As the 2026 NFL draft’s second round closed in on the New England Patriots, so did Gabe Jacas.
The reigning AFC champions moved up to select the Illinois edge rusher at No. 55 overall on Friday night. That was result of packaging No. 63 overall, No. 131 overall and No. 202 overall in a trade with the Los Angeles Chargers.
Here’s an initial look into why and what’s ahead.
A durable four-year starter with 27 career sacks
Jacas started 43 games during his Illinois career. Arriving as a three-star recruit out of Florida’s Fort Pierce Central High School
in 2022, the stay began with a place on the Football Writers of America’s Freshman All-America roster. It went on to span 183 tackles, including 35.5 for loss, with 27 sacks and seven forced fumbles.
In 2024, Jacas led the Fighting Illini in forced fumbles, sacks and tackles for loss en route to earning third-team All-Big Ten honors. By the end of his senior year in 2025, the team captain had graduated to second-team All-Big Ten while again leading the defense in forced fumbles, sacks and tackles for loss.
Taking the field for 50 consecutive games before opting out of the Liberty Mutual Music City Bowl, Jacas finished No. 2 in program history in sacks and No. 9 in tackles for loss. He will turn 22 in May.
Wrestling background with strength to strike
A former wrestler who won a state championship in the heavyweight class, Jacas continued his hand fighting under the watch skill development coordinator Joe Kim, who spent seven years on the Patriots’ staff before heading to Illinois. Standing up or with a hand on the ground, the results in the 3-4 base front proved precise and powerful.
Pro Football Focus charted Jacas for 41 total pressures in pass rush during his final fall. That total included 22 hurries and seven hits on opposing quarterbacks. Meanwhile, no defender in the Big Ten had eclipsed the outside linebacker’s sack tally of 11 by the end of the regular season.
Jacas checked in at 6-foot-4, 260 pounds with 33-inch arms at the NFL Scouting Combine. After benching 30 reps of 225 pounds in Indianapolis, he later clocked the 40-yard dash in 4.69 seconds at his pro day with a 10-yard split of 1.59 seconds. There’s leverage for outside linebackers coach Mike Smith to work with. There’s also efficient use of it.
At a top need, a rotational boost out of the gate
“Yeah, we could complement our room with some speed. I think that’s evident,” Patriots executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf told reporters during his pre-draft press conference in early April. “… So, that’s an area that we’re looking to try to improve the depth on the roster.”
New England went from 28 sacks in 2024 to 35 sacks in 2025. But after seeing K’Lavon Chaisson depart for the Washington Commanders in March, it will take more than ex-Denver Bronco Dre’Mont Jones to make up the difference off the edges.
In the second round, a night after moving up for Utah offensive tackle Caleb Lomu, the war room in Foxborough moved up for more. Jacas, who took a “30 visit”, projects into a rotational role out of the gate. He will spell in for a depth chart that also currently includes captain Harold Landry III along with Elijah Ponder, Bradyn Swinson and Jesse Luketa.
The edge prospects began to leave the board in a hurry on Friday. Clemson’s T.J. Parker got the movement underway at No. 35 overall to the Buffalo Bills. From there, Oklahoma’s R Mason Thomas landed with the Kansas City Chiefs at No. 40, Texas A&M’s Cashius Howell landed with the Cincinnati Bengals at No. 41, Michigan’s Derrick Moore landed with the Detroit Lions at No. 44, and then Missouri’s Zion Young landed with the Baltimore Ravens at No. 45.
