JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – No one saw the Jaguars coming this year.
That won’t be the case in Year 2 of the James Gladstone and Liam Coen era. That duo led a massive turnaround in their first season in Jacksonville, flipping the Jaguars from four to 13 wins and an AFC South title.
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To take that next step into becoming one of the NFL’s elite, the Jaguars face an offseason that won’t be easy.
The Jaguars have some salary cap issues to address. According to Spotrac, Jacksonville enters 2026 with just $5,151,257 of available space, a total that ranks 23rd. Their $42 million in dead cap money is the third-highest in the NFL. The salary cap will almost certainly rise in 2026, so the Jaguars should have a little more available to spend. But they’ll have to be shrewd in how they restock a roster that had plenty of issues, yet remained strong enough to earn the No. 3 seed in the AFC playoffs.
“Every day that we went out on the grass and competed, these guys continued to elevate and set new standards,” Coen said.
“So you feel good about the way they’re responding. You kind of always look to, all right, when is the drop-off going to happen throughout training camp and early in the season and you didn’t really sense that. You didn’t feel that too often. So you feel like you have a group that is at least on the right path. What that equals and what that comes out to be from a win/loss standpoint, you never know, but you’re excited.”
Players who would be potential candidates to be moved on from all carry their own significant costs. Arik Armstead, Walker Little, and DaVon Hamilton carry dead cap charges between $10.55 million (Hamilton) and $17.1 million (Armstead). That could be too much to jettison them all, but there’s likely something to be done with those higher-priced players.
There are other key roster decisions, too. Devin Lloyd was a second-team All-Pro selection in the final season of his rookie contract, and stands well-positioned to be one of the top players available in free agency. Travis Etienne is also another important free agent who just played out the final season on his fifth-year option. Will the team look to build at receiver with Jakobi Meyers, Parker Washington, and Travis Hunter, and move on from disappointing second-year player Brian Thomas Jr.? Or will Thomas be able to slot somewhere into the system and prove his second year was a fluke?
What Coen was able to do in his rookie season as head coach was something that two other head coaches had struggled to do — get the most out of Trevor Lawrence.
The fifth-year quarterback finally clicked in Coen’s offense around midseason, cutting down on turnovers and playing far more comfortably.
“Into the regular season, generally zooming out away from Trevor, just the idea that teams can be built over the course of an offseason is true,” Gladstone said. “But the good ones, the great ones, they evolve over the course of the regular season, and you saw that evolution in Trevor over the course of the regular season as you compare the first quarter to the second quarter to first half to second half.”
More importantly for Coen and Gladstone is getting much more of a return from their draft class. Jacksonville’s rookie class was largely underwhelming.
ESPN rated Gladstone and Coen’s first class 31 out of 32, beating out only the Rams, who didn’t have a first-round pick. Much of the hype around the draft revolved around Hunter, the reigning Heisman Trophy winner, who had a relatively mild impact on the team due to injury.
Among the package of picks it sent to Cleveland to move up to No. 2 and select Hunter, Jacksonville sent its second-round selection along with next year’s first-rounder to nab Hunter. He had bursts of good play, including a career-high 101 yards and a touchdown on London against the Rams in Week 7. But Hunter injured his knee in practice, had surgery, and missed the rest of the season. Gladstone hinted that, due to the number of returning players, Hunter would likely see more time in the secondary.
“He’s hitting it hard and obviously the joy that he brings to just the everyday operation is still something that permeates throughout the space that he enters and beyond that and the role that he’ll play, we still expect him to play on both sides of the ball,” Gladstone said.
“Obviously you can take a peek at expiring contracts on our roster and which side of the ball has more. Obviously at this point walking into the offseason, corner is a position that we have a few guys who are on expiring contracts. By default, you can expect there to be a higher emphasis on his placement.”
Fourth-round rookie running back Bhayshul Tuten had the best season among the draft picks, rushing for 311 yards (5 TDs) and catching 14 passes for 79 yards and another two TDs. Third-round pick Caleb Ransaw and sixth-rounder Jalen McLeod both missed the season due to injury. Another third-round pick (Wyatt Milum) was never fully healthy. Jack Kiser was a nonfactor, and Rayuan Lane played mostly on special teams. Seventh-rounder Jonah Monheim was solid in his limited work, starting two games and logging 207 snaps.
“Obviously, injuries are something that take place over the course of a natural season, right? And for it to happen to a few of our rookies over the course of this first year is, on a level, disappointing,” Gladstone said.