The Jaguars signaled they’re all-in on the 2026 season by making several trades to fortify their roster before the deadline.
Quarterback Trevor Lawrence told reporters in his Wednesday press conference that the moves signal a positive trend for the team.
“I think you try not to look too much into it,” Lawrence said, via transcript from the team. “We have the same job to do, and I think we have a really good team that has good chemistry. Has gelled together. We like playing together, we have great camaraderie. All those things that are just hard to put your finger on sometimes. I think we have all that. I think we’ve been playing well, and so we still have a job to do, and nothing changes from that perspective.
“But I do think, obviously with the moves made, I think it shows the confidence in our team, and what we have the chance to do. I think that we’re a really good team, and now we get even better with these guys. I think that’s all it is, is just making our team even better, and we know that we’re going to have a shot. We just got to keep playing well and we got to keep winning. I think you can’t look too much into it because we still have the same job right in front of us, but I think these guys are going to help us for sure.”
Moreover, it helps that the players acquired have significant postseason experience.
“I think to get winners, to get guys that have been there before, that experience is important,” Lawrence said. “I think that is, why would you not want that if you can? Obviously, you got to look at the players you’re getting, and you want great players, but if they’ve also won Super Bowls and been to Super Bowls, I think that’s icing on the cake or whatever. That’s a plus. So, we have some guys obviously in that group that have done that. Just excited to get that experience. I think they’ve played meaningful football. They know what it looks like and going to add that value to our team.”
We’ll see how the additions start to fit in when the Jaguars play the Titans on Sunday.
Jaguars Clips
Jaguars kicker Cam Little has gained a reputation for long field goals over his three years in the NFL, but he didn’t have to show off his big leg against the Ravens last Thursday.
Little was called on to kick four field goals during the game, but none of them were longer than 47 yards. Little made all of them and he also hit all three extra points he tried in Jacksonville’s 33-10 win.
On Wednesday, the NFL announced that Little has been named the AFC special teams player of the week. Little also won that award once last season.
Little is 14-of-16 on field goals and 25-of-26 for extra points over the entire season.
The Jaguars have welcomed three new players to the team this week and they will also be reintegrating a current member of the team into practice.
The team announced on Wednesday that they have designated defensive end B.J. Green for return from injured reserve. Green suffered an elbow injury in the first game of the season.
Green played three special teams snaps in that game. He joined the Jags as an undrafted free agent in 2025 and appeared in 14 games. He had 15 tackles, two sacks and a fumble recovery.
The Jaguars will have a 21-day window to activate Green and he’ll be ineligible to return this season if he does not rejoin the active roster before that period is over.
Jaguars General Manager James Gladstone doesn’t view this week’s moves to acquire safety Jessie Bates, defensive tackle Jordan Davis, and defensive tackle Davon Godchaux in the same light as many others around the football world have characterized them.
Gladstone sent away the team’s 2027 first- and second-round picks, 2028 fifth- and sixth-round picks, and 2029 second-round pick in three Monday trades, which has been positioned as going all-in on maximizing the team’s Super Bowl chances after a 6-2 start. In a Tuesday press conference, Gladstone said he wouldn’t “necessarily” use the same framing and said he’d describe the team’s approach as always “getting better as a football team and prioritizing getting better as a football team.”
Another popular response has been that Gladstone has adopted his former Rams boss Les Snead’s “F them picks” to building the team’s Super Bowl LVI winners and subsequent teams. Gladstone noted that the Rams made plenty of picks while he was there from 2017-2024 and that he always takes into account the compensatory draft pick process during free agency as a way to supplement assets that can be used in a variety of ways.
“It’s a very symbiotic process that encompasses a lot of layers to it, but it’s certainly not ‘F them picks,’” Gladstone said. “While that’s been characterized as the approach, it’s not necessarily — we actually value picks. We don’t always use them on the three days that exist in April.”
Gladstone also acknowledged that “a part of it” is acquiring known commodities rather than gambling on the unknown trajectories of draft picks. There’s a gamble involved with the Jaguars’ approach as well and the way it pays off will be a big part of Gladstone’s ultimate legacy in Jacksonville.
When it comes to interpreting press releases regarding the audiences for sporting events, there’s a rule of thumb.
The higher the number appears in the release, the better the company thinks the audience is. The lower the number appears in the release, the less impactful the figure is.
And if the number is really bad, there’s no release at all.
For the Week 9 Thursday night game between the Jaguars and Ravens— which was destined to have a non-stellar audience thanks to the Ravens being down to their third-string quarterback — Prime Video led with the fact that the eight-game season-to-date average has outperformed last year’s numbers.
The 33-10 win by the Jaguars, which Prime Video accurately called “lopsided” in the release, generated an average of 13.96 million viewers.
It nevertheless was, as Prime Video notes, a 13-percent bump over last year’s Week 9 Thursday night game. And for good reason. The Week 9 Thursday night game in 2025 featured the Ravens at the Dolphins, a 28-6 Baltimore win.
Even with an audience of less than 14 million in the eighth TNF game of the season, the package is offering 17.15 million per week for 2026.
This week’s game — Commanders at Giants — should do well, given that the Giants are both doing well and occupy the nation’s top market. In Week 11, it’s Colts at Texans. Which won’t be great.
The following week, Prime Video has a potentially massive game on Black Friday between the currently 7-2 Broncos and 6-2 Steelers.
After that, it’s Chiefs-Rams, Vikings-Patriots, 49ers-Chargers, Texans-Eagles (on Christmas Eve), and Ravens-Bengals.
The Jaguars spent Monday adding players to their roster and they moved in the other direction on Tuesday.
They announced that they have waived cornerback Alijah Huzzie. The Jaguars acquired safety Jessie Bates, defensive tackle Jordan Davis, and defensive tackle Davon Godchaux in trades on Monday.
Huzzie was signed off of the Jaguars’ practice squad last month. He appeared in one game for the Jags and saw all of his playing time on special teams.
Huzzie also played in two games for the Texans last season. He had four tackles and an interception while in Houston.
Travis Hunter, Montaric Brown, Jourdan Lewis, Jaylon Jones, and Jarrian Jones remain on the roster at cornerback for Jacksonville.
In recent days (including today), reports have emerged that certain players will not be traded. That definitely does not mean they’re untradeable.
It means only that the team has yet to get an offer it will accept. The mere process of working the insiders to send that message could give the process one final goosing.
Regardless, not many players are truly untradeable. For all but a handful of players, there’s an offer that his current team would accept.
The only players who currently wouldn’t be traded, in our view, are Bills quarterback Josh Allen, Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, Bears quarterback Caleb Williams, Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence, Packers quarterback Jordan Love, and probably 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy.
Any other can be had, at the right offer (up to and including three first-round picks plus more). By now, teams know whether the right offer will be made. Which makes it easy for them to throw out their chests and say the player won’t be traded.
And to reverse course if an offer they can’t refuse is made before 4:00 p.m. ET today.
After trading quarterback Jacoby Brissett, and then losing his replacement Gardner Minshew to a potentially season-ending elbow injury, the Cardinals are bringing in quarterback reinforcements.
Joey Aguilar will join the Cardinals’ 53-player roster from the Jaguars’ practice squad, according to Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.
The 25-year-old Aguilar was the starting quarterback for the Tennessee Volunteers last season and spent a total of seven years in college football, with two at City College of San Francisco, two at Diablo Valley College and two at Appalachian State before transferring to Tennessee.
The only healthy quarterback in Arizona right now is rookie Carson Beck. Josh Johnson is expected to join the Cardinals as well, and Aguilar will presumably be the third quarterback for the Cardinals.
The Jaguars have been bringing players in to fortify the roster for a deep postseason run.
They don’t intend to send one out.
Jeremy Fowler of ESPN reports the Jaguars plan to keep receiver Brian Thomas Jr. — barring a surprise.
Thomas has been rumored to be on the trade block largely due to his lack of production this season. He’s received just 22 targets in eight games, catching 10 passes for 117 yards with two touchdowns.
The No. 23 overall pick of the 2024 draft, Thomas caught 87 passes for 1,282 yards with 10 touchdowns as a rookie. But his production dipped even last year — the first season under head coach Liam Coen — with Thomas catching just 48 passes for 707 yards with two TDs.
Even with Fowler’s report, plans can change. If a team seriously needs a receiver and is willing to pony up, the Jaguars may change their mind about dealing Thomas before the 4 p.m. ET deadline.
For players with no-trade clauses and most starting-level quarterbacks, there’s no reason to worry about a rogue wind blowing them to a new team in a new city. For everyone else, it can happen at any time.
It happened on Monday to defensive tackle Jordan Davis. After the deal was done that sent him to the Jaguars for a 2027 first-round pick and a 2029 second-round pick, Davis commented on the situation.
“A little disappointed but, you know, understanding that they’re in the rebuilding process glad and you know, for the picks — first-round and second-round pick — obviously helps the team and, you know, I love those guys,” Davis told Jeff Skversky of Fox 29. “So however I can help the team, even in my departure, I’m absolutely glad to be doing that.”
He may or may not be glad for the likely uptick in his workload. In Philly, Davis was on the field for 52 percent of the snaps. Given what the Jaguars gave up for him, they’ll need more than that to justify the trade.
Either way, it’s part of life in the NFL. Even though the 32 businesses are independent, they’re branches of the same tree. An involuntary transfer is always a possibility for the vast majority of players.
