Jaguars Friday: Van Lanen Glad to Be Back Approaching Full Health

Sep 04, 2026 at 11:43 AM

JACKSONVILLE – He feels good, and that's good news for the Jaguars.

Jaguars offensive lineman Cole Van Lanen spent the offseason working his way back from an injury sustained in Week 18 of last year's regular season, work that has brought him to a good place as the 2026 regular season approaches.

"It just feels really good to put myself in a spot to be back, be with the guys again, feel the game again, be in the huddle again," Van Lanen said Wednesday.

Van Lanen missed the Jaguars' AFC Wild Card Playoff loss to the Buffalo Bills on January 11 with a knee injury, then began 2026 Training Camp on the Physically Unable to Perform list. He was activated from that list on August 20, marking his return to individual drills in practice ahead of the Jaguars’ Week 1 game against the Cleveland Browns at EverBank Stadium on September 13.

"I know Cole's looked good – I know he has looked really good," Jaguars Head Coach Liam Coen said Wednesday.

Van Lanen, who finished last season as the starting left tackle after starting at five different line positions during the season, is expected to start at right tackle when he returns to the starting lineup. He said his focus during this time is about getting back to "feeling right and ready to play my standard of football."

Jacksonville, Fla. — Jaguars offensive lineman Cole Van Lanen (70) and offensive lineman Wyatt Milum (64) during training camp at the Miller Electric Center on August 23, 2026.

"I've missed a lot of football the past year, this 2026, and just taking all these reps extremely seriously," Van Lanen said. "I really have to work on my craft, and there is only going to be so many reps before we're back in the games.

"So just taking everything really seriously, studying myself, making sure it's up to par of what my play is, and obviously I want to even be better than I was before."

Coen on Wednesday said he has liked what he has seen from Van Lanen in practice in recent days, noting that Van Lanen "has some confidence."

"The preseason game [against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers] the other night, he did one on ones against some of the defensive players, and he felt really good doing that," Coen said.

Van Lanen, spent 2022-2024 largely as a reserve after being acquired by the Jaguars in an August 2022 trade with the Green Bay Packers, said getting healthy has largely been about persevering and working through a difficult, long process and "small wins through the rehab."

"You can't attain your large goals without hitting the small ones," Van Lanen said. "Throughout the process, there are all these little goals that you're trying to hit better. All those compound throughout your rehab process.

"I feel like hitting all these minor goals throughout my process has really helped me elevate myself and kind of got me to a point where I feel almost better than I did before throughout my body, all the deficiencies I had, stuff like that."

Key to his return: A Jaguars training and support system that Van Lanen called "amazing."

"It's really the only word I can put for the staff here," he said. "I put my full trust in everyone here to get to the point we are now, and really just followed their plan, and we all grinded together really hard to get healthy and get back as fast as possible, as healthy as possible."

While work remains for Van Lanen before officially returning to the starting lineup, he is getting closer to his goal: To be on the field, in the huddle, and with his teammates rather than in the sometimes solitary process of rehabilitating.

And that's a really good place to be.

"A lot of this stuff, you're on your own," he said. "You have your own schedule. You have your own process. It's been great [to be back with teammates]. When you're away from it for so long, you're just so excited to be back and it has been really, really fun."

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Jacksonville, Fla. — Jaguars tight end Hayden Rucci (83) during practice at the Miller Electric Center on September 2, 2026.