Jaguars Week 1 Snap Count Analysis: What We Learned About Nate Boerkircher, RB Rotation

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- With Week 1 officially in the books, we have our first complete look at what the Jacksonville Jaguars are set to look like in 2026.

The Jaguars' snap counts may look a bit ... wonky this week since the Jaguars basically put the game into cruise control after going up 31-0. As a result, every member of the active game day roster played in the easy win over the Browns -- even Nick Mullens as the backup quarterback.

"Boerk [TE Nate Boerkircher] played the most of any rookie tight end, I think in the NFL and played a ton of snaps, did a lot of really good things in the run game," Jaguars head coach Liam Coen said on Monday at the Miller Electric Center.

"It was good to get Foye [LB Foyesade Oluokun] out of there in the fourth quarter and got Branson [Combs] a ton of reps at linebacker. [Caleb] Ransaw played his first real NFL game in a regular season and he did some nice things. It was definitely good to get a bunch of those guys reps. I think they handled the moment the right way. I don't think it was too big for them. Now obviously we're going into a different atmosphere here this week, which will be a huge test for us.”

So, what did this week's snap counts really tell us? We break down the most interesting snap splits from the Week 1 win below.

Nate Boerkircher's Role

It felt like the Jaguars were able to run the ball all day sans a few short-yardage snaps here and there, and that is largely because the entire Jaguars' offense thrived blocking in the run game -- especially the tight ends. Brenton Strange and Quintin Morris always get the job done as blockers, but rookie tight end Nate Boerkircher turned his blocking ability into 38 snaps (67%), with Boerkircher playing just one snap fewer than Brenton Strange and more snaps than each of the Jaguars' top three receivers.

Nate Boerkircher was an absolute dog in the run game yesterday pic.twitter.com/rgLAJQzqB8
— Billy M (@BillyM_91) September 14, 2026

Part of this is due to game script, which saw the Jaguars jump out to a lead and get Josh Cameron 19 snaps and 10 to CJ Williams. Boerkircher ran just 10 routes in his 38 snaps and had the lowest target rate (10%) of any player who saw a target, but that is OK. The Jaguars have enough pass-catchers. It is clear that, for now, Boerkircher is going to play a lot, and a lot of those plays will be run-blocking. If it works like it did on Sunday, consider it a success.

The RB Rotation

tuteb — Jacksonville Jaguars running back Bhayshul Tuten (33) signals a first down during the second quarter of an NFL football matchup at EverBank Stadium on Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026, in Jacksonville, Fla. The Jaguars defeated the Browns 34-10. [Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union] | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Again, it is worth remembering that some of this is thrown off by how out of hand the game got. But Bhayshul Tuten outsnapped Chris Rodriguez Jr. 28 (49%) to 23 (40%) and out-touched him 16-6. Part of this is because Rodriguez played on more downs where the Jaguars utilized play-action out of heavier packages, which will have to be considered.

But for now, it looks like Tuten is the lead back. As LeQuint Allen (one snap) gets healthier moving forward, this number could shift even more. But Tuten's stock is rising right now, and the Jaguars' head coach keeps pointing out how impressed he was on Sunday.

“I think Tuten ran his tail off. He ran hard. The first run of the day, the first play of the day, I think we maybe had a chance to keep that thing inside, but there was a little color that he did see that allowed him to bounce it. I don't think he missed many reads, personally," Coen said on Monday.

"I thought he ran through arm tackles a ton. ... He ran his tail off, like I said, and if we can continue to get him to run like that and then, okay, you break one more of those tackles in the open field, and we know he can go when he does get some of those creases. I was pleased with it. I think more at the end of the game, some of that probably took us down from an average standpoint when we were running it out at the end of the game. But when it was still really a ball game and we were running and passing, I thought we were efficient in being able to keep us on schedule.”

The RT Spot

Sunday saw the return of Jaguars offensive tackle Cole Van Lanen, who got his start at right tackle after recovering from a Jan. 4 knee injury that sidelined him all offseason. Van Lanen ended up playing 63% of the snaps, with offensive lineman Walker Little playing the 21 snaps to close out the game in the second-half. It remains to be seen if that will be the case when the Jaguars play the Denver Broncos in Week 2, especially since that game will likely not be over at halftime like this one was.

“He did well. He was confident, held his own. Got the work that we wanted him to get, knowing that he hasn't played a ton. The plan really was if he was going to be able to go, that we would try to just limit it to a half, and get him that work," Coen said.

"And now we've got all this week of him being able to take those reps and get more conditioning so that he's ready to go. Obviously, going into Denver, that's something we have to be aware of as a team, especially Cole not having played a ton, but he was pumped. He was excited, he was happy about the way he performed, that he went out there and let it rip and cut it loose. I was pleased with him. He did some really good things for us.”

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