Friday.
The other players taking part and their team affiliations appear below:
Falcons: Michael Turner
Ravens: Mark Ingram
Bills: Shane Conlan
Panthers: Jake Delhomme
Bengals: Ken Anderson
Browns: Phil Dawson
Cowboys: Drew Pearson
Broncos: T.J. Ward
Lions: Calvin Johnson
Packers: John Kuhn
Texans: Billy Miller
Colts: Pat McAfee
Jaguars: Paul Posluszny
Raiders: Matt Millen
Chargers: Shawne Merriman
Rams: Tavon Austin
Dolphins: Dwight Stephenson
Patriots: Deion Branch
Saints: Marques Colston
Giants: Osi Umenyiora
Eagles: Brian Westbrook
Seahawks: Cliff Avril
Buccaneers: Ronde Barber
Titans: Jeffery Simmons
Commanders: Mark Rypien
A recent report from NFL Network indicated that Travis Hunter will transition in his second season with the Jaguars to the role of full-time cornerback and part-time receiver.
That’s apparently news to Hunter.
Hunter reposted a clip of the conversation from NFLN with this message: “Who told you this?”
The Jaguars moved up to No. 2 in last year’s draft — giving up the fifth overall pick in 2025 and their 2026 first-rounder (plus more) — to get Hunter. The argument was that they were getting two full-time players in one.
Last year’s production from Hunter, capped by a season-ending knee injury, may have caused the Jaguars to reconsider the wisdom of giving one player full-time two-way duties. And if the Jaguars are going to use Hunter primarily on one side of the ball, it arguably makes more sense to put him at receiver. Plenty of teams saw him in the runup to the 2025 draft primarily as a receiver and not as a corner. And the receiver market currently is more robust financially than the cornerback market.
Then there’s the possibility the Jaguars are quietly considering the possibility of trading receiver Brian Thomas Jr. before, during, or immediately after the draft. Although the Jaguars have called such chatter “fraudulent,” talk of a potential trade hasn’t fully dissipated. By putting out the word that Hunter will be primarily playing corner, the perception that Thomas will remain on the Jaguars becomes strengthened.
Which could help them get more for him, if they decide to trade him. Which would then allow them to slide Hunter from CB to WR.
In seven games last year (with four starts), Hunter played 67 percent of the offensive snaps and 36 percent of the defensive snaps. Which is a far cry from the full-time, two-way player the Jaguars claimed to be getting.
