The Jaguars don’t have many starting jobs that still feel genuinely up for grabs as training camp opens next week, but linebacker is the one spot that still deserves a little waiting.
Running back is one area where Jacksonville still has to sort out a true starter, even if the team seems encouraged by what it has in Bhayshul Tuten and Chris Rodriguez Jr. Linebacker, though, is the position where the Jaguars may need camp to do its work. Ventrell Miller looks like the favorite to line up next to Foyesade Oluokun, but the job doesn’t appear locked down yet.
That’s not a new script for this defense. Miller is stepping into a situation that looks a lot like the one Devin Lloyd faced around this time last year.
Lloyd entered camp as the expected starter, but he still had to beat out Miller in a real competition. That battle even carried into Week 1 against the Carolina Panthers, when Lloyd played 22 snaps, or 34%, and Miller logged 16 snaps, or 25%.
Then came the next week in Cincinnati, when Lloyd grabbed an interception in the middle of the field and took over the job for good.
What followed was the best season of Lloyd’s career. He earned second-team All-Pro honors, tied for the team lead with five interceptions and became one of the biggest X-factors in Jacksonville’s playoff push. The Jaguars didn’t just hand him the role; he had to win it.
Miller is now in position to do the same. The Jaguars drafted rookie linebacker Parker Hughes in the seventh round, added Jack Kiser in the fourth round a year ago and also have Branson Combs, an emerging second-year player who arrived as an undrafted free agent. So while Miller is the clear name to watch, he won’t be alone in the room.
“Ventrell's done I think a really good job to this point. There's a bunch of guys battling it out in that room right now," Jaguars defensive coordinator Anthony Campanile said in June.
"But Ventrell did a good job for us last year and played a bunch for us. He's a really physical guy. I think one of the things that he brings to our defense is a physicality in the run game and having been around and had a few guys like that in the past, I think we’ve got a really good feel for how he fits in, how to use him and really try to play to his strengths within the defense.”
The Jaguars are clearly comfortable with Miller, and it would be a surprise if he doesn’t end up winning the job. Still, he has to actually claim it over the course of camp, just as Lloyd did a year ago.
That confidence shows up in how Jacksonville approached the offseason, too. The team was widely projected to take a linebacker early in the 2026 NFL Draft, but it went through nine picks before finally adding one in April. That says plenty about how the Jaguars view the room right now, and it puts the pressure on Miller to validate that approach.
Even so, nobody in Jacksonville needs the linebacker answer solved in July. Week 1 against the Cleveland Browns is when the real shape of the defense has to be set. Training camp is just the first step.
For now, the Jaguars seem to trust the room, trust the development and trust Campanile, who helped turn Lloyd into a career-year player and has built a reputation as one of the best linebacker developers in football. Now it’s Miller’s turn - but only after a little patience.
In Other News...
Three Jaguars Veterans Are Already Feeling Camp Pressure
Training camp has a way of exposing the veterans who can no longer live on reputation, and that is where Hunter Long, Chuma Edoga and Patrick Mekari find themselves as the Jaguars sort through the early stages of the summer. Each player enters camp with a different kind of pressure, but the common thread is the same: Jacksonville has added enough young competition that simply showing up and being experienced will not be enough to hold a job.
For Long, the tight end room has gotten crowded enough that every rep matters. Edoga is trying to protect his place in an offensive line mix that has changed around him, while Mekari is under the kind of scrutiny that comes with being asked to stabilize a starting role after uneven production in key blocking areas. For all three, the next few weeks are less about easing into the season and more about proving the Jaguars cannot afford to move on. [Read more 🡒]
Jaguars Rookie CJ Williams Is Forcing His Way Into The Conversation
CJ Williams has already done enough this spring to get noticed in a Jaguars receiver room that is still taking shape. The sixth-round rookie arrived in Jacksonville with a winding college path behind him, moving from USC to Wisconsin and then Stanford, where his final season hinted at the kind of steady production and reliability that can translate to the next level. Since then, he has carried that momentum into offseason work, earning praise from the coaching staff for the way he has handled the transition.
What stands out most is not just the rsum, but how quickly Williams has started to look like he belongs in the mix. He has shown the kind of work ethic and playmaking ability that can make a late-round pick harder to ignore, especially when a team is sorting out roles and searching for dependable receivers. For Jacksonville, the question now is whether the early buzz around Williams is simply a spring storyline or the start of something more meaningful once the real competition begins. [Read more 🡒]
Jaguars Camp Opens With One Big Readiness Question Hanging Over It
The Jaguars are set to open training camp July 29, with rookies due in a few days earlier and veterans following on July 28, and there will be plenty of chances for fans to get a first look once practices get underway. Jacksonville also has a slate of open sessions on the calendar, including public access around joint work with the Panthers and Buccaneers, as the team starts turning offseason planning into actual on-field evaluation.
A lot of the early attention will go beyond the usual camp buzz, because the Jaguars have already checked off some major business by locking up core pieces like Travon Walker and Brenton Strange. Even so, the first week still carries a familiar camp edge for Jacksonville, with injury updates and roster spots in play as the team tries to sort out who is ready to go when the pads come on. [Read more 🡒]