Not long after the NFL dropped the schedule for the 2026 season, a report surfaced that the Jacksonville Jaguars had put in a request to hold joint practices with each of their three preseason opponents.
Carolina Panthers head coach Dave Canales had already confirmed that his team will hold joint practices with the Jags. More recently, Liam Coen has confirmed that Jacksonville will also have practices with the New Orleans Saints and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before their preseason bouts.
Liam Coen confirms the Jaguars will hold joint practices with all 3 preseason opponents
Liam Coen met with the local media after Day 1 of Jaguars OTAs. He confirmed that Jacksonville will have joint practices with all three of its preseason opponents. "All three preseason games will have a joint in those three," Coen told reporters, via John Shipley of Sports Illustrated on YouTube.
Later in the exchange, he talked about the value of practicing against opposing teams ahead of preseason games (2:11 mark).
"Because you're in a little bit more of a controlled setting that you can get the guys you want specific reps, and not have to worry about as much, like you're putting a guy in a full contact situation in preseason games that don't count against our schedule record. And so I think it's something a little bit more controlled. I think the guys, the teams that we're practicing against, have a good understanding of what that looks like, being able to do that together."
Coen goes on to cite the joint practices with the Miami Dolphins in 2025 to discuss how it benefits his team.
"And the guys, they get more competitive. I mean, you look at Miami last year, although we had some ups and downs in that practice, I thought we saw some good competitive juice, some real game-like participation in those practices, so I think you're always trying to simulate game-like, and I think that those opportunities simulate game-like more than anything," Coen said.
Back in 2024, the Jags had joint practices with the Buccaneers, so this will be the second time in three years they'll face their intrastate rival.
Why the Jaguars will benefit from having joint practices during the preseason
The Jaguars are surely hyped up about getting his request granted. As Liam Coen noted, players get to test themselves against other teams, which, in turn, increases the competitiveness in practice. On top of that, the coaching staff can give reps to their top players and hold them out during the preseason. That will allow them to give more preseason snaps to other players and fully assess the roster.
This doesn't mean that the Jags will sit all its starters in all three preseason games, but it will allow them to lessen their workload ahead of the regular season.
On paper, having joint practices with all three preseason opponents may not seem like something huge, but it is, as they'll have a golden opportunity to rest their players at the same time they evaluate the roster without affecting one or the other.
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