The Bucs are just under two weeks from the 2026 NFL Draft. And while they added a depth signing in Al-Quadin Muhammad, the team still needs a strong running mate opposite outside linebacker Yaya Diaby. The defense has been the crux of my focus this offseason looking at multiple positions to find players who may be able to help fill that role for Tampa Bay. Previous edge scouting reports are as follows:

David Bailey, T.J. Parker, Rueben Bain Jr., Akheem Mesidor, Cashius Howell, R Mason Thomas, Malachi Lawrence, Keldric Faulk

Gabe Jacas Background And College Career

Gabe Jacas was a three-star prospect out of Fort Pierce, Florida who was ranked 69th at edge rusher and 139th overall in the state in his recruiting class, per 247 Sports. He committed to Illinois as part of the 2022 recruiting class. Before football, Jacas was a legitimate wrestler, winning a 3A state championship at 220 pounds as a junior in high school.

Jacas is a true senior and four-year starter who played in 50 games at Illinois. He led the Big Ten in forced fumbles in 2024 with three. His best season was his senior year, when he posted 43 tackles, 13.5 tackles for loss, 11 sacks and three forced fumbles. He left Illinois with 183 career tackles, 35.5 tackles for loss, 27 sacks, two pass deflections and seven forced fumbles, per Sports Reference.

His 2025 production profile via PFF has plenty of strengths. It paints the picture of a highly productive player who found ways to win as a pass rusher.

Measureables

Per Mockdraftables:

Height – 6-4 (58th percentile)
Weight – 260 lbs (42nd percentile)
Arm length – 33” (31st percentile)
Hand size – 10” (61st percentile)
Bench press – 30 rep (89th percentile)

Athletic Testing via RAS

40-yard dash – 4.65 seconds (81st percentile)
10-yard split – 1.59 seconds (87th percentile)

Gabe Jacas is a DE prospect in the 2026 draft class. He scored a 9.59 RAS out of a possible 10.00. This ranked 93 out of 2239 DE from 1987 to 2026.https://t.co/xu5LFuXRJD pic.twitter.com/8fbzpiDHAw

— RAS.football (@MathBomb) April 4, 2026

Scouting Report

Games Watched: 2025 Washington, 2025 Wisconsin, 2025 USC

Athleticism

Jacas is an above-average athlete for his size, but the qualifier is important. His first step flashes explosive and the 87th percentile 10-yard split backs that up. But the inconsistency is maddening. His hips are fluid enough to execute loops inside without burning through too much space or too many steps, which is a real trait at 260 pounds. His balance is a consistent positive, keeping him engaged in plays even as the leverage of the block changes around him.

The concern is his speed up the arc. He loses it. He shows flashes of converting speed to power and when he does it well, he is genuinely difficult to handle. But he cannot do it consistently enough to be a credible corner threat at the NFL level, at least not right now. And I’m not sure he gets there. That is the central issue in evaluating him: his measurables and short-area athleticism suggest plus traits, but the sustained arc speed that separates good edge rushers from great ones is not reliably there on tape.

You can see his wrestling background when you watch him play. The leverage instincts, the hand fighting mentality and the sheer comfort with physical confrontation all trace back to the mat.

Illinois edge rusher Gabe Jacas – Photo by: IMAGN Images – Zachary Taft

Pass Rush

Jacas does not quit, ever. And that will endear him to teams. He has a strong power profile, uses an incredibly strong chop and can flip his hips surprisingly quickly for a player his size. When the rep goes the way he wants it to, he is a bully – driving tackles back, countering inside late with his strength and finishing with conviction. The 97th percentile conversion rate is real.

We are sleeping on Illinois ED Gabe Jacas.

🔸Led the Big Ten with 11 sacks
🔸Ends his Illinois career #2 in program history in career sacks with 27
🔸Solid athlete makes up for it with a hot motor & a sound technical rush moves https://t.co/I6dRrcr71c pic.twitter.com/xQy3JA3kVG

— Clint Goss (@NFLDraftDome) December 14, 2025

The limitation is the diversity of how he wins. He is basically relegated to three options: the chop and dip on the high side, crossing the tackle’s face on an inside counter or winning with speed-to-power. When the primary move does not hit, he struggles to adapt and find a different way home. There is no real plan B in those moments. NFL tackles will identify that, so it has to improve. His pad level getting too high occasionally compounds this issue, since the moments he most needs to win with leverage are the moments he is most likely to lose it.

Jacas loves to sift inside on a loop on pass-obvious downs, and when he gets a clean runway to do that, he is effective. That is a usable trait in a rotation.

Run Defense

Here is where I found myself most interested in Jacas. Because he is often trying to shorten his path to the backfield inside, Jacas can struggle to set a hard edge when runs go wide and he’s not expecting it. He gets out-leveraged by backs working to the sideline more than you would want. But when Jacas’ planning for it, he can beat wide zone, stretch and toss runs with a vertical push and driving the tackle back to kill the lateral path of the ball carrier. It’s a fascinating breadth of outcomes based on how he decides to play the rep.

What teams will see is that when he sees the stretch coming early, he can be excellent shutting down the corner. There was a QB keeper rep against Washington where he diagnosed the play immediately and closed off the edge with no hesitation. That was a fantastic rep.

Against gap schemes and in phone-booth situations, he is a fantastic player. He will blow up a split blocker. He rarely gives up an inch to pulling guards or tackles, dropping his shoulder, anchoring and delivering as good as he gets. The wrestling background is visible here in the most direct way. He uses his length to win leverage even when he gets kicked inside and has to face a double team, and he will use a swim move that he does not show much as a pass rusher to free himself from leaners and reach the ball carrier.

The one frustration in this area is that even when he gets good positioning and is genuinely hard to move, he does not always disengage to make the tackle. The effort is there; the finish is not always.

IQ And Processing

This section is complicated. Jacas is not easily fooled by misdirection and does a good job of balancing eye discipline with play anticipation in the run game. That is a positive. But the pass rush processing is a different conversation. He does not always have a plan, and when the bull rush stalls, he tends to lose the plot rather than sequence to something else. For a four-year senior with his experience level, that should be further along than it is. It is the trait that most limits his ceiling and the one that will most determine whether he ends up as a useful rotational piece or something more.

Coverage

This was a mild surprise. Jacas is a fluid mover for his size, does not panic when put in space and actively looks for work as routes develop around him. He is not a coverage asset in any meaningful sense, but Jacas is not a liability either. That is more than you can say for a lot of players at his size and position.

Best Role And How He Fits In The Bucs’ System

The Bucs use their edge rushers in a variety of ways under Todd Bowles, and Gabe Jacas profiles as a player who can fit their mold for an outside linebacker as a poor man’s Yaya Diaby. His pass rush wins on obvious passing downs, his ability to loop inside clean and his comfort in phone-booth run defense situations, plus his comfort as a dropper all fit what Bowles looks for and asks of his outside linebackers.

The concern is whether the limitations on arc speed and pass rush diversity are correctable. In a Bowles defense where edge rushers are asked to set the edge reliably and also generate consistent pressure from multiple alignments, Jacas has question marks on both fronts. He can do each of those things situationally. Whether he can do them consistently is the open question.

Illinois edge rusher Gabe Jacas – Photo by: IMAGN Images – Ron Johnson

What I would point to as his best case is as a third or fourth edge rusher who wins in sub-packages by looping inside, can hold his own as a base run defender in gap schemes, and does not create negative plays in coverage when his number is called. That is a viable NFL player. The 97th percentile conversion rate tells you the production can be real when the conditions are right, which is something Bucs edge rushers have struggled with in recent years.

But ultimately, I don’t see Jacas providing what the Bucs most lack in their OLB room. That’s a real high juice pass rushing threat who can help unlock solid talent along the line. And given other options who may be available in the same range I would probably look elsewhere were I among Tampa Bay’s decision-makers.

Jacas is currently a fringe top 50 pick on the 2026 NFL Consensus board. That feels rich for me. He is currently EDGE7 (of nine evaluated so far) and a tier four prospect within my own grading system.