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Major Takeaways
- Jacksonville acquired Jessie Bates III, Jordan Davis, and Davon Godchaux in three trades on Monday.
- The Jaguars sent out five future draft picks, including a first round pick in 2027.
- Season ending injuries to DaVon Hamilton and Eric Murray forced the moves.
- General manager James Gladstone called the deals team building, not an all in push.
- Jacksonville is 6 and 2 atop the AFC South and plays at Tennessee on Sunday.
The Jacksonville Jaguars spent Monday rebuilding their defense in a single day.
Three trades brought three proven starters to Jacksonville before the deadline.
Five future draft picks went out the door in return.
Safety Jessie Bates III arrived from the Atlanta Falcons.
Defensive tackles Jordan Davis and Davon Godchaux followed him to town.
Davis came from the Philadelphia Eagles, and Godchaux came from the New Orleans Saints.
The league deadline passed Tuesday at 4 p.m. Eastern Time.
The team described Monday as one of the highest profile transactional days in its 32 season history.
The push comes with Jacksonville at 6 and 2 and leading the AFC South.
It comes one game after a 33 to 10 rout of Baltimore on Thursday night.
Jessie Bates III during his time with the Atlanta Falcons, file photo. Photo: Atlanta Falcons via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0.
Two Injuries Forced the Jaguars to Act
The trades started with two names on the injured reserve list.
Nose tackle DaVon Hamilton and safety Eric Murray went on injured reserve on November 3.
Both injuries are season ending, and both men held central jobs on this defense.
Hamilton set the middle for a scheme built on stopping the run early.
When Jacksonville wins first and second down, its pass rushers and defensive backs take over.
That pressure creates the turnovers this defense has piled up all season.
Murray ran the back end of the same defense at safety.
Second year safety Rayuan Lane had stepped in at the spot.
Lane has played well in stretches, but the front office wanted proven stars.
Gladstone said the team had narrowed its target list before Monday began.
The deadline simply forced the calls to turn into deals.
Jessie Bates III Brings Star Power to the Back End
The Bates deal came first, early on Monday morning.
Jacksonville sent Atlanta a second round pick in 2027 and a fifth round pick in 2028.
Gladstone cleared the move with head coach Liam Coen, executive vice president Tony Boselli, and ownership.
Bates rewarded Atlanta all season before the trade.
He piled up 60 tackles with three forced fumbles and one interception this year.
He also returned a recovered fumble 36 yards for a touchdown.
On Sunday in Madrid, he posted a career high 14 tackles against Cincinnati.
Atlanta lost that game 34 to 17, but Bates was its bright spot.
His career numbers explain the price Jacksonville paid.
Bates owns 28 interceptions, 74 passes defensed, and 14 forced fumbles.
He is a three time All Pro who spent five seasons in Cincinnati.
He joined Atlanta in 2023 and became the leader of its secondary.
Coen praised far more than the playmaking this week.
Coen said the reports kept coming back to the man himself.
“The guy, the competitor, obviously, but also the person in the community, in the locker room,” Coen said.
Bates arrived at the Miller Electric Center on Monday to start work.
His contract is in its final season, which adds one subplot.
Gladstone has already discussed the idea of signing Bates beyond this year.
The team did the same with receiver Jakobi Meyers last season.
Meyers arrived as a rental and signed a three year extension a month later.
Jordan Davis Is the Big Swing in the Middle
The Davis deal was the last and the largest of the day.
It came together around 5 p.m. on Monday evening.
Jacksonville sent Philadelphia a first round pick in 2027 and a second round pick in 2029.
Davis is 26 years old and stands 6 foot 6 and 336 pounds.
Philadelphia drafted him 13th overall out of Georgia in 2022.
He started all nine games for the Eagles this season.
He recorded 31 tackles, 1.5 sacks, and one interception in those games.
Philadelphia also named him a team captain this season.
Last season was the best of his career so far.
Davis set career highs with 72 tackles and 4.5 sacks.
He helped Philadelphia win Super Bowl LIX after the 2024 season.
In that playoff run, he made six tackles and two sacks in four games.
Davis signed a three year extension worth 78 million dollars in March.
That deal keeps him under contract well beyond this season.
Gladstone called him a “well rounded premier player and person.”
Gladstone added that the impact of Davis can be felt on every down.
The fit in Jacksonville is personal as well as tactical.
Davis spent three seasons at Georgia next to Travon Walker.
The two won a national championship together after the 2021 season.
Gladstone saw the same formula work during his years with the Los Angeles Rams.
The Rams reunited college teammates Jared Verse and Braden Fiske in the 2024 draft.
The pair became a force on the Los Angeles defensive front.
Jordan Davis, wearing number 90, drives into the Washington backfield during a 2022 game with Philadelphia, file photo. Photo: Joe Glorioso via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY SA 2.0.
Davon Godchaux Adds Veteran Weight Up Front
The Godchaux talks took shape early on Monday afternoon.
Jacksonville sent New Orleans a conditional sixth round pick for him.
Godchaux is 31 and playing his tenth season in the league.
Miami drafted him in the fifth round in 2017, at 178th overall.
He has played 145 career games with 128 starts.
His stops run from Miami to New England and then New Orleans.
His career line holds 487 tackles and 23 tackles for loss.
He adds 5.5 sacks, three forced fumbles, and one fumble recovery.
This season in New Orleans, he made 15 tackles in eight games.
Godchaux also knows the Jacksonville defensive system already.
He worked with coordinator Campanile in Miami back in 2020.
In Jacksonville, he projects as a pure nose tackle in the rotation.
That role matters more here than it does for most defenses.
Davis and Godchaux together can keep blockers off the linebackers behind them.
Godchaux arrived in Jacksonville on Tuesday alongside Davis.
Davon Godchaux takes a swing during a charity softball game, file photo. Photo: Erik Drost via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.
Gladstone Calls It Team Building, Not an All In Move
Plenty of voices around the league called the day an all in swing.
Gladstone pushed back on that label on Tuesday.
“The idea that this is an all in move is not necessarily how I characterize it,” Gladstone said.
“I characterize it as getting better as a football team and prioritizing getting better as a football team.”
He pointed to fit as much as talent in all three deals.
“While these are player acquisitions and they are on an individual basis, it is not rooted simply in talent,” he said.
“It is rooted in much more, and this is about team building.”
“Good teams can be built in an offseason, but it is important for the best teams to continue to evolve over the course of the regular season,” he said.
The draft picks, he argued, remain part of the plan.
“We actually value picks,” Gladstone said. “We do not always use them on the three days that exist in April.”
His Los Angeles years back up the point.
The Rams made the third most draft selections in the league from 2017 through 2024.
They did it by piling up compensatory picks along the way.
Gladstone has brought that same accounting habit to Jacksonville.
“The priority is winning football games,” he said.
A Statement That Lands in Black Jacksonville
For Black fans in Jacksonville, this front office energy feels new.
The Jaguars have asked this city for patience across far too many rebuilds.
Jacksonville is a football city with deep Black roots in the game.
Friday night high school crowds here have raised generations of college and pro talent.
Now the face of the biggest push in team history is three Black defensive stars.
Bates, Davis, and Godchaux will lead a defense already playing elite football.
Jacksonville has scored 229 points and allowed just 121 in eight games.
Its plus 108 point differential is the best mark in the league.
Its plus nine turnover differential also leads the league.
Four of its six wins have come by 20 or more points.
The team owns a top five scoring offense and the second best scoring defense in football.
The target now has a name the franchise has never reached.
Jacksonville has never played in a Super Bowl.
A run at the top seed in the AFC runs through a friendly closing schedule.
Six of the final nine games come against teams with losing records.
The first test arrives Sunday at the Tennessee Titans.
Tennessee is 1 and 7, and Jacksonville will see the Titans twice in three weeks.
Houston sits three games back at 3 and 5 in the AFC South.
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