The Jaguars trades on Monday did more than patch two injuries. In one afternoon, Jacksonville added safety Jessie Bates III, nose tackle Jordan Davis and defensive tackle Davon Godchaux, and it gave up five draft picks to do it, including a 2027 first-rounder and two second-round picks, according to NFL.com.
For Buffalo, the timing stings. The Bills were reported to be shopping for a safety, and arguably the best one on the market went to the team they beat in the playoffs 10 months ago.
Three deals in one afternoon
Here’s everything Jacksonville added on Nov. 9, the day before the 4 p.m. ET deadline.
| Player | From | Jaguars gave up |
|---|---|---|
| S Jessie Bates III | Falcons | 2027 second-round pick, 2028 fifth-round pick |
| DT Davon Godchaux | Saints | 2028 conditional sixth-round pick |
| DT Jordan Davis | Eagles | 2027 first-round pick, 2029 second-round pick |
Sources: NFL.com trade tracker, ESPN, Jaguars.com.
The Godchaux pick has a twist. According to Adam Schefter, the sixth-rounder moves up to 2027 if Jacksonville acquires a sixth-round pick for that draft, since it doesn’t own one right now.
Coach Liam Coen kept his reaction short. “We got better today,” he said Monday, before the Davis and Godchaux deals were announced, according to the team’s website. He called Bates “arguably a Top 5 player at his position.”
Why Jacksonville spent this much
This wasn’t shopping for the sake of it. The Jaguars lost starting safety Eric Murray and nose tackle DaVon Hamilton to season-ending injuries, NFL.com reported. Hamilton’s was a quad injury, according to ESPN. Those were two key spots in Anthony Campanile’s defense, and general manager James Gladstone filled both in a single day.
The team was already good before the calls started. Jacksonville beat Indianapolis 42-7 on Nov. 1, then won 33-10 at Baltimore on Thursday night to reach 6-2. It leads the AFC South and sits third in the AFC playoff picture.
The schedule ahead is friendly too. Two of the Jaguars’ next three games are against 1-7 Tennessee, starting Sunday in Nashville.
Jordan Davis is the big swing, and the big question
A first-round pick for a nose tackle is a steep price, and the case for and against Davis is easy to lay out.
The case for him rests on last season. In 2025, Davis had 63 run tackles and 50 run stops, both second among defensive tackles, according to NFL.com. At 6-foot-6 and 336 pounds, he’s the kind of interior body that makes running between the tackles miserable.
The case against him is this season. Yahoo Sports noted that Davis has 0.5 sacks, two quarterback hits and no tackles for loss in 2026, with a snap rate around 50%. Jacksonville is betting that a new scheme, with Josh Hines-Allen and Travon Walker on the edges, gets more out of him.
The contract helps explain the timing. The Eagles signed Davis to a three-year, $78 million extension in March, yet his 2027 cap hit is just over $8.5 million, per Yahoo Sports. That matters because ESPN reported the Jaguars were projected to be $15.4 million over the 2027 salary cap before the trade, according to OverTheCap. Bates, on the other hand, is a pending free agent.
Godchaux is the quieter piece. Saints coach Kellen Moore called him an “all-time pro” and said Jacksonville was the team that pushed to make the deal happen. He gives the Jaguars a veteran who can share the nose tackle snaps with Davis.
What the Jaguars trades mean for the Bills
Start with the obvious part. Buffalo didn’t land Bates, and its search for a safety got harder on the same day. ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reported that the Bills had “scanned the safety pool” and that Tennessee intends to keep Amani Hooker. Arizona’s Budda Baker is still a possibility, but only if the Cardinals decide to listen. We broke down those options in our Bills safety trade targets story.
The need is real. Heavy reported that Buffalo ranks 30th in the NFL against the pass at 254.7 yards per game. A secondary that has given up that much is exactly what a contender wants to fix before the stretch run.
Then there’s the playoff angle. The Bills and Jaguars don’t meet in the 2026 regular season. Their last meeting was the AFC wild-card game on Jan. 11, 2026, when Buffalo won 27-24 in Jacksonville. If the two teams meet again this winter, Josh Allen will see a defense with a new safety and a new middle of the line.
A bigger, more physical interior also shapes how teams attack. Buffalo leans on James Cook and Allen’s legs in the run game, and Davis and Godchaux are built to clog exactly those lanes. That’s a matchup to circle if the bracket lines up.
A seeding race that just got tighter
The AFC’s top tier was already crowded. Heading into Monday night, Buffalo was the No. 1 seed at 6-1, Denver was second at 7-2, and Jacksonville was third at 6-2, according to our AFC playoff picture after Week 9.
Home-field advantage could decide a lot in January, and Jacksonville just made itself harder to beat in December. ESPN went as far as saying the moves could arguably make the Jaguars the AFC favorite, even with Patrick Mahomes, Bo Nix, Joe Burrow and Allen in the way.
That’s a debatable claim. Bates still has to learn a new defense, and Coen admitted that process will be “definitely a curve” before Sunday. Davis has to show he can play like his 2025 self.
Still, the message from Jacksonville’s front office was loud. The Jaguars aren’t waiting for next year.
Bills’ clock runs out Tuesday at 4 p.m. ET
Buffalo still has until the deadline to answer. General manager Brandon Beane told the Associated Press last week that he would be as aggressive as ever and was more than likely targeting defense. Limited cap space makes a Davis-sized trade unlikely, but a safety or cornerback is still on the table.
The Jaguars, meanwhile, open their new-look defense Sunday at Tennessee at 1 p.m. ET. Every trade from Monday and Tuesday is in our NFL trade deadline guide.
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