The Jaguars’ path to 2-0 on Sunday runs straight through the matchup board.
After a Week 1 win over the Cleveland Browns, Jacksonville heads into its showdown with the Denver Broncos with the same basic formula: find the places where the game tilts in its favor and keep pressing there. That means personnel groupings on offense, a disruptive role for Travon Walker on defense, and a handful of one-on-one battles that could swing the afternoon.
One of the biggest questions is how often the Jaguars lean on 11 personnel right out of the gate. That grouping makes sense for Jacksonville because the Broncos’ cornerback trio does not look built to handle all three of the Jaguars’ starting receivers at once.
Patrick Surtain II is likely to spend plenty of time on Brian Thomas Jr., while Riley Moss and Jakobi Meyers seem to line up naturally on the other side. When Parker Washington slides into the slot, he should see Ja'Quan McMillian, a matchup that also leans Jacksonville’s way.
Washington already took advantage of slot work against Cleveland, and even if McMillian is a tougher cover than the Browns had there, it still favors the Jaguars.
Up front, Walker is the name that keeps popping. He lined up at defensive tackle quite a bit in last year’s meeting with Denver, and there’s a good chance he ends up there again on passing downs.
That fits what the Broncos showed in Week 1, when they were heavily tilted toward the pass with a 68.1% pass rate, No. 4 in the NFL. Walker has been working in that interior role all offseason and summer, and he was used there often in Week 1 too.
“I thought he wreaked some havoc, especially early on in the game. I think those guys all were doing a nice job rushing and affecting the quarterback at times.
He can be a savage when he really wants to be," Jaguars head coach Liam Coen said this week. "When he's going and he's staying low and coming off the rock and not hesitating or kind of waiting for the set, and just going and causing havoc, he can be that way.
I was pleased to see that show up in Week 1, especially, and to see some of the coverage in the front match each other. And we have obviously have a huge challenge this week because I think Denver's got one of the better offensive lines in the NFL as well.”
If Walker can keep creating problems inside, Jacksonville’s defense could end up dictating what Denver wants to do. And if Bo Nix isn’t being moved around as much as he was last year, that only helps Walker’s chances of making life messy.
Another matchup worth watching is Anton Harrison against Nik Bonitto. Bonitto opened the 2026 season with just one pressure on 18 pass rushes against the Kansas City Chiefs, and Harrison comes in off a strong outing of his own. The Jaguars tackle allowed only one pressure on 25 pass-blocking snaps against the Browns and handled new Browns defensive end Jared Verse well.
That matters because Jacksonville may not be in a hurry to get the ball out of Trevor Lawrence’s hands. The Chiefs were by far the quickest team in Week 1 at 2.27 seconds to throw, while the Jaguars’ time to throw against Denver in Week 16 last season was 3.12 seconds, per NextGenStats. That gives Bonitto more time to try to win, and Harrison a bigger job to do.
Then there’s the Broncos’ new weapon, Jaylen Waddle, who arrived in an offseason trade and didn’t do much in Week 1. He caught one pass for two yards on three targets while playing 75% of the offensive snaps. Some of that came down to usage, some of it to Bo Nix, but Denver may still make a point of feeding him the ball sooner or later.
If that happens against Jourdan Lewis, the Jaguars’ primary slot corner, Jacksonville has to be ready. Anthony Campanile knows Waddle well from their time together with the Miami Dolphins, and his plan will matter just as much as Lewis’ technique.
“He's a hell of a player," Campanile said about Waddle earlier this week. "Extremely hard worker, but a really good player overall.
Great in and out of the breaks, line of scrimmage and really hard to tackle after the catch so he gives them a guy that can stretch the field a little bit, a guy that's caught the ball over the middle of the field throughout the course of his career. And like I said, a guy that can do things after the catch with the ball.”
Those are the matchups that should shape the game. If Jacksonville wins enough of them, the 2-0 start stays in play.
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