{"id":276697,"date":"2026-04-19T18:26:24","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T22:26:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=276697"},"modified":"2026-04-19T18:26:24","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T22:26:24","slug":"jaguars-trade-maason-smith-for-ruke-orhorhoro","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2026\/04\/19\/jaguars-trade-maason-smith-for-ruke-orhorhoro\/","title":{"rendered":"Jaguars Trade Maason Smith for Ruke Orhorhoro"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Just days before the NFL draft, the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/jaguars\/\" target=\"_self\">Jaguars<\/a> made their first trade of the offseason, sending defensive lineman <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/S\/SmitMa07.htm\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Maason Smith<\/a> to the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/falcons\/\" target=\"_self\">Atlanta Falcons<\/a> for <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/O\/OrhoRu00.htm\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ruke Orhorhoro<\/a> in a rare same-draft player-for-player trade.<\/p>\n<h2>Jaguars Trade Maason Smith for Ruke Orhorhoro<\/h2>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"max-width: px\"><smartframe-embed class=\"smartframe_wp_element\" customer-id=\"a61405551f80e72f675225f083759bb9\" image-id=\"fwuQlbPJKyNS\" style=\"width: 100%; display: inline-flex; max-width: 2545px; aspect-ratio: 2545\/1782;\" ><\/smartframe-embed><\/p>\n<p>Smith was a controversial selection at pick 48 of the 2024 draft, and he did very little to change that narrative. Through two seasons, Smith played 24 games, starting just seven. Smith struggled in 2024, recording just three sacks and never finding his footing in the pass-rushing rotation. In 2025, he struggled even more, as he failed to record a single sack, quarterback hit, or tackle for loss, and recorded just 11 pressures. He brought little production as a run defender and even less as a pass rusher.<\/p>\n<p>Ruke Orhorhoro on the other hand, still appears to have untapped potential. He saw a big increase in playing time in 2025, and he showed flashes of a starting defensive tackle. Orhorhoro recorded 3.5 sacks, 30 pressures, four tackles for loss, and six quarterback hits.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"de\" dir=\"ltr\"><a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Jaguars?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#Jaguars<\/a> 2025 DT Pressures:<\/p>\n<p>48- Arik Armstead<br \/>30- Ruke Orhorhoro (\ud83d\udea8)<br \/>11- Maason Smith<br \/>11- DaVon Hamilton<br \/>4- Matt Dickerson<br \/>2- Austin Johnson <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/YMzoWD801q\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/YMzoWD801q<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Daniel Griffis (@DanDGriffis) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DanDGriffis\/status\/2045225674781200439?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">April 17, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Relentless motor \ud83d\ude2e\u200d\ud83d\udca8\u00a0<br \/>\u00a0<a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ruke33?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@ruke33<\/a> | <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/DUUUVAL?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#DUUUVAL<\/a> <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/7NbKHj6S6S\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/7NbKHj6S6S<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Jacksonville Jaguars (@Jaguars) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Jaguars\/status\/2045270099771179145?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">April 17, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3>How Does This Affect the Draft?<\/h3>\n<p>This should not affect how the Jaguars approach the draft at all. Orhorhoro will take Smith&#8217;s place as a rotational pass rusher. The Jaguars are likely to still address the defensive line with one of their first three picks.<\/p>\n<p>On paper, this is a low-risk, high-reward trade for the Jaguars. Smith was already a potential cut candidate due to injuries and poor play, but now the Jaguars have a player from the same draft class who can produce at an adequate level while still also having more potential. The trade also brings very little financial change, as the Jaguars go from having $5.9 million in <a  href=\"https:\/\/overthecap.com\/salary-cap\/jacksonville-jaguars\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">cap space<\/a> to $5.2 million, with Smith taking on a $1.3 million dead cap hit.<\/p>\n<h3>Final Verdict<\/h3>\n<p>The Jaguars get an A grade for the trade. Smith was a healthy scratch multiple times during the 2025 season and was almost certainly not going to make the 53-man roster in 2026. The Jaguars managed to get a better player with higher upside in return while not giving up any draft capital. <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/executives\/GladJa0.htm\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">James Gladstone<\/a> has attacked the margins of the roster at nearly every position, and this was another move that adds depth to a thin position group.<\/p>\n<p><em>Main Image: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Just days before the NFL draft, the Jaguars made their first trade of the offseason, sending defensive lineman Maason Smith to the Atlanta Falcons for Ruke Orhorhoro in a rare same-draft player-for-player trade. Jaguars Trade Maason Smith for Ruke Orhorhoro Smith was a controversial selection at pick 48 of the 2024 draft, and he did [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5773,"featured_media":276780,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[36,13,6431],"tags":[7335,34268,32433,32409],"class_list":["post-276697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl-news","category-jaguars","category-nfl-teams","tag-jacksonville-jaguars-news","tag-james-gladstone","tag-maason-smith","tag-ruke-orhorhoro"],"modified_by":"Mike Roberts","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5773"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=276697"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276697\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":276783,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276697\/revisions\/276783"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/276780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=276697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=276697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}