{"id":797170,"date":"2026-03-06T23:26:22","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T23:26:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/797170\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T23:26:22","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T23:26:22","slug":"should-the-jaguars-be-aggressive-or-conservative-in-2026-lwos-nfl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/797170\/","title":{"rendered":"Should the Jaguars be Aggressive or Conservative in 2026? – LWOS NFL"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over the last nine seasons, the Jacksonville Jaguars have had three different unexpected turnarounds that resulted in playoff berths: 2017<\/a>, 2022<\/a>, and 2025<\/a>. The following seasons, however, led to extreme disappointment and turmoil for years to come. In 2018, the Jaguars followed up an AFC Championship appearance with a 5-11 record, as well as years of instability. In 2023, the Jaguars were on the right track, going 8-3 through their first 11 games before suffering a complete collapse. The team went 5-24 over its next 29 games, leading to the firing of head coach Doug Pederson<\/a> and general manager Trent Baalke<\/a>. In 2018 and 2023, the Jaguars always had question marks surrounding either the quarterback, head coach, or general manager. Now, the Jaguars appear to have the proper infrastructure in place to sustain long-term success. But what should their approach be going forward?<\/p>\n

Should the Jaguars be Aggressive or Conservative in 2026?
\nFinding Flexibility<\/p>\n

In the past, the team\u2019s roster remained largely unchanged following playoff appearances, and it hurt them in the following seasons. In today\u2019s NFL, resting on past success will close windows extremely quickly. Conversely, being overly aggressive with big contracts or trading away assets for a splash move when other positions need to be filled.<\/p>\n

The Jaguars are currently $6 million over the cap<\/a> and won\u2019t make their first selection in the draft until pick 56. This significantly handicaps their ability to capitalize on their open window. Additionally, they did not use the franchise tag on Devin Lloyd or Travis Etienne and will likely have to replace them at some point.<\/p>\n

Restructuring contracts with added signing bonuses or pushing money down the line could free up enough space to still make key moves without hampering the team. The good news for the Jaguars is that their major needs are on the defensive side of the ball. They could explore upgrading the running back position, but Bhayshul Tuten <\/a>may have shown enough to earn him the starting role in 2026.<\/p>\n

Aggressive Decisions<\/p>\n

The most important decision on the defense will be re-signing cornerback Montaric Brown<\/a> or letting him test the market in free agency. If they choose to let him walk, this could force their hand in being more aggressive. With two premium positions needing upgrades in defensive tackle and cornerback, a big free agency signing or trade could come into play.<\/p>\n

In order to capitalize on their window while maintaining a steady foundation for future years, the Jaguars should focus on one or two aggressive free agency signings only. Trading away assets will set the team back, and the roster has more than one position to upgrade. For the Jaguars to compete right now, a splash signing such as John Franklin-Myers<\/a> or Riq Woolen<\/a> will propel them toward Super Bowl contention.<\/p>\n

The Jaguars have learned first-hand that a conservative approach following a successful season does not lead to success. However, the cap and draft restraints have limited how aggressive they truly want to be. James Gladstone<\/a> will have difficult decisions to make this offseason to make the Jaguars a consistent contender.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Over the last nine seasons, the Jacksonville Jaguars have had three different unexpected turnarounds that resulted in playoff…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":797171,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2060],"tags":[2777,7,212,125,2401,213,1302,2318,5926,6,23119],"class_list":{"0":"post-797170","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville-jaguars","8":"tag-bhayshul-tuten","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-jacksonville","11":"tag-jacksonville-jaguars","12":"tag-jacksonvillejaguars","13":"tag-jaguars","14":"tag-james-gladstone","15":"tag-john-franklin-myers","16":"tag-montaric-brown","17":"tag-nfl","18":"tag-tariq-woolen"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116184821775896071","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=797170"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797170\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/797171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=797170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=797170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=797170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}