The Jaguars are on the clock for the regular season.
Saturday’s preseason finale in Miami was all about evaluation for the final few spots on the roster, and it looked just like you’d have expected. Sloppy. Low-scoring. Tough to watch.
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Jacksonville held out 37 players, most of whom should be considered roster locks, and wrapped up its preseason with a 14-6 loss to the Dolphins.
The Jaguars had a chance to end preseason with a tie, but Seth Henigan’s pass with just under 3 minutes left was picked off by John Saunders Jr. Not that the result mattered, but Jacksonville completed its first preseason slate under head coach Liam Coen at 0-2-1. The regular season opener is Sept. 7 at home at against the Panthers.
Cam Little capped his superb preseason with two field goals, including a 59-yarder to end the first half. Little booted a stunning 70-yard kick against Pittsburgh in the first week of preseason.
Jacksonville’s second-team defense had two solid drives to start the game, forcing quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and Miami’s starting offense to go three and out twice. Tagovailoa did lead a scoring drive before he went to the bench, hitting Malik Washington on a 25-yard touchdown three minutes into the second quarter. He tossed a two-point conversion pass, too.
Rookies Jack Kiser, B.J. Green II and Danny Striggow all had sacks in the opening half for Jacksonville. The Jaguars got three more sacks in the second half from Ethan Downs, Keivie Rose and Yasir Abdullah, a bright spot on a defense that needs all the pass rush it can get this year.
Almost all of the projected starters sat this one out as Jacksonville heads into regular season mode.
Coen said after joint practices with Miami on Thursday that he wouldn’t play the first teamers in the preseason finale. And that certainly makes sense. Jacksonville has been far more beaten up in training camp than it has in recent years. Those injuries have largely been to depth players (Buster Brown, Cole Van Lanen) and draft picks (Jalen McLeod, Wyatt Milum, Caleb Ransaw), but starters have been dinged up, too.
Tyson Campbell has been limited since the preseason opener, and first-round pick Travis Hunter didn’t play in the second preseason game due to an upper-body injury.
The next big point on the calendar arrives in a hurry. Teams have to be down to the roster maximum of 53 by Tuesday at 4 p.m. Coen said on Aug. 11 that he had a good idea on probably 50 of the spots, so the last few are bound to be difficult.
Injuries could force the Jaguars into some tough calls, including whether to put the league maximum of two players on injured reserve with a designation to return. There are likely a few players who could fit that mold. The league changed the rule in 2024 where teams could put two players on injured reserve and designate them to return without having them take up a roster spot.