{"id":873982,"date":"2026-04-25T01:30:40","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T01:30:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/873982\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T01:30:40","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T01:30:40","slug":"patriots-trade-up-to-nab-illinois-edge-gabe-jacas-with-pick-no-55-in-2026-nfl-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/873982\/","title":{"rendered":"Patriots trade up to nab Illinois edge Gabe Jacas with pick No. 55 in 2026 NFL Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Athletic has live coverage<\/a> of the 2026 NFL Draft.<\/p>\n

For the second straight night, the New England Patriots moved up in the draft to make sure they got the player they wanted.<\/p>\n

After a run on edge rushers early in the second round, the Patriots sent the No. 63 overall pick and two Day 3 selections to the Los Angeles Chargers for the 55th pick, which they used to select University of Illinois edge rusher Gabe Jacas.<\/p>\n

The move reinforces the Patriots\u2019 goal of improving in the trenches under Mike Vrabel and comes one night after they moved up to pick offensive tackle Caleb Lomu<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2018The Beast\u2019 breakdown<\/p>\n

Jacas ranked No. 49 in Dane Brugler\u2019s top 300 big board<\/a>. Here\u2019s what Brugler had to say about him in his annual NFL Draft guide<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u201cWith his rocked-up, athletic build, Jacas is a quick and violent pass rusher who doesn\u2019t need a long runway. He credits his wrestling background for his handwork and maneuvering skills (also worked closely with pass-rush specialist Joe Kim, whom Illinois hired from the New England Patriots in 2025). As a run defender, he uses his heavy hands to strike blockers but gets tangled versus length and must improve his awareness against seal down blocks.<\/p>\n

\u201cJacas won\u2019t consistently outrace NFL tackles, but his powerful, proficient technique and aggressive play demeanor should translate well to the next level. He projects as a rotational edge defender.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scott Dochterman grades the pick<\/p>\n

The Patriots traded up to grab Jacas, who was the top pass rusher remaining. Jacas (6-foot-3 1\/2, 260 pounds) developed into one of the Big Ten\u2019s top pass rushers with 11 sacks and 13.5 tackles for loss last year. Over his final two seasons, he posted 19 sacks and six forced fumbles. He finished with 43 career starts.<\/p>\n

Grade: B+<\/a><\/p>\n

How he fits<\/p>\n

Perhaps offensive tackle was the Patriots\u2019 biggest long-term need, but the selection of Jacas addresses the team\u2019s most pressing short-term need.<\/p>\n

From day one, Jacas should be able to carve out a role as a pass rusher. Harold Landry, who is recovering from a lingering knee injury, and Dre\u2019Mont Jones are slated to be the team\u2019s top edge rushers.<\/p>\n

Jacas should be able to give New England a bit more speed. His 10-yard split at the combine was 1.59 seconds, the second-fastest of any edge rusher selected so far.<\/p>\n

Depth-chart impact\u00a0<\/p>\n

With Jones as more of a run stuffer who can slide inside on third downs, there\u2019s an open spot for a pure pass rusher on third downs. That\u2019s the role Jacas should be able to take over as a rookie, with a chance to develop a bigger role from there.<\/p>\n

Edge rusher is still one of the team\u2019s weaker positions, but this was a good step toward both improving depth and adding a young player with upside. Landry turns 30 this summer, while Jones is 29.<\/p>\n

They also could have picked \u2026\u00a0<\/p>\n

The early run on defensive linemen in the second round forced the Patriots\u2019 hand and led to another trade up, this time likely trying to get ahead of the Chicago Bears, who had the 57th pick.<\/p>\n

Tight end Eli Stowers went one pick before the Pats selected Jacas, so that option was off the board.<\/p>\n

They could have gone with cornerback Jermod McCoy, whose slide down the draft board is likely the result of a knee injury. Wide receiver Chris Brazzell would\u2019ve been another option, but it makes sense that the Patriots didn\u2019t go that route if they still expect to trade for A.J. Brown<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Fast evaluation\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Patriots did the best they could in a tough situation as edge rushers flew off the board. It isn\u2019t ideal to have to trade up twice in two rounds, but they did what they had to do to address their two biggest positions of need.<\/p>\n

Is Jacas about to completely transform the Patriots\u2019 edge rusher group? Probably not. But he fills a need the Patriots had to address.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Athletic has live coverage of the 2026 NFL Draft. For the second straight night, the New England…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":873983,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2050],"tags":[7,4728,1167,249,2326,2094,6,208],"class_list":{"0":"post-873982","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-england-patriots","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-illinois-fighting-illini","10":"tag-new-england","11":"tag-new-england-patriots","12":"tag-newengland","13":"tag-newenglandpatriots","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-patriots"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116462762337744653","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=873982"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873982\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/873983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=873982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=873982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=873982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}