JACKSONVILLE – The Jaguars may be mostly backing up in future preseasons.

Liam Coen spoke this past week at the NFL 2026 Annual League Meetings, with the Jaguars' second-year head coach saying he believes in a recent league-wide trend of playing starters and front-line players sparingly in preseason games.

Preparing for the regular season matters. But there are safer ways to do it than playing a team's best players too early.

"I just have a hard time putting a guy in a game that doesn't count technically," he said.

Coen, speaking last week at the annual AFC Coaches breakfast at the Arizona Biltmore in Phoenix, Ariz., said ideally he will schedule "joint practices" against other teams in the future and allow starters to work extensively in that controlled environment.

"My preference would be to do joint and not play them [in preseason games]," Coen said.

The Jaguars last preseason – Coen's first as head coach – scheduled just one joint practice, working one day with the Miami Dolphins before the teams' Preseason Week 3 game in Miami. The starters played about a series in Preseason Week 1 against the Pittsburgh Steelers and about two in Preseason Week 2 against the New Orleans Saints. Jaguars starters did not play in the preseason finale against Miami.

"There are some different ways this is going right now," Coen said. "Last year we were in a first-year spot, so we didn't get a ton of juice and help on that front. We chose to play our players in preseason games, which was against my inclination. It was against my belief, let's just put it that way. I have a hard time putting somebody in a game for an exhibition like that.

"But last year, it was good for us. We saw our players in some live situations we hadn't been in yet and it brought up some stuff that we needed to fix and address. We had to, so it was a great learning experience regardless.

"There's a preference that I personally have and maybe others do, but you have to go with the flow. It's not something I'm going be so adamant against and about that you're not fluid about coaching your team."

Coen also said the Jaguars ideally would have an annual preseason game against his former team – the Tampa Bay Buccaneers – with the ability to hold joint practices the week leading to the game.

"[Buccaneers General Manager] Jason [Licht], we were talking about it this weekend [before the league meetings]," said Coen, who spent the 2024 season as the Buccaneers' offensive coordinator. "That would be awesome. It just makes too much sense. You want to be cost effective in terms of the way you operate, so it just makes way too much sense for us to not have a standing preseason game. Whether it's a joint practice, game throughout the preseason … it just kind of makes too much sense.

"We'll try. It's ultimately not our decision. It's like the Wizard of Oz kind of deal. It just happens."

NOTABLE

• Defensive end Travon Walker's role with the Jaguars could continue expanding. Walker, who on Saturday signed a four-year contract extension with the Jaguars, worked as an interior pass rusher late last season – and he said after signing his extension Saturday he's fine if the Jaguars continue using him in that vein. "I think I could have an impact wherever they put me," Walker said. "I don't care if they put me in the secondary. It's all about versatility in this league. It's all about just being versatile, do whatever I need to do to help the team." Walker, the No. 1 overall selection in the 2022 NFL Draft, registered 10 and 10.5 sacks in 2023 and 2024 before registering 3.5 last season while playing through wrist and knee injuries. He said on Saturday signing the extension "takes some weight off of my mind." Not saying that I was really too concerned about it," he said. "I know it was going to happen regardless of however much or whatever. Just having it out of the way, the money part, all of the talks about the money, it's just time to go play ball now. I don't have to think about any of that."