JACKSONVILLE – Let's get to it …
Gary from East Palatka, FL
The one thing I like about this team is the maturity. This team understands every game is a must win, but a Week 1 loss wouldn't affect this team at all. Week 1 is always tricky, a lot of variables. This team has the makeup to overcome A LOT. Teams of past would near hit the panic button on a loss. Not this current team, though. Go Jags! Let's stop the run.
You touched on something very pertinent for the Jaguars – not just in their 2026 regular-season opener against the Cleveland Browns at EverBank Stadium Sunday, but for the franchise overall. As the 2025 regular season opened, this understandably was a young team still in transition, moving toward finding an identity under then first-year Head Coach Liam Coen. Fast forward a year and this indeed feels like a rapidly maturing team, one that is very much a professional football team. It showed as last season continued that it could respond to adversity, multiple times responding to losses and rough patches with victories that changed the course of the season. Coen throughout his first season as head coach showed the ability to reach the team at necessary times and have the team respond. That's a critical element to the makeup of this team and absolutely is a reason it should contend this season. Remain tuned.
Fred from Naples, FL
So, with the promotion of Nick Mullens to the active roster for Sunday, we will have three quarterbacks available to play?
The Jaguars on Saturday elevated quarterback Nick Mullens from the practice squad for Sunday's game against the Browns. They will have three quarterbacks available for Sunday unless Trevor Lawrence or Quinn Ewers are among the gameday inactives announced at 11:30 a.m.
Jim from Jagsonville
The BOAT is back to give us the first DUUUVALL of the season! Only you, as the KOAF, can answer this question ... is QB15 in good enough shape to sign as a backup tight end today? Let's Go, Jaguars!
Go Jaguars.
John from Jax
Hi, KOAGF. Each game, starting with Week 1, I think of playoff implications. Obviously, division games are most important. Next in line are games against AFC teams. Last in line are games against NFC teams. With this all said, the game against the Browns is important for possible division/playoff seeding tiebreakers later. I know every game is important, but do you agree with my forward-thinking?
With the Jaguars expected to contend for the playoffs, it's natural that young fans' September fancies would turn to playoff implications. And that's fine. The nice thing about this topic is you don't really have to worry about it. If the Jaguars win games, playoff implications take care of themselves. Just win. Period. That gets you where you want to go.
Jason from North Pole, AK
Bradley's celebration of the genius of calling a passing play in short yardage for Seattle the other night was ironic because I'm old enough to remember them losing a Super Bowl by doing just that.
Irony can be pretty ironic.
Johnny from Howey In The Hills
Dr. O: Really glad to see defensive tackles Arik Armstead and Matt Dickerson healthy and in good shape. Both are quiet leaders and always in the mix on every play. I am also glad to see Arik moved to his natural position of defensive tackle versus defensive end. He has maintained good shape for a big body guy and he and Dickerson are great rotational players with tons of experience. I suspect Arik's a great locker room guy as well. I have heard and seen nothing but good things about the guy and the off-field charity and educational things he and his family do. Great to have him as a Jag...on and off the field.
Armstead is absolutely a good locker-room guy, a good player and a front-line citizen off the field. He moved back to "permanent" defensive tackle last season after playing a lot of defensive end in 2024 – and when he has been healthy and playing on the interior, he has been a good player here.
Charles from Riverside
Hello, John. This week has been slower than Krimma!! The days are crawling by. Let's get the season started. Go Jags!!
Kickoff is at 1 p.m.
Andrew from Palm Coast, FL
Both Thursday night and on Wednesday, we saw key players for teams going down with injuries, most notable being Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold and New England Patriots wide receiver A.J. Brown. Many blame not giving them enough reps in preseason or poor conditioning before games. My question is if it actually could be a lack of preseason reps causing these early injuries, and if the Jaguars have conditioned their players well enough to hopefully prevent the same loss of key talent from occurring in their Week 1 matchup.
Professional football is a violent, physical game. Injuries happen. That won't stop analysts and fans from connecting dots, both real and imaginary, but injuries happen.
David from Maplewood, NJ (originally Orange Park)
John, Regarding the questions on when or if wide receiver/cornerback Travis Hunter can or will justify what the team spent to get him, I have been a fan of this team from the beginning – and when the team stunk, the common trait was a lack of special. Hunter is special, and what makes him unique and more valuable is that he is special at two positions. It seemed clear to me that his ability to "be special" at both spots was confirmed already by how he played in half a season in his rookie year. Just be himself, as our general manager is fond of saying, is all the young man needs to do in my book.
Pretty much.
Ed from Ponte Vedra Beach, FL
I do not understand the logic of having our best receiver return punts. Why expose a valuable player the risk of getting hit by a truck? Don't we have a bulky fast specialist that can return punts?
You really don't understand why the Jaguars would have Parker Washington return punts? He's really good at it and he's the best option. He returned two punts for touchdowns last season, and both came at critical times. Having him return punts increases your chance of winning. I understand why you may not agree with having him return punts. But the logic is clear.
Steve from St. Johns, FL
Professional football may be hard, but it sure is fun to watch. Here's to another season of ups and downs, overreactions and the emotional roller coaster that comes with being a fan. Go Jags!
Attaboy.
JAY from THE BURG, FL
What has the trinity of Executive Vice President of Football Operations Tony Boselli, General Manager James Gladstone, and Coen brought to Jacksonville? Players that are not distracted. Players that have a purpose. Players that want to be here, be Jaguars and compete as a team. And a kicker that can drop from 70. Here we go.
Attaboy.
Al from Orange Park, FL
Would you please explain the standard elevation thing again? Active on Sunday, back to the practice squad on Monday? No three weeks on the active roster and no one needs to be cut to make room?
NFL teams can elevate up to two practice-squad players per game. A player may be elevated in this way three times. The elevated player indeed reverts to the practice squad following the game and no player must be released to make room for the elevated player.
Tony from Johns Creek, GA
O, the season is upon us. The reservations made at our local sports bar. My Jaguar garb is ready for battle. Oh, how I love the smell of football!
Spoken like someone who never has interviewed a football player in the locker room following a game.
Yetidaddy from Somewhere and Yet Nowhere
Good Game Day Morning, Sir O. Over the last several years, when people talked about the NFL's "toughest division," the conversation usually centered on divisions like the AFC North, NFC North, or NFC West — divisions where there seemingly were few, if any, easy Sundays. For a long time, the AFC South wasn't really part of that conversation. But with Jacksonville trying to establish itself, Houston becoming a consistent contender, Indianapolis appearing to be on the rise and Tennessee working its way back toward relevance are we beginning to see the AFC South evolve into one of those divisions? Put another way: Are the days of the AFC South being considered one of the NFL's weaker divisions coming to an end and could we soon be talking about it the way we've talked about the AFC North, NFC North, and NFC West?
The AFC South was one of the NFL's tougher divisions in 2025. I fully expect it to be one of the NFL's tougher divisions again. I don't know how the division will be perceived.
Aaron from White Hall, AR
This week's game against the Cleveland Browns is the biggest game in franchise history.
That it is, Edward. That it is, indeed.
