{"id":874071,"date":"2026-04-25T03:48:29","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T03:48:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/874071\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T03:48:29","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T03:48:29","slug":"patriots-trade-up-for-quick-and-violent-pass-rusher-in-second-round","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/874071\/","title":{"rendered":"Patriots trade up for \u2018quick and violent pass rusher\u2019 in second round"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the second night in a row,<\/a> the Patriots<\/a> traded up in the NFL Draft. <\/a><\/p>\n

New England moved up in the second round to select Gabe Jacas, an edge rusher out of Illinois, at No. 55 overall. The Patriots sent their original second-rounder (No. 63) to the Chargers as well as a fourth-rounder (No. 131) and a sixth-rounder (No. 202) to jump up eight spots. <\/p>\n

The 6-foot-4, 261-pounder was highly productive for the Illini over the course of his four-year career. Jacas registered 27 sacks, 35.5 tackles for loss \u2014 including at least 13 in each of the past two seasons \u2014 and forced seven fumbles. <\/p>\n

Still just 21 years old, Jacas ran a 4.69-second 40-yard dash at his Pro Day, repped the bench press 30 times at the NFL Combine, and was a team captain at Illinois. <\/p>\n

According to The Athletic\u2019s Dane Brugler,<\/a> Jacas already had a Patriots connection, too. <\/p>\n

\u201cWith his rocked-up, athletic build, Jacas is a quick and violent pass rusher who doesn\u2019t need a long runway,\u201d Brugler wrote. \u201cHe 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

\u201cOverall, Jacas 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

Meanwhile, NFL Media\u2019s Lance Zierlein<\/a> listed an interesting player comp for Jacas: Former Patriots Pro Bowler Matthew Judon. Zierlein predicts Jacas will eventually become \u201ca plus starter.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cJacas is well-built with tremendous play strength and the ability to play as a hand-down end or a stand-up edge,\u201d Zierlein said. \u201cHe\u2019s more rugged than explosive and twitchy. He can hold his ground against power but needs to do a better job of playing with discipline to set and contain his edge. Jacas\u2019 pass-rush plan lacks creativity but features a good deal of force and leg drive to bully his way into the pocket once he opens the tackle\u2019s edge. His play is more steak than sizzle with average sack production expected, but his field demeanor and play strength foreshadow a long career as an NFL starter.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For the second night in a row, the Patriots traded up in the NFL Draft. New England moved…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":874072,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2050],"tags":[19,7,1167,249,2326,2094,6,208],"class_list":{"0":"post-874071","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-england-patriots","8":"tag-draft","9":"tag-football","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\/116463304914967967","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874071","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=874071"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874071\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/874072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=874071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=874071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=874071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}