The Jaguars will be calling Orlando home in 2027.
NFL owners unanimously approved the terms of the team’s agreement to play its home games in Orlando next year. They will not be able to play at EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville because of extensive renovations to the stadium.
“The Jaguars couldn’t ask for a better scenario than Orlando and Camping World Stadium as our temporary home in 2027,” Jaguars owner Shad Khan said in a statement. “This couldn’t have happened without the endorsement of the league and team owners who approved our plan two years ago for a renovated Stadium of the Future in downtown Jacksonville, and we’re especially appreciative of the support of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during the process. We’re also grateful to the team at Florida Citrus Sports that made this solution a reality that will benefit all, including Jaguars fans just a few hours away in Jacksonville. This is a win that everyone can celebrate.”
Those renovations will also limit the capacity at the team’s home games in 2026.
Jaguars head coach Liam Coen had a beef with Robert Saleh when Jacksonville faced the 49ers last season, but things appear to have calmed down ahead of Saleh’s first season as the Titans’ head coach.
Saleh said that Coen and the Jaguars had “a really advanced signal stealing-type system” that they deployed to their advantage ahead of a September game and Coen made it clear on the field that he didn’t appreciate Saleh’s comments after the 26-21 Jaguars win. Saleh never accused the Jaguars of doing anything illegal, but said after the game that his choice of words could have been better because he meant it as a compliment to Jacksonville’s preparation.
At the league meetings in Arizona on Tuesday, Saleh said that the two men have moved past the issue.
“We’re good,” Saleh said, via Michael DiRocco of ESPN.com. “I know the NFL probably wants more of a story, but there’s no story. I have an appreciation for Liam. Like I said, I used the wrong word when I was trying to give him a compliment, but all that’s under the bridge. We’ve talked and put it behind us.”
Coen said that the incident has been fodder for teasing from other coaches around the league and the two men will get a pair of chances to renew their acquaintance during the 2026 season.
The Jaguars have made their call on right tackle Anton Harrison’s contract option for the 2027 season.
General Manager James Gladstone said on Monday that the team will exercise that option. The move guarantees Harrison a salary of just over $19 million for his fifth NFL season and it will also give the sides an extended window to work on a long-term extension.
“As a part of that, we’ll have deeper conversations,” Gladstone said, via Ryan O’Halloran of the Florida Times-Union.
Harrison has started all 49 regular season and playoff games he’s played since Jacksonville selected him with the 27th pick of the 2023 draft.
The NFL is struggling to balance the P.R. and legal realities of diversity in key positions with a potential political assault from those who regard the three-letter “DEI’ acronym as a four-letter word. Through it all, the results speak for themselves.
Exhibit A? The 2026 photo of the NFL’s head coaches. Exhibit B? The 2026 photo of the NFL’s General Managers.
Falcons G.M. Ian Cunningham, whose promotion from assistant G.M. in Chicago somehow didn’t result in the Bears receiving a pair of third-round compensatory picks, addressed the situation on Monday, in comments to David Brandt of the Associated Press.
“Just from my position, especially being a Black man, there’s still work to be done,” Cunningham told Brandt. “Now that I’m in this position and have this platform, I’m going to be intentional about what we do from a grassroots effort to a director level. . . . I do think it’s important to give people of all races and sexes a chance to be in a position to further their career.”
Cunningham’s comments come only days after Florida took aim at the Rooney Rule as discriminatory against white men, and in the aftermath of Steelers owner Art Rooney II acknowledging that “the environment has changed.”
The environment has changed, at the national level and in plenty of states. The law has not. And the NFL’s historical performance as it relates to the hiring of coaches and General Managers — coupled with the league’s decision more than 20 years ago to make interviews of minority candidates for the most coveted positions mandatory — shows that the longstanding legal standard has not been met.
The problem is that there has been no real accountability. And the irony is that the first governmental effort to enforce the law comes from the perspective of the demographic that has benefited from the league’s traditional hiring practices.
The league undoubtedly hopes the Florida problem will go away. That the demand made by Florida attorney general James Uthmeier to abandon the Rooney Rule as to the Dolphins, Jaguars, and Buccaneers is more performative than substantive.
Whatever Uthmeier’s motivations and intentions, the NFL should do the right thing. Don’t run. Don’t hide. Stand up and say, in a clear, loud voice, “Bring it on.”
Would that be good for business? Probably not. But doing the right thing isn’t always good for business. The truest test of an organization’s true character is whether it will do the right thing when it could be bad for business.
Jaguars cornerback/wide receiver Travis Hunter is “very well ahead” of schedule in his rehab, coach Liam Coen said Monday at the NFL owners meetings.
Hunter injured the lateral collateral ligament in his right knee during an Oct. 30 practice. He did not play the rest of the season, undergoing surgery on Nov. 11.
Coen is uncertain whether Hunter will return in time to participate in the offseason program.
“I don’t know his timetable-to-return, but he’s very well ahead of where he’s supposed to be,” Coen said, via Ryan O’Halloran of the Florida Times Union. “I know the [doctors] and athletic trainers feel really good [about Hunter’s recovery].”
The Jaguars traded up to take Hunter second overall, and he played both ways as a rookie. He caught 28 passes for 298 yards and one touchdown in 324 offensive snaps and made 15 tackles and three pass breakups in 162 defensive snaps.
General Manager James Gladstone indicated after the season that the Jaguars would make Hunter a full-time cornerback and a part-time wide receiver next season. Coen, though, said he and Hunter have not discussed Hunter’s role for 2026.
“We haven’t really had a ton of those conversations,” Coen said. “It’s more so just working through the rehab process. I think it’s kind of an unspoken understanding of knowing that there are some depth things [at cornerback] that he can come in and help us. But the focus [of the talks] have just been about the day-to-day and, ‘How are you feeling today? How are you doing?’ and getting to see him smiling and moving around again in the facility.”
