Step one was last year. It was a surprising step. And a massive step. The Jacksonville Jaguars gained respectability. Coach Liam Coen was an overnight sensation. Quarterback Trevor Lawrence was an MVP finalist. And a 4-13 record in 2024 was flipped to 13-4.
Now the tough part: Step two.
Show last year wasn’t a fluke. Make the necessary improvements. And win in the playoffs.
The pressure will be on when the Jaguars’ veterans report to training camp on July 28, but it beats the alternative. Beats so many Julys ‘round these parts of having no hope, which prepared you for when The Worst arrived. Beats so many Novembers when a draft countdown started after Thanksgiving leftovers.
The current vibes are just different. A good kind of different. A fun kind of different.
We can’t wait for Sept. 13 against the Cleveland Browns. The crowd will be at the stadium in broiling heat. Most of you will be watching on television. We will all know who to watch.
Trevor and Jakobi. Josh and Travon. Brenton and Parker. Buster and Travis. Foye and BTJ.
Another successful, capture-the-headlines season and everybody outside of Jacksonville will know these players by their first names. You already know them and their jersey numbers and their backstories and their strengths and weaknesses.
Welcome to The Fun, Jaguars fans. The kind of fun fans have in Kansas City and Buffalo, Philadelphia and Los Angeles (Rams). Expectations and excitement — and reaching the playoffs — should become the norm in Jacksonville as long as this nucleus is in place.
Banking on internal improvement
Looking for a Jaguars 2026 theme? Let’s go with, “Running it back … and running it forward.”
Among the 47 players who saw snaps in the playoff loss to the Buffalo Bills, 38 remain on the roster, and among the 22 starting positions projected for this year’s opener, only one (running back Chris Rodriguez) wasn’t here last year.
The strategy hatched by Coen, general manager James Gladstone and executive vice president of football operations Tony Boselli — the Jaguars’ brain trust — was by necessity as much as it was by design. To get their salary cap in order for 2027 in beyond, the Jaguars knew they couldn’t hit every aisle of the free-agent/trade store. But they also showed discipline in not trading future draft capital and back-loading a big contract for instant gratification.
Embracing Internal Improvement (our guys will be better than last year!) instead of External Splashes (we have enough!) shouldn’t be viewed as the Jaguars saying, “We have this figured out.” This is an administration with confidence in their mode of operations, but also knows simply doing the same thing as last year won’t produce similar results.
The urgency — Coen uses the word “attack” — remains off the charts. Last year’s statistics demand it.
On offense, they must run the ball better, curtain their pre-snap penalties and challenge defenses more often downfield.
On defense, they must get more sacks while still being terrific against the run and in producing takeaways.
Much is at stake for the Jaguars because of their history and current circumstances.
A year after making the playoffs in 2005, 2007, 2017 and 2022, the Jaguars won eight, five, five and nine games. They weren’t ready for the moment.
This is another opportunity for the Jaguars to grab their fans by the hat brim or shirt collar and say, “We’re here to stay. Join us for the ride.”
Conservatively, you have to be 35 years old to have a proper and crystallized memory of the last time the Jaguars had sustained success, back to 1999 when they reached the playoffs for the fourth consecutive year and lost to the Tennessee Titans at home in the conference title game.
Next year will be a zero for local fans because home games will be moved to Orlando and London. This is the Jaguars’ chance to entice those fans to buy 2028 season tickets by having a successful 2026.
Questions to answer
An NFL season is never a straight line, which is why the 1972 Miami Dolphins have been able to pop the corks 52 consecutive years as the last unbeaten team. There will be adversity for this group of Jaguars, who do enter camp with questions.
Can they …
Navigate an imposing schedule both in logistics (two games in London and later a three-game road swing) and quality (Denver, New England and Cincinnati in just the first four weeks)?
Thread the challenging and sure-to-be-uncomfortable needle that is having a two-way player in Travis Hunter who wants to Do Everything and has national media mouthpieces in his corner to stump for him even though he is returning from a serious knee injury?
Manage/massage the ego dance of having one football and as many as nine skill-position players who have said skills to make big plays?
Step one was stop being a laughingstock and play a winning and entertaining brand of football.
Step two is, well, what? Do the Jaguars have championship timber? Maybe since the playoffs are just as much about the team that gets hot as the perceived best team. The floor for this group should be a repeat AFC South title and first-round playoff win.
Training camp is the first step. The Cleveland game seems far away, but it will sneak up on you. And buckle up. This could be another cool few months.
Welcome to The Fun, Jaguars fans.
Contact O’Halloran at rohalloran@gannett.com or on X at @ryanohalloran. Listen to Ryan on 1010AM on Tuesdays (6:35 p.m. on “Into The Night”), Thursdays (1:15 on “XL Primetime”) and Fridays (4-6 p.m. on “The Lead”).
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville Jaguars’ next big test: Becoming true playoff contenders
Reporting by Ryan O’Halloran, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union / Florida Times-Union
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Ryan O'Halloran, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union | USA TODAY Network
