Jacksonville Jaguars Offseason Preview

This is the latest in an ongoing series of NFL offseason previews.

2025 Season in a Nutshell

It started with goofy rookie experiments, penalties, turnovers, glitchiness and on-brand Jaguars underachievement. Then Liam Coen, Trevor Lawrence and an emergent defense pulled themselves together, stopped self-sabotaging and won eight straight games before taking the Bills to the wall in the playoffs.

Coaching Situation

Coen grew up on the job and grew into his role as the year went on. So did GM James Gladstone, who still reminds me of an MBA candidate who uses AI to write his text messages but is no longer trying to prove he’s the smartest of the techbros.

Coordinators Anthony Campanile (defense) and Grant Udinski (offense) earned some head-coaching interviews but ended up back in Jacksonville. After some early-season growing pains, both had their units playing smart, fundamentally-sound football down the stretch.

Quarterback Situation

I never stopped believing in Trevor Lawrence.

State of the Roster

We all know the Jaguars now have a fine defense. But how many of them can you name? Besides Josh Hines-Allen and Travon Walker, that is. Don’t worry, we’ll get to a few of the medium names in the next segment.

The same can be said of the offense. Everyone knows Travis Etienne; it would not be the second round of your fantasy draft without him! And then there’s Jakobi Meyers, who was such a stud that the Raiders traded him for day three draft picks. And Brian Thomas, the pass-dropping guy. And Brenton Strange, who is easy to remember because his name is “Strange.” Plus, Parker Washington, a high-priority fantasy waiver pickup last October who turned out to be a much better slot option than Travis Hunter.

Oh, and there’s Cam Little, the dude who kicks million-yard field goals.

Overall, however, the Jaguars roster flunks the “household names” test. Gladstone extended left tackle Cole Van Lanen’s contract at the end of last season, and it was the first time about 95% of the NFL media ever typed the name “Cole Van Lanen.”

So, is this a roster that is still growing into its own, or were they playing over their heads at the end of the year? The answer is probably somewhere in between: there were a lot of Jets/Titans/Philip Rivers on that late-season slate, but the Jaguars also have some up-and-comers who would be more famous if they played in larger media markets.

Cap and Draft Stuff

Here is where things get complicated.

The Jaguars traded their first-round pick to the Browns to move up for Travis Hunter last year. They pick three times in the third round due to a trade with the Raiders, and their day three draft situation is sheer chaos because of the Meyers trade, the Tank Bigsby trade and other deals. Their pick tally as of now: 56th, 81st, 88th and 100th in the first three rounds.

The Jaguars are $13 million over the cap, on paper. The Lawrence contract has already been restructured as far as it can go without breaking the laws of quantum thermocapenomics.

Travon Walker is in the fifth year of his rookie contract: an extension will save a few short-term bucks. Veterans like Arik Armstead (on the downside of his career) might be trimmed to clear space.

The in-house free agent list includes Etienne, Devin Lloyd, Andrew Wingard, Montaric Brown, Greg Newsome and a bunch of defensive role players. Lloyd is just entering his prime as one of the NFL’s best linebackers. The franchise tag is an option for him (or Etienne), but that would eat up a great deal of the cap space the Jaguars manage to clear.

In summary, the Jaguars have some tough decisions to make and don’t have many resources to work with in the weeks to come.

One Thing the Jaguars Should Do

Stick Travis Hunter at cornerback and leave him there. He can play slot receiver in a five-snaps-per-game gadget-play sub package.

The Jaguars have already indicated that this is how they will handle Hunter. If only someone suggested it to them before the draft!

In Summary

The Jaguars are in a suboptimal position for an up-and-coming playoff team: no first-round pick, limited cap maneuverability, lots of rank-and-file defenders likely to get paid elsewhere. The Jaguars can shed some veterans but cannot afford to backslide. Coen and his staff must keep unlocking the incumbent roster’s potential, because there may not be much help arriving in 2026.

Gladstone looked like a windmill slugger when he traded for Hunter at the start of his tenure as general manager. The Meyers trade and Van Lanen extension indicate that he’s settling down and learning to hit singles. The Jaguars will need him to continue to hit for average in personnel moves this offseason. He may also have to lay down some well-placed sacrifices.