Back in late March, Jacksonville Jaguars coach Liam Coen hoped team-wide continuity would lead to a “faster start” to the offseason program.
Now in mid-May, does Coen like what he’s seen from the returning players who have begun to participate in on-field workouts?
“It’s wild; Day One (2026), the difference a year makes,” Coen said during rookie camp. “We should be further along (compared to May 2025) and that’s the expectation and standard. When they did come out to the (practice field), you saw it and you felt it.”
The Jaguars are wrapping up Phase 2 of their program, which allows for all coaches to be on the field leading players individual and offense- and defense-only drills. Players aren’t permitted to wear helmets or be in offense vs. defense situations.
Still …
“The routes-on-air were way more crisp and clean,” Coen said. “It just felt like the minutiae and things that we call, ‘easy,’ — things like throwing routes, operating an (audible) or an alert against no defense — were very seamless.”
Phase 3 is the final four weeks of the offseason program and the Jaguars have seven scheduled organized team activities (voluntary) and three minicamp sessions (mandatory).
“Now we can challenge them more above the neck now that they kind of now how to operate,” Coen said.
NFL schedule thoughts
Five non-Jaguars thoughts about the NFL schedule that was officially unveiled on May 14:
1. The NFL office is clearly fine with all of the schedule leaks (broadcast announcements don’t count) or else teams wouldn’t be provided their schedules the night before the official unveiling. The leaks created a day-long buzz for fans.
2. The Jaguars play three consecutive true road games in Weeks 9-11 (Baltimore, Tennessee and the New York Giants). Also playing three straight on the road are Cleveland in Weeks 7-9 (Tennessee, Pittsburgh and New Orleans) and Kansas City in Weeks 12-14 (Buffalo, the Los Angeles Rams and Cincinnati). The Jaguars last played three straight true road games in 2015, when they lost at New England, Indianapolis and Tampa Bay.
3. The Jaguars, New England and New Orleans are the only three teams to take their bye weeks after playing an international game.
4. In Week 17, the Jaguars’ home game against Washington is one of four games (Kansas City-Los Angeles Chargers, Denver-New England and Rams-Tampa Bay) with a to-be-determined date/time. Two of those four games will be selected to be played on Saturday, Jan. 2, at 4:30 p.m. (NBC) or 8 p.m. (Peacock). The other two games will be played on Sunday, Jan. 3. Last year, the NFL selected the two games 17 days ahead of kickoff.
5. For those saying the NFL will eventually have regular Friday or Saturday night games, nope. The Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 prevents the NFL from playing Friday or Saturday night games from the second weekend of September to the second weekend of December to protect those days for high school and college football. It’s why the league couldn’t play an international game on Friday, Sept. 11 (Week 1) this year. The federal statute grants the NFL an antitrust exemption (the league teams can act as a single entity to sell broadcast rights and television money is the shield’s main source of financial oxygen).
6. The Jaguars are one of 25 teams with at least three prime-time games. The Rams lead with seven. The New York Jets, Arizona, Tennessee, Miami and Las Vegas have no prime-time games.
UNF hoops finalizing schedule
The North Florida men’s basketball team has mostly finalized its non-conference schedule for 2026-27 with the new twist of an alliance with the United Athletic Conference (formerly the Western Athletic Conference).
The Ospreys will start the season with a three-game trip to Cal Baptist, UCLA and Miami (flying straight from Los Angeles to Miami) and also have games at Texas A&M and Georgia. They will play at Columbia and host Charleston Southern to complete home-and-home series.
The schedule’s new facet are five games against UAC teams. The Ospreys will play at Texas-Arlington, Abilene Christian and Tarleton (Texas) State and host Central Arkansas and Arkansas-Little Rock.
The Atlantic Sun schedule is still being finalized, but UNF coach Bobby Kennen expects newcomer West Florida to be a travel partner with Queens because there is a non-stop flight between Pensacola and Charlotte, N.C.
JU to honor Artis Gilmore
Jacksonville University announced on May 13 a statue of Dolphins legend and Basketball Hall of Fame player Artis Gilmore has been commissioned via donation from Lee and Becky Nimnicht.
Gilmore led JU to the 1970 NCAA title game (lost to the all-time wagon that was UCLA) and his career rebounding average of 27.2 remains the highest in Division I. Gilmore remains connected to JU as a special assistant and also works games as an analyst on the radio.
The bronze sculpture, scheduled for completion in 2027 at a campus location to be announced, will be the school’s second permanent statue (late Chancellor Frances Kinne).
Extra points
1. Joint practices on tap: A source said the Jaguars hope to have joint practices before each of their preseason games at New Orleans (Aug. 15) and home against Carolina (Aug. 21) and Tampa Bay (Aug. 28). The teams would have one practice against each other likely two days before the game.
Last year, the Jaguars had one joint practice before their game at Miami.
Thinking out loud, Coen could feel comfortable sitting his top guys in the preseason games knowing they got enough work in the three joint practices.
2. Coen makes impression: The Jaguars rookies who arrived in town last weekend got their first experience of a Coen team meeting. Their impressions?
Receiver Josh Cameron: “Passionate. There was a fire and authenticity to him. You can tell he cares about this organization.”
Running back J’Mari Taylor: “Oh man, it was a great first speech. When you get to hear him talk, you can tell he loves to have fun and is personable. He wants to see guys elevate their games and be the best we can be on and off the field.”
3. Jaguars add Abdullah: Upon his signing on May 11, Ameer Abdullah instantly became the Jaguars’ most experienced running back with 508 carries (in 154 games), ahead of Chris Rodriguez (198), Deejay Dallas (124), Bhayshul Tuten (87), LeQuint Allen, Jr. (23) and Taylor (none). How do we read the Abdullah signing? Training camp insurance and veteran leadership.
4. Jersey number history: Cameron is wearing No. 19, a traditional receiver number, after wearing No. 34 for his entire Baylor career. “That was my number in high school so when I got to Baylor, I decided I wanted to keep 34 and have that unique receiver number,” he said. “I had the opportunity to change it (later), but I was like, ’34 is my number.’”
5. Quick hitters: Anybody else hate having the Florida-Florida State football game on Friday, Nov. 27 (3:30 p.m.)? That kind of rivalry game belongs on a Saturday. … On the scheduling flip side, a cool men’s basketball doubleheader coming up this fall in Tampa. As reported by The Associated Press, the matchups will be Florida-Miami and Florida State-Florida A&M. … Jaguars kicker Cam Little should be paying attention to the market-setting contracts ($7 million per year) signed by Dallas’ Brandon Aubrey and Pittsburgh’s Chris Boswell. Little is eligible for an extension in March 2027. … If I’m Jaguars general manager James Gladstone, I reach out to future Pro Football Hall of Fame edge rusher Von Miller to see if he is interested in a situational pass-rusher role. … New York Post columnist Mike Vaccaro’s book, “The Bosses of the Bronx,” about the Yankees-George/Hank Steinbrenner is an entertaining read for any baseball fan. So many laugh-out stories about The Boss.
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: Liam Coen: Jaguars had ‘seamless’ start to offseason program
Reporting by Ryan O’Halloran, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union / Florida Times-Union
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