The Jacksonville Jaguars open their preseason on Saturday against the New Orleans Saints, and Liam Coen is treating the first week more like a controlled evaluation than a dress rehearsal.
That lines up with what he said after the team’s joint practice Thursday. The starters and most of the key backups are expected to sit out Saturday’s game, which leaves the Jaguars’ depth players with the spotlight and a pretty clear job description.
“Yeah, with limited overall reps throughout, even throughout a training camp, is, look, we're going to keep it fairly simple in terms of the formations, the motions, the coverages, the calls. I just want to see a clean operation. I mean, that, and then just go play," Coen said on Thursday about his expectations for the Jaguars' backups in the game on Saturday.
He also made it clear what he wants to learn from that group when things get messy.
"Like, let's see who is going to be the guy that's going to go make plays when it's not perfect, right? We're not getting a ton of reps that maybe this play and, well, can you, can they fix it?
Can they fix any problems on Saturday that maybe we haven't shown them? Who can do that operation?
And then who's going to win some one-on-one matchups? Whether it's one-on-one pass pro, whether it's I'm covering the guy one-on-one, or whether I got to defeat a one-on-one matchup at receiver.
Like, who's going to go do that?”
This is the fifth preseason meeting between the Jaguars and Saints, and it marks the second straight year Jacksonville has gone to New Orleans for preseason work. The teams tied 17-17 in 2025.
Week 2 brings another familiar opponent: the Carolina Panthers. The Jaguars faced Carolina in the regular season last year in Week 1, a game that helped launch the Coen era with a 1-0 start.
The Panthers are bringing back most of the pieces from that matchup, including head coach Dave Canales and quarterback Bryce Young. The Jaguars and Panthers last met in the preseason in 2017, although the two clubs used to square off every year in the preseason when they both entered the NFL in 1995.
Jacksonville will again use a joint practice ahead of that second preseason game, just as it did with New Orleans. Coen has been open about why he likes that setup.
"Because you're in a little bit more of a controlled setting that you can get the guys you want specific reps and not have to worry about as much that you're putting a guy in a full-contact situation in preseason games that don't count against our schedule record," Coen said this offseason when explaining why he favored joint practices.
The preseason also closes with plenty of intrigue, because the Jaguars’ matchup with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers brings Coen back into the orbit of the team whose base didn’t exactly love losing him to Jacksonville. Coen said in March that it only made sense for the Jaguars and Buccaneers to practice together, and the two sides last did that in 2024.
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Jaguars Are Getting Real AFC Buzz And Fans Will Have Opinions
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That stability is showing up in the national conversation, too. NFL.coms Nick Shook bumped the Jaguars up to No. 7 in his latest power rankings, pointing to the offenses progress and the continuity on the sideline as reasons for the rise despite the roster losses elsewhere. It is the kind of outside approval that usually brings fresh scrutiny along with it, and for a team that has built some of its identity around proving people wrong, the buzz may be arriving just as the real expectations start to change. [Read more 🡒]
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Club ticket holders will also see another layer of added value, with free packaged snacks that will vary from game to game. Jacksonville says the plan is built around a new food and drink model that leans into local offerings while keeping pricing in line with the market, a shift that suggests the Jaguars are trying to make EverBank a little easier on the wallet as well as more appealing on the plate. [Read more 🡒]
Jaguars Offense Gets An Early Test Against A Saints Strength
The Jaguars are set to open their 2026 preseason against a Saints team that still looks built around its defense, especially up front. Jacksonvilles first offense reps will come against a front seven that can roll out names like Chase Young, Carl Granderson and Cam Jordan, the kind of group that tends to make even exhibition work feel like a real test for a unit trying to find its rhythm early in camp.
For Jacksonville, it is also a chance to watch a handful of Saints roster battles unfold around the edges of the game. The receiver mix includes Bub Means and Brock Rechsteiner, while the kicking competition between Charlye Smith and Tanner Brown gives the matchup another layer of interest for anyone tracking how the back end of New Orleans' roster is taking shape. [Read more 🡒]