Since taking over as the Patriots top personnel executive, Eliot Wolf has understandably targeted players on offense in his first two drafts as New England's personnel chief.
In his first two offseasons on the job, the Patriots were coming off seasons where they ranked 31st (2023) and 30th (2024) in scoring offense. So, it stands to reason that Wolf's first seven top-100 picks were offensive players, including QB Drake Maye and starting LT Will Campbell, who were selected third and fourth overall, respectively, in consecutive drafts.
However, with the focus on offense, the Patriots hadn't selected a defensive player with a premium draft choice since star CB Christian Gonzalez, DE Keion White, and LB Marte Mapu were their first three picks in the 2023 draft. If you zoom out even further, the Patriots had only selected three defenders inside the top 50 over their previous five drafts: Gonzalez, White, and Christian Barmore (38th overall in 2021).
All of this is a long-winded way of saying the Patriots hadn't used high-end draft capital on defense in two full draft cycles prior to selecting Illinois edge rusher Gabe Jacas with the 55th overall pick in the 2026 draft. Jacas also addresses a need on the edge that New England's top brass was highlighting all offseason, with the Pats trading up eight slots to ensure they landed the second-team All-Big Ten defender, who led the Illini with 11 sacks and 13.5 TFLs in 2025.
During free agency, the Patriots executed a 1-for-1 swap by signing power-rusher Dre'Mont Jones, with former starter K'Lavon Chaisson departing in free agency. Jones is projected to start, possibly next to veteran Harold Landry III, who will need to bounce back from a knee injury that limited him down the stretch last season. Elijah Ponder had a promising first season as an undrafted rookie, and fifth-rounder Bradyn Swinson brings pass-rush upside, but the need for youth, depth, and starting-caliber upside remained.
With a run of edge rushers at the top of the second round, the 22-year-old Jacas was stacked in a cluster that included T.J. Parker (No. 35), R Mason Thomas (No. 40), Cashius Howell (No. 41), Derrick Moore (No. 44), and Zion Young (No. 45) throughout the process. Jacas is a rugged edge rusher who might have some question marks about his ability to win with pure speed on the outside. However, the Pats second-rounder makes up for any lack of speed or bend to challenge tackles to the outside with raw power, enough diversity in his pass-rush toolbox, and a relentless motor.
With New England being all about "effort and finish" under head coach Mike Vrabel, Jacas is a textbook Vrabel-era Patriot, capable of disrupting the run and pass game like a future starter. Let's break down the film to illustrate how Jacas's game can translate to the next level.
Pass Rush
Starting with his impact on the passing game, Jacas is a power-oriented rusher who logged 11 sacks and 41 total pressures in the Big Ten last season, with the bull rush as his foundational move.
Although the best edge rushers win in multiple ways, we put too much emphasis on speed-winners who have great burst and bend around the arc this time of year. In the pros, almost every top sack artist has an impactful power move in their rush plan. It's flashy to see draft prospects explode past tackles with finesse moves, but the NFL game is still built on power, especially when projecting players into every-down roles.
According to charting by James Foster, Jacas ranked eighth in the draft class with 38.6% of his pressures coming via power. Of that sample, 22.9% were straight bull rushes. The Pats rookie complements his power with a twitchy inside swim (12.9%) and chop+rip moves (22.8%). Plus, Jacas is highly effective as the wrap rusher on stunts where he gets downhill through the line with an impressive closing gear on the quarterback (4.69s 40-yard dash at 6-4, 260 pounds).
Starting with his bull rush, Jacas converts speed-to-power with extreme force, often walking tackles back into the quarterback or even putting them on the ground. In the first clip above, Jacas rolls his hips and lands a firm punch into the tackle's chest, walking the left tackle back into the quarterback's lap to force an errant throw. On the second bull rush, his power is so overwhelming that he puts the right tackle into the ground for another pressure.
Due to his ability to win with power, tackles often try to bring the fight to Jacas, setting aggressively so they don't allow him to convert speed to power. When tackles use vertical sets, it creates space between them in the rusher, allowing the tackle to set into the backfield to cut off the angle to the quarterback. However, the downside is that bull rushers will use that space as a runway to generate power into the top of the rush. Therefore, Jacas saw several sets where tackles tried to be first to the punch.
In the first clip, Vikings third-rounder Caleb Tiernan (left tackle) tries to come out of the blocks to get his hands on Jacas. Jacas reads Tiernan's aggressive set and beats him inside with a swim move, leading to a quick win that results in an errant throw by the quarterback. In the next play, Tiernan is setting aggressively again on a play-action concept. He lands an initial punch this time, but Jacas fights it off once again with a rip move finisher to log a sack.
New England's second-rounder's ability to weaponize his bull rush to create quicker wins is encouraging. He's also joining a Patriots defensive scheme that ranked second in stunt rate last year (20%). Jacas looks like a natural fit as a wrap rusher in the Pats line stunts, either on traditional tackle/end stunts or longer stunts where he's wrapping around multiple interior penetrators. His pass-rush repertoire should translate well to the Patriots system.
Run Defense
As a run defender, Jacas was a splash-play artist for Illinois, logging 14 run stuffs both by powering through weaker blockers and winning with finesse to slip around run blocks.
From this perspective, the Pats rookie had some struggles with discipline on the edge, specifically reading through option-style concepts or midsection. He also will sometimes get out-paced to the edge against outside runs, but he mostly makes up for it with plays on the ball and his willingness to do the dirty work by taking on blockers at the point of attack.
For example, Jacas routinely discarded in-line tight ends blocking him in the run game. The 260-pound defender has too much play strength for most tight ends, playing through blocks with a sturdy anchor and eyes into the backfield. Above, Wisconsin tries to block Jacas with a tight end on a zone-read scheme. When the ball goes inside, Jacas powers through the tight end with knock-back power to make the stop.
As we discussed with his pass-rush plan, Jacas's power sets him up for quick wins against lunging blockers. This time, Jacas uses his swim move to elude Dolphins third-rounder Will Kacmarek's block, who was drafted by Miami 87th overall due to his in-line blocking ability. Surely, we'll see this matchup again for years to come between the two AFC East rivals.
Next, one of my favorite parts about Jacas's game is his ability to absorb contact and take on pullers. With his sturdy anchor and upper-body strength, Jacas can compress space in the trenches, forcing ball carriers to look elsewhere for clean entry points. Above, Ohio State runs a counter scheme with the backside guard pulling to Jacas. The Pats rookie "spills" the puller and forces the ball to bounce to the unblocked safety.
Lastly, the 22-year-old also plays with a relentless motor and closing gear in pursuit. When he's left unblocked on read-option concepts, he has great range and casts a wide tackling net to close quickly on the ball. In the pass rush, he'll also use a spin move to stay level with the quarterback and his high motor leads to late pressures chasing down scrambling QBs.
Overall, Jacas doesn't quite fit the mold of the "speed" rusher that Wolf described at his pre-draft press conference, which could limit his third-down upside when he's not aided by scheme (stunts). Still, the Pats second-rounder's play style made him an obvious potential Patriots fit pre-draft as an ideal Vrabel guy and he has enough pass-rush juice to project as a regular contributor with three-down value in the pros. Due to his relentless physicality and high motor, it won't take long for Jacas to become a fan favorite.
DISCLAIMER: The views and thoughts expressed in this article are those of the writer and don't necessarily reflect those of the organization. Read Full Disclaimer
