Look, the Jacksonville Jaguars are Trevor Lawrence's franchise for the foreseeable future. However, every NFL team needs to have a contingency plan to lean on whenever their starting QB gets nicked up. For some strange reason, the Jags have never had a problem finding the best backup gunslingers the sport has to offer. That being said, the current lack of depth on the chart leaves a lot to be desired.
Fortunately, it appears that James Gladstone's work to find a guy who could fill in during an emergency is beginning to pay off. On a recent episode of the Club 904 podcast, Mia O'Brien heaped a ton of praise on a player who was actually on Jacksonville's practice squad last season.
As you may have heard by now, Lian Coen's system isn't the easiest for a young signal caller to adjust to at first. Even Trevor Lawrence said that his new coach's playbook was hard to learn, so it's no surprise that the developing talent O'Brien highlighted has started to separate himself from the rest of the pack.
Carter Bradley's gaining an edge in the Jaguars' heated battle of the backups
Carter Bradley, who O'Brien confirms is, in fact, the son of former Jacksonville head coach Gus Bradley, has been raising his profile throughout the team's organized activities. At the moment, he's sitting behind Nick Mullens, who supported Lawrence from the sidelines last season. However, Mullens could be on the way out the door because of the business end of pro football rearing its ugly head.
While elaborating, the host of Club 904 said, "there is a different level of velocity when Carter Bradley throws the football than when Nick Mullins, the Jaguars backup quarterback, throws the football, and that's not to knock the gunslinger, Nick Mullins."
She continued, "[Mullins], though, is in the final year of his contract, and so that is where I think Carter Bradley [will] have an extended opportunity during the preseason to put some great games on tape, [and], if the Jaguars [opt] to say goodbye to Nick Mullins this offseason, Carter Bradley's waiting for that opportunity."
Bradley's lack of on-field experience (he was only a starting QB for one out of the six seasons he was in college) is a red flag, as probably won't get a chance to catch his breath if he has to take the field during the regular season. Outside of handling some honorary snaps from victory formation, he'd have to hit the ground running as soon as he gets the play call in his helmet.
That being said, Bradley's already shown more poise under pressure than one of his competitors in the QB room, as O'Brien also reported that, Joey Aguilar, an undrafted free agent out of Tennessee, threw some "hospital balls" during his first few practices in the league.
So, at the very least, Bradley looks like a near lock to remain inside the Jaguars organization as the team's third-string QB. A quick look at Spotrac shows that he's only scheduled to earn about $1 million even in 2026. With that in mind, there wouldn't be any reason to let him hit the waiver wire if he answers the bell during joint practices and/or the preseason.
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