Trevor Lawrence Is Picking Up Right Where He Left Off

We got 5 takeaways from Jaguars camp.

Takeaway number 1, Trevor Lawrence really came on at the end of last year.

There's a ton of reasons why .

The coaches thinned out the offense a little bit to get him playing faster.

That worked.

They gave him more of a green light to run.

That worked against defenses, simplified what he was looking at from a coverage standpoint.

And then there's another of the reasons that should carry right over into 2026, and that is the improvement of the receiver group.

If you look at the end of last year, of course, in mid-season, they traded for Jacoby Myers.

And Myers gave them a presence over the middle that really opened things up for the coaches to move the other guys into roles that fit their skill sets better, and those guys have been able to carry that right over into this year.

So you've got Myers as the over the middle target, you've got Parker Washington as more of a downfield guy, and Brian Thomas Junior, the former first round pick who is dynamite as a rookie, looks like he's on the verge of bouncing back.

He's been decisive.

He's playing with an assuredness to his game.

Um, you see, a mastery of the system that didn't exist before and all of that is bleeding onto the field.

So Brian Thomas Junior is somebody to watch in 2026.

Take away number two, the run game is going to look a little bit different than it did last year when Travis Etchin was of course the lead back.

Uh, Beal Tutin, the 2nd year player out of Virginia Tech, a real burner, but a guy who runs with violence and physicality, comes back as the most likely starter, and then they added Chris Rodriguez, who's been a revelation from Washington.

He's a bigger back.

He's a tougher back, and you put those two guys together, Tan.

And Rodriguez, and what you're going to see is probably a run game that looks a little bit more like what Liam Cohen and James Gladstone were a part of in Los Angeles with guys like Kyron Williams and Cam Akers.

And if you want to go way back, Todd Gurley, so a different looking running game here in Jacksonville in 2026.

Take away number 3, there are questions on the offensive line.

And a lot of them relate to injury.

They started camp with 16 offensive linemen.

At one point earlier this week, they were down to 91 of the guys who's gone down, Patrick McCay, we'll see when he's going to come back.

They're optimistic he won't miss too much of the regular season, but replacing him at right guard becomes a big question now.

Guy to watch there is Emmanuel Pregnant, draft pick out of Oregon.

Looks like he's going to be a real guy .

Can he start at that position right away?

We'll see.

And there's a tackle situation.

They have Anton Harrison and Walker Little.

Little was the left tackle last year.

Harrison was the right tackle, but for a good chunk of this offseason, they've been working Harrison at left tackle and Little at right tackle.

They want to test Harrison's ceiling, and obviously the decision there will be a big one in which way that they go.

Takeaway number 4, the defensive front looks like a very legitimate strength.

Eric Armstead, 12th year.

looks every bit the player that he was in San Francisco, that he's been the last few years.

In Jacksonville, Trayvon Walker, they're toying with moving him inside more, um, and they really feel like he can be a menace in their nickel as an inside rusher.

And if he's moving inside in the nickel, that'll open up a spot opposite Josh Hines Allen.

And a guy to watch there is BJ Green, who came on at the end of last year.

He's a college free agent in 2025, finished the season strong, and he's been borderline dominant in practices this summer.

So there's a dark horse to watch.

Finally, take away number 5.

I left this for last.

Travis Hunter.

He is majoring in defense in 2026, the same way he majored in offense in 2025.

So what does that mean?

Well, that means that they see a higher ceiling for Hunter at corner.

They look at it like there's a plan that'll that'll work, that'll allow them to get the most out of him.

They can borrow from Colorado, and what he did at Colorado, he would meet with the defensive players, he would practice with the defensive players, and then they would put in packages for him on offense where he didn't have to learn the breadth of the offense.

They could use him in spots and signal routes into him.

It's a more logical way to do it if you're talking about a guy playing both ways.

So that's part of the equation.

And then there's the fact that they just need him at corner, um, and there's a way bigger need at corner than there is right now at receiver.

So, the hope is that he's gonna break through at the corner position, and if he does, the secondary becomes a strength.

Antonio Johnson's really come on and had a really, really strong camp opposite Eric Murray.

Jerry Jones is a player to watch at corner.

Jordan Lewis still working his way back from, from injury, but if Hunter settles in at corner and becomes the type of player they think he can be, the secondary could be a legitimate strike.