The Jacksonville Jaguars are 4-2 heading into their Week 7 bye, which is a good place to be. But if they want to turn a solid start into something more, the trade deadline offers the cleanest path to a meaningful upgrade.
Last year, Jacksonville used the deadline to bolster its receiver room with Jakobi Meyers. This time, the need is much easier to spot on the other side of the ball: cornerback.
There are spots on this roster where the Jaguars are in good shape. Their linebacker play has been strong, and they have more than enough depth at wide receiver, tight end, running back and quarterback. The problem is that the defense, which came into Sunday as one of the league’s top-ranked units, took a hit in Week 6 against the Texans and their passing game.
C.J. Stroud picked apart Jacksonville with a mix of deep shots, red-zone damage and efficient throws all over the field. The Jaguars had trouble making life difficult for him, and when they did blitz, Stroud found answers there too.
That sort of performance will naturally pull attention toward the defensive line, especially because Jacksonville wasn’t able to generate consistent pressure without dialing up the blitz. But the deeper issue looked to be the secondary, not the front.
The defensive line’s concern is more about what the backups can be than what the starters are. Most of the reserve spots are filled by cheap journeymen or young former undrafted free agents, which leaves some questions about the group’s ceiling. Still, the cornerback room was the clearer problem against Houston.
After the game, Coen pointed to the conditions and how the surface affected the pass rush.
"The surface, obviously, I didn't feel like we were under a ton of duress, either. I think that venue benefits the offense in a lot of ways in terms of the pass rush. If we weren't feeling them, they probably didn't feel us," Coen said.
The corners, though, did not get that same benefit. Jarrian Jones and Jourdan Lewis each had rough moments, with Lewis giving up a red-zone touchdown and Jones allowing an explosive play that helped set up a Texans red-zone chance before halftime. Travis Hunter was beaten by Nico Collins twice, but he also intercepted Stroud and was the most effective cover man in the room on Sunday.
Hunter’s role complicates the picture. He also made an impact on offense in limited snaps, and with Brian Thomas Jr. struggling recently, it would make sense for Hunter to see more offensive work eventually. That gets harder to manage if the Jaguars are still patching holes at cornerback.
Jacksonville already added Jaylon Jones and Alijah Huzzie to the active roster two weeks ago, but those are depth and special teams moves, not the kind of additions that solve the issue. The Jaguars need a corner who can step in and play.
They also can’t simply count on Montaric Brown’s hamstring to heal and for him to return to his 2025 form.
This need has been building for weeks. It showed up in Week 2 when explosive plays piled up.
It came back in Week 5. And after another wave of big gains over the past two games, the Jaguars’ cornerback situation has become impossible to ignore.
In Other News...
Jaguars Could Face An Unwanted Buccaneers Coaching Problem Soon
The Buccaneers rough start has put Todd Bowles under real pressure, and when a division rival starts drifting into coaching uncertainty, it tends to create ripple effects elsewhere in the NFC South. For Jacksonville, the name worth watching is Grant Udinski, who has drawn notice in conversations about possible replacements along with more established figures such as Mike Tomlin and Zac Taylor, plus other rising assistants like Nate Scheelhaase, Klay Kubiak and Anthony Campanile.
For the Jaguars, the issue is less about Tampa Bays record than about how quickly a coaching search can turn from speculation into a league-wide scramble. Nothing has been decided yet, but if the Buccaneers do move on from Bowles, Jacksonville would suddenly be dealing with a familiar rival facing a major reset and the possibility of a staff change that could reshape the balance in the division. [Read more 🡒]
Jaguars Loss To Jalen Hurts Looks Different After Disturbing Update
Jalen Hurts performance against the Jaguars in London already stood out as one of the more impressive showings of the season, and the latest medical update has only sharpened the context around it. Before the diagnosis was fully understood, Hurts was dealing with a blood clot in his calf and had to stay awake for roughly 36 hours as a medical precaution, yet he still took the field and guided the game through all four quarters.
The Eagles quarterback was later diagnosed with the clot and placed on injured reserve, ending his season and making that trip overseas look even more extraordinary in hindsight. Against Jacksonville, he still finished with 220 passing yards, a touchdown and no interceptions, a line that now reads very differently given what was going on behind the scenes. [Read more 🡒]
Jaguars Snap Counts Raised A Bigger Question About Hunter And Brian Thomas
A closer look at the Jaguars Week 6 snap counts against Houston added another layer to the conversation around how Jacksonville is using Travis Hunter and Brian Thomas Jr. Hunter logged a season-high nine offensive snaps and made the most of the limited chances with four catches, while Thomas was on the field for just 15 snaps, all of them coming in the first half. For a team still sorting out its weekly distribution of targets and roles, those numbers stood out as much as the final score.
On the defensive side, Travon Walker and Josh Hines-Allen carried the heaviest workload, each playing 56 of 62 snaps, which is hardly a surprise for two of the units most important pieces. The more interesting part for the Jaguars is what the offensive rotation might mean going forward, especially with Hunters usage trending upward and Thomas playing time dipping in a game where both players were expected to matter. [Read more 🡒]