Some people are fans of the Jacksonville Jaguars. But many, many more people are NOT fans of the Jacksonville Jaguars. This 2026 Defector NFL team preview is for those in the latter group. Read all the previews so far here.
Your team: Jacksonville Jaguars.
Your 2025 record: 13-4, which got you a division title and a brief mention on page 18 of the newspaper, right under the foreclosure announcements. Curious how your chronically irrelevant team pulled this off? Put your Crocs in sport mode and take a walk with me.
These Jaguars started off with a gimme win at home against the Panthers, which never means anything. The following week in Cincy, they somehow found a way to lose despite Joe Burrow getting hurt and his stunt double throwing three picks. Week 3 brought another win, this time in a divisional mid-off with the Texans that got the big box on RedZone for about six seconds. On to San Francisco, where the Jags bested the Niners by simply remembering to play all four quarters. Kyle Shanahan drove home with three phones in each hand to cope.
In Week 5, something in the Duval air (Baja Blast vape smoke) made my stupid Chiefs grant QB Trevor Lawrence a game-winning Make-a-Wish touchdown that I would give anything to forget. Then it was time for back-to-back losses to the Seahawks and Rams before the bye week, which allowed Jags fans time to catch up on court-ordered community service. They eked out an overtime win in Vegas against the destitute Raiders, who were drawing up Pete Carroll’s walking papers by then. You probably thought Week 10 in Houston would be smooth sailing with Davis Mills as their starter. Unfortunately your Jaguars had other plans, such as letting the Texans drop 26 unanswered points to end the game. To the Jags’ credit—and I hate giving them any whatsoever—this would be the only divisional loss of the season and the final loss of the regular season.
Yes, you read that sentence correctly, despite your governor’s best efforts. The Jaguars won every single game down the stretch. Don’t get too excited; this schedule was backloaded with the dregs of the league, including the rest of your putrid division. Let’s get this over with ...
The Jags went belt-to-ass on the Chargers, where Justin Herbert threw for 81 yards before Jim Harbaugh gave up and trotted out Trey Lance in the fourth quarter. They won another overtime squeaker in Arizona against a Cardinals team that had already financed their own burial plot on Klarna. Back to the AFC South we go for Week 13, where the Jags walked all over rookie Cam Ward and the rudderless Titans, whose owner had faithfully observed her family tradition of shitcanning the head coach before Halloween.
Daniel Jones’s Linsanity run came to an end the following week when he popped a tire in the first quarter in Jacksonville, paving the way for another cakewalk divisional win. After taking the Jets to the woodshed at home (my nephews could do that), the Jags went to Denver and beat Book of Mormon understudy Bo Nix and the Broncos by two scores. Sources say Sean Payton sent Nix to bed with no dessert. The Jags marched to Indy to (barely) beat 58-year-old Philip Rivers, who was pulled off his riding lawnmower and stuffed into a Colts uniform for a marketing stunt. In the final week, the Jags mercy-killed the Titans 41-7 in a game that was only broadcast via AM radio.
The Jaguars are the only team in the league that can rip eight wins in a row, cruise to a division title, and generate absolutely zero buzz because everyone knows it’ll mean dick in the playoffs. And they’re right! Wild Card weekend rolled around, and these Jags gave the Bills their first road playoff win since the ‘90s (about time), bringing all that momentum to a sputter when it mattered most. Regular-season success is just shiny enough to placate this front office for eternity, which is great news for this sentient Patagonia vest:
Your coach: A timeshare scammer who siphoned your great aunt’s life savings and fled to Costa Rica.
Liam Coen has never stayed anywhere for more than a single season in the last decade, if you don’t count the couple years he spent in Los Angeles fetching Red Bulls for Sean McVay. He ratfucked his previous team to take the Jags gig after the owner promised him the key to the castle, and he’ll have no problem smuggling himself out of Duval in a catering truck once he realizes a Wild Card bounce is as good as it gets, thanks primarily to this putz …
Your quarterback: A character you created in Sims specifically to drown in a pool.
White quarterbacks over 6-foot-3 with a scrap of “aura” get the benefit of the doubt for about a decade before they need to win anything. Josh Allen is a lock for Preseason Super Bowl champion in perpetuity for this very reason. Trevor Lawrence, on the other hand, has the charisma of a rake and bores America to tears—the man won 13 games last season and I haven’t heard a word about him from the media chuds all summer. Those guys still get choked up talking about Justin Herbert, who has a worse resume than ol’ Flat Stanley up there, who is yours forever thanks to your front office spending a trillion dollars to make him patient zero of the Guy Paying epidemic. Have fun!
What's new that sucks: Your wunderkind GM James Gladstone let Microsoft Copilot handle the draft, and the end result ginned up less excitement in northeast Florida than a new shipment of Kratom pills at the local liquor store.
Athletic marvel WR/CB Travis Hunter is back in action after a season-ending knee injury last fall. He gets worse advice than Trump in Iran briefings, so he’s still hellbent on playing both corner and wide receiver. Despite mortgaging two drafts for him, none of the adults in the room care about this kid’s wellbeing, otherwise they’d stick him on defense to save him from getting severed in half when Trevor Bag o’ Donuts high-points him a hospital ball for no reason.
The Jags let two of their precious few name-brand players walk—RB Travis Etienne Jr. and LB Devin Lloyd—and made no splashy signings in return, unless you count recently acquired G Daniel Faalele (I don’t), who was brought in under duress to patch up the alarmingly banged-up offensive line. Nothing to worry about here!
What has always sucked: Get a load of this shit. I always forget this exists until an early-season 1 p.m. game when the camera pans to this jumpscare for what feels like three hours:
It costs a pretty penny to rent this for a game, so if you know the right people, you can score yourself an invite to marinate in a murky sous vide bath with the Jacksonville elite (divorced Jeep salesmen and recently pardoned J6ers).
What might not suck: RB Bhayshul Tuten could be fun. Veteran EDGE Josh Hines-Allen is still here and still cool as hell. Have you seen the rest of this division? Nine wins is enough to run away with this thing. The Jags would have to try to fuck this up, and they will!
HEAR IT FROM JAGUARS FANS!
Luke:
Watching Justin Blackmon torch my alma mater for 186 yards and 3 TDs in the 2012 Fiesta Bowl in what was in retrospect (despite the overtime loss) Stanford’s high-water mark as a football program, I can’t help thinking, “Damn, I hope the Jags draft that guy.” And we do, fifth overall that April. I buy his jersey as soon as it’s up in the shop.
One month later, I’m visiting family in Jacksonville and hit the beach bars with friends from high school (same one as legends Hamilton Nolan and Tim Tebow). These are the kind of bars where you'll see EMTs stretching unconscious people out of bathrooms by 9 PM on a Tuesday. And yet – what are the odds – Justin’s there, surrounded by an entourage of equally enormous dudes. I have an idea, and I’m just drunk enough to think it’s a good one.
I walk up to the group, glare up at him, and announce, “Hey, Justin… fuck you.” They all look at me for a beat, more perplexed than insulted.
“I went to Stanford,” I explain. Justin breaks out in a huge grin and belly-laughs. He puts his arm around me and says, “Sorry about that, bro.” He offers me a shot of tequila from the round his friends just bought. We end up doing several, my efforts at shit-talking quickly slipping into unabashed fanboying. I buy him a few shots myself. I’m broke and he’s in the league, but I insist. After all, we’re celebrating. He’s gonna change the whole franchise: the team that first made me like football, back when I would watch Brunell, Boselli, Thunder, and Lighting every Sunday with my grandfather.
Within 36 hours, Justin’s in jail for DUI, back in Oklahoma. The first of several arrests and suspensions that abort his career shy of 100 receptions. I still have his jersey.
Sean:
Having the privilege of hosting the Jags in London once or twice a season is akin to having the privilege of hosting a tea party with 11 hungry bears who haven’t eaten in 3 days. Except the latter would be more entertaining.
Joey:
When I was in college, people used to give me a hard time about how the jags always sucked, and I would fall back on "we were the most successful expansion team in NFL history! Made the AFC championship our 2nd year and went 14-2 our 4th year!"
I recently discovered that going 14-2 in 99 was the last time we had consecutive winning seasons in a row. My mom tried to say that she felt good about this coach bringing us success and I pointed out that she hadn't felt that way since... Our last coach. This team is doomed to get lucky on an easy schedule once a decade and be forgotten the other 9 years.
Trevor had his limit of 8 good games at a time last year, so it'll be a while before he's capable of convincing you he might not suck.
We let Etienne walk so we could bring in Liam coen's college recruit Chris Rodriguez? If they weren't such sports guys, I'd be convinced this team was entirely run by Democrats they are so allergic to winning.
Ryan:
I guess 2 playoff appearances in the last 5 years generates enough goodwill to fund a major stadium renovation, but not a completely new build. Thus, the Jags are going to find out that mediocrity comes with a price- since this year’s home games will only be played in an active construction zone at half capacity. Personally I think the only renovation we need is to fill the literal cesspools we have with cement- entrapping the opposing teams fans who paid thousands to use them.
We let our superstar LB Devin Lloyd walk for literally reasons unknown. We forced the divorce of Clemson power couple Trevor Lawrence and Travis Etienne. Our draft was headlined by notable players such as “Who?” From “Where?” university.
If Travis Hunter doesn’t have a huge year 2 on at least one side of the ball, I’m going to return GM James Gladstone to his Fraternity House.
Andrew:
I've been a Jaguars fan since day one and despite the upward trend we've been experiencing lately, I just know in my soul that it's eventually going to come crashing down, sooner rather than later. In fact, that's the top reason my wife says she decided to marry me: if I can stay committed to the Jags for so long, I clearly have mastered true commitment.
Anyway, it just feels like we always alternate between make or break seasons and rebuilds that never really pan out more than a single season. This year is clearly the former, especially for Trevor L, who is somehow in a make or break season every year he's been in the league. Coen, I think, is just getting into that boat, this year will definitely show whether or not he's the real deal. I've been hurt before, I'm ready to be hurt again.
Michael:
Here's a quick story about the day I unknowngly pretended to be a Jaguars fan so my nephew could meet Roger Goodell. I picked up my nephew and flew him to my home in KC to see the NFL Draft a few years ago. The first night we spent in the giant throng of people, standing in a huge park watching the draft on big screen tvs. The second day I resolved to do something special, and found some young PAs holding wristbands outside the VIP area with the podium and TV cameras.
They were basically looking for seat fillers ala the Oscars , and were prioritizing fans of 'less popular' teams for TV's sake. Not wanting to let my nephew down, I left him in care of some cool Vikings fans we befriended and sprinted to the nearest souvenir stand. I had to make a quick decision for the least popular team and bought a Jaguars hat.
We got in and sat about 15 rows from the podium, among super fans you see all over every NFL game. We both caught tshirts tossed by cheerleaders and he was having the time of his life. Roger Goodell was walking through the crowd and I turned to my nephew and asked him if he wanted to meet the commissioner. His eyes lit up, ans he asked, 'can we do that?' I had no idea, but enthusiastically told him, "of course, he's right over there!'
We walked over to the commisioner, who was graciously shaking hands and taking pictures with a throng of fans. He was also surrounded by an intense security detail in suits that looked like they were all ex-Secret Service. Dismayed, I bent over and told my nephew to see if he could squeeze closer. Out of nowhere, a firm hand pushed me out of the way and pushed him right to Goodell's side. It was one of the security guards, who looked at me and said 'I got him.' He smiled and quietly yet firmly said, "Du-Val". I forgot I was wearing a Jaguars hat that I strictly bought because they were the worst team I could think of. My nephew got an autograph and I took some pictures and he returned home with tales of meeting 'his friend Roger'.
I still have the hat, and without fail, anytime anybody sees it laying out, they laugh and are always shocked and immediately question it. As a lifelong Jets fan, I never experienced as strong nor as genuine a laugh as the Jaguars hat always produces.
Aaron:
I've been a fan since the team was announced. As a result, I firmly believe that this organization is incapable of back-to-back successful seasons of football. In fact, I have been trained to wallow in disappointment when my thoughts turn to this team.
Like so many other fans, we've been through ups and downs. We've been through Coach Coughlin and Old Man Coughlin. Ridden through mediocrity on the Gus Bus. Kept chopping wood with Del Rio. Thought Doug Marrone was a good coach. Talked ourselves into Doug Pederson after swinging and missing on the candidate the organization actually wanted. Sat through three seconds of Urban Meyer being abusive to the fanbase and his players.
Did you know that the Jacksonville Jaguars willingly employed Trent Baalke for five years? And it wasn't until a former player came up and whacked the owner upside the head that they realized he was a toxic douchebag?
Last season, the Jags had their highest win total of the century so far. It looks like the team has finally hired a competent GM. The coach is not only likable but appears to have fully won over his players and motivates them to greatness.
And still, I expect in my heart of hearts that I will never, ever see this team win an AFC Championship Game. In fact, despite my wish to cultivate optimism and feel "good" about this team, my expectation is 6-11 and draft talk in week nine, because I have been trained to endure it. You see, this team has, instead of proving itself to be a competent franchise, had what I like to term "flashes of greatness" during its successful years. Even the 2017 season, when the defense and Leonard Fournette placed Blake Bortles on their backs and dragged him kicking and screaming to a winning record, seems more like an anomaly than anything that actually may have occurred, or could possibly support a trend.
Friend, I went to bed during the KC game last year when Trevor threw his red zone interception. I wound up watching the Lloyd pick-six and the Trevor fall-and-get-up-WTF touchdown on Youtube the next day, disbelieving, thinking it was AI generated.
The Jags broke me for sports optimism. I've sat through enough Gabbert, Henne, Bortles, and Foles that I honestly hope but have no clue if my "generational athlete" first-overall QB will carry the team to victory, or throw the ball at a safety's foot. I'm honestly not sure if the WR corps will live up to its potential and continue to be solid targets, or they will become pale reflections of Matt Jones and Ernest Wilford. The team drafted an amazingly freakish two-way athlete that could impact each game he plays in and I worry that he will turn into papier mache before my eyes when he returns from his injury. I would love to watch the Jaguars go to the playoffs two years in a row, but also there is a stretch early in the season where they play the Broncos, Pats, Bengals, and Eagles consecutively and it genuinely makes me want to unsubscribe from every NFL feed I have set up for the month and makes me expect to be talking about draft position at the bye.
At least we're almost done with going to London every freaking year.
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