2026 NFL training camps are about to open across the league, and for the Jaguars, two names stand out as the ones worth tracking closely at the Miller Electric Center.
One is a rookie tight end with a surprising draft slot. The other is a pass rusher who already has the money, the production, and now the challenge from his head coach to become something even bigger.
Nate Boerkircher is the first player to watch because Jacksonville’s offense is built to give Liam Coen options, but the real question is what happens when the Jaguars want to get bigger. The top of the depth chart looks loaded in 11 personnel, with Brian Thomas Jr., Parker Washington, and Jakobi Meyers at receiver, Brenton Strange at tight end, and Bhayshul Tuten, Chris Rodriguez Jr., and LeQuint Allen Jr. rotating at running back. The Jaguars can also lean into 10 personnel with Travis Hunter joining the wideouts, or use 21 personnel and “pony” looks with two receiving backs.
Still, the heavier packages matter too, and Coen used jumbo looks on 108 snaps last season, sixth-most in the NFL. That was more necessity than preference, though.
Strange landed on injured reserve about halfway through the 2025 season, Hunter Long and Quintin Morris missed a combined five games, and Johnny Mundt was even a healthy scratch at one point. When the tight end room thinned out, the extra linemen came out more often.
Coen wants more flexibility than that this time around. The return of 12 personnel and 13 personnel has become one of the bigger schematic stories of the offseason, and Jacksonville responded by re-signing Morris before drafting both Boerkircher and Tanner Koziol in a class that saw 22 tight ends selected, the most since 2002.
Boerkircher’s selection at No. 56 overall turned heads. He was nearly 25 years old, had only 38 career receptions, and looked more like a complementary piece than a near-top-50 pick.
But the Jaguars clearly see a role for him, even with Morris back and Long still on the roster. They want Boerkircher to earn a Week 1 spot as the No. 2 tight end behind Strange.
During OTAs in June, Coen made it clear what he needs from that setup. “As much as man, we love Brenton Strange blocking and he’s so tough, he wants to do it, he’s physical, he’ll bite you.
He also missed some time last year … when you look at when he has production what our record looks like, it’s kind of interesting to see. And so, allowing Brenton to continue to do what he does well, but also to maybe take some of that wear and tear, some of the pounding that it takes when you’re blocking the Travon Walkers of the world and Josh Hines-Allens of the world, getting him matched up more on those linebackers and safeties and now he’s an advantage for us.
Now we have an edge. So, we always feel good about Strange blocking at the point of attack, but we needed some help there.
Being able to provide Strange an option to go maybe split out or go block other people that maybe keep him out of some of those one-on-one big situations, I think that’s going to help us tremendously.”
The pass-game impact from Boerkircher may take time, and it wouldn’t be a shock if it stayed modest through his rookie year. But if he can handle the blocking work early in camp, it would go a long way toward making Coen’s offense feel more adaptable heading into 2026.
The other player to keep an eye on is Travon Walker, and the bar has already been set by his head coach. At the NFL’s annual league meetings in March, Coen described a long conversation with Walker and made the standard brutally clear.
“I had an almost two-hour meeting with him at the end of the season. Just what that looked like in terms of dominating.
You know, I was with Aaron Donald in L.A., and we literally had to take him out of practice in order for us to gain yards on offense. And so, if you want to get where you want to go, and where we want you to go, and where you can go, I need to be taking you out of practice so that we can operate on offense.
I want that kind of destruction and mindset and mentality. And he was on the same page about it.”
“Not talent, not anything about their length and size and anything that way. It’s just habits.
Elite habits, elite practice preparation, game preparation, that. Those habits.
The way that you practice on a day-to-day basis. I’d better be taking you out of the practice for us to operate.
You should disrupt the entire thing in order for us to operate. I want that.”
Walker has already shown why that matters. He entered last season with real momentum, ranking top-15 among NFL defenders in sacks with 2 and pressures with 12 through the first three games before injuries started piling up in Week 4. Even with that setback, he still played well enough to keep the Jaguars leaning on him.
Anthony Campanile sees the value in Walker’s versatility, too. On The Brent & Austen Show in April, the defensive coordinator said, “A guy like Travon lets us play so many different fronts over the course of the game with the same personnel grouping that it makes it hard for the offense to ever get a gauge on what you’re going to be in in terms of the front.
It’s one thing in the backend, you know, to be multiple and changing coverages and all that, but to be able to come out and be in over defense, be in under defense, be in bear, be in 6-1 defense, you know, be in loaded fronts. You really have to have a guy who’s versatile enough to do that.”
Walker has also shown some of the habits Coen wants to see. At OTAs, the head coach said, “Travon Walker showed up in a big way, especially when we got into some competitive situations, doing what I challenged him with, which was to dominate. Through the first two days of minicamp, he didn’t lose many reps.”
Jacksonville has a roster filled with high-upside first-round talent. Walker, Anton Harrison, Brian Thomas Jr., and Travis Hunter are already major pieces.
But if the Jaguars are going to climb, those players have to climb with them. And the first place to start is with the guy who just got paid.
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