When the Jacksonville Jaguars announced their 2026 schedule, Trevor Lawrence stole the spotlight because he seemingly got a haircut. Once they revealed that he didn't, everyone started to pay attention to their slate of games for next season.
The Jags will deal with a couple gauntlets at separate points of the season but also have a handful of favorable matchups. All things considered, Jacksonville has a favorable schedule. However, an NFL writer doesn't think that will lead to a strong start.
The Jaguars are projected to get off to a cold start to the 2026 season
Gary Davenport of Bleacher Report predicted a hot, mild, or cold start for each NFL team next season. He chose cold for the Jaguars, pointing out that they're the defending AFC South champions but are facing a brutal gauntlet to start the season.
"The Jacksonville Jaguars are the defending champions of the AFC South, but a repeat isn't going to be easy—because the early part of the schedule is brutal," Davenport wrote. "Opening the season at home against the Browns should equate a quin, but then comes a gauntlet that lasts all the way to Jacksonville's Week 7 bye."
Davenport continued, "The Jaguars face both AFC title game participants from a year ago in the Broncos and the Patriots before a trip to Cincinnati and a pair of London games against 2025 playoff teams in the Eagles and Texans."
This leads Davenport to believe that going 3-3 to begin the season would be a huge achievement for Jacksonville. The one silver lining is that he doesn't have much of a favorable forecast for the rest of the AFC South, with both the Indianapolis Colts and the Tennessee Titans projected to get off to a cold start.
The only team in the AFC South that got somewhat of a favorable projection was the Houston Texans, with Davenport predicting them to have a mild start to the year.
Circling back to the Jags' prediction, Davenport makes some valid points but fails to take into account that Jacksonville is far from a pushover. There's no doubt that both the Denver Broncos and the New England Patriots will present a couple of tough challenges. Heck, the Jags will deal with a gauntlet from Weeks 2 to 6, so it's easy to see why they could struggle. On the other hand, they also have the talent to go toe-to-toe with every single one of their opponents.
Why the Jaguars can get off to a hotter start to the season than expected
Last year, the Jaguars were 6-4 before they figured things out and finished riding a seven-game winning streak. With both Liam Coen and Trevor Lawrence entering their second season, nobody would bat an eye if they get off to a strong start. In fact, several forecasts project Jacksonville to finish 12-4 or better in spite of the dearth of big swings in free agency.
And that's the thing, the Jags could have most definitely used a proven No. 3 pass rusher behind Travon Walker and Josh Hines-Allen. Similarly, it's hard to tell if they did enough to bolster both lines up front. However, Jacksonville has lots of depth at talent at receiver, safety, linebacker, and tight end, and they have enough firepower on both sides of the ball to not only win the AFC South title again but also vie for the top seed in the conference.
Of course, the Jaguars are far from the only talented team in the AFC, but they most definitely have more than enough firepower to get off to a hot start and make noise next season.
Add us as a preferred source on Google