The Jacksonville Jaguars exceeded expectations in 2025, going 13-4 and winning the AFC South title. Understandably, they now have a target on their back after flying under the radar last year. The good news is that head coach Liam Coen won't let the team get complacent. In fact, he's well aware that next season will present a new set of challenges, so the Jags cannot be trying to recreate what they accomplished last year.
Instead, vice president of football operations Tony Boselli thinks Jacksonville needs to decide what kind of team it wants to be moving forward.
Tony Boselli says the 2026 Jaguars must build their own identity
Tony Boselli made an appearance on 1010 XL and said that this year's Jaguars cannot compare to past teams, noting that they must take the good with the bad from past years and learn from it to build their own identity.
"I think the danger is that if you try to go backwards and try to recreate something or try to avoid something, and I think you can learn from the good and bad," Boselli said when asked how the 2026 Jaguars compare to past teams (2:56 mark). "I think I come with the perspective of being here from the beginning, and I've been influenced by a lot of individuals and have learned good things, learned what not to do, and then you look at James and Liam, very similar, their backgrounds, and then we all get together and kind of talk about how we want to be."
Boselli continued, "So I think less than trying to compare what the feeling is, or what this franchise, or any franchise that we've been a part of in the past has done. I don't spend a lot of time on that, but I think what we spend time on is what we want to be? What does it mean to be a Jaguar? How do we want to operate? How are we gonna? What type of team are we achieving to become so that we can be the best and to go compete every Sunday and put a great product on the field?
"So I don't spend a lot of time thinking about how's this compared to '99 or 2000, whatever. It's more about 'Hey, last year we came into this job, we won 13 games, we did some good things. We did some bad things.' There's things we can improve on. How can we learn? And at the end of the day, this is a brand new team."
Boselli isn't wrong. While the Jaguars can take lessons from last year, they need to adjust and adapt. After all, what worked in 2025 may not be helpful next season. Doug Pedersoon is a perfect example.
When Doug P became the Jags' head coach in 2022, he had immediate success. However, he never truly adjusted or made tweaks to his vision. The team progressively regressed, and by 2024, it was clear he was no longer the right man to lead the team. Liam Coen must avoid the same pitfalls, and based on what they did in 2025, there's a strong chance that he will.
The Jaguars need to build a foundation to have sustained success
Instead of looking for one player to get over the hump, the Jaguars made changes that should improve their overall performance. They added defensive backs coach Mathieu Araujo and run coordinator Brian Picucci to the staff. On the other hand, Liam Coen put an emphasis on fixing last year's stink, the running game.
For his part, general manager James Gladstone went out of his way to acquire the personnel to run more multiple-tight-end sets. This will add a dimension that the offense lacked in 2025.
Simply put, the Jaguars are fixing the mistakes that held them back last year. At the same time, they're building their own identity. That should lead to sustained success for the foreseeable future, something they haven't enjoyed in a while.
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