The first snap against the Carolina Panthers should settle the biggest preseason question hanging over the Jaguars on Friday night: will Liam Coen actually roll out Trevor Lawrence and the rest of his starters?
The answer should be no, and it should be no for a pretty simple reason. Jacksonville doesn’t gain much by sending its key players onto the field in a game that doesn’t count, especially with Week 1 still 23 days away and a full stretch of work still ahead before the opener against the Cleveland Browns.
There are a few possible exceptions. Rookie guard Emmanuel Pregnon and linebackers Ventrell Miller and Branson Combs were mentioned as the kind of players who could still get a look. But for the most part, the Jaguars’ main pieces should do exactly what they did last week against the New Orleans Saints: stay on the sideline and watch.
Coen did leave the door open earlier in the week. On Monday, after the Jaguars finished practice with padless periods, he said the team was “trending towards us potentially playing Friday night a little bit with the ones. Yeah, so that's the goal right now, is to look at potentially playing him a little Friday night," Coen said on Monday afterthe Jaguars ended practice with padless periods over the final portion of the day.
He explained the thought process that day by pointing to the limited number of padded practices left before the game week and the need for more work after the Saints joint practices and preseason game.
"You just look at the amount of padded days that we actually have left until the game week and it's very few and far between. So, you set a schedule, you set it, and you're like, well, timing and circumstances, things change and when you have to pivot a little bit.
I think we need a little bit more work in terms of coming off of the Saints joint and the Saints game, I think we just need a little bit more padded work against each other, good on good. Can't really do it today.”
Then came two more practice days: Tuesday without full pads, then Wednesday’s physical joint session with Carolina. That Wednesday workout appears to have shifted the temperature. The Jaguars’ offense looked sharp, and Coen’s post-practice tone changed with it.
“I'm not sure. I got to see how we came out of today.
I don't want to say either way yet. I really got to go look at this tape, see how we kind of come out of it.
I'll make probably a decision over the next 24 hours," Coen said after Wednesday's joint practice.
“Yeah, I don't want to necessarily go out there with not your full group, right? The whole point of it is to try to get more continued continuity and chemistry and some game experience. So, I'm just not quite sure yet.”
That hesitation makes sense, but the smarter play is to hold the starters back. Jacksonville still has four practices from Sunday through Wednesday next week, and two of them will come in joint work against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. That gives Coen plenty of chances to get the group where he wants it without exposing Lawrence and company to unnecessary preseason snaps.
If Coen still wants more after that, the Jaguars could always consider giving the starters a series or so in the preseason finale against Tampa Bay, when the roster should be healthier. Parker Washington was mentioned as one of the players who could be in that mix. But that’s a next-week decision, not a Friday-night one.
Right now, there’s no real upside in pushing the starters against the Panthers. Coen had reasons to think about it earlier in the week because injuries have already complicated camp. But after everything Jacksonville has ahead of it, the cleanest decision is also the obvious one: let the starters rest.
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Washingtons return matters for more than just depth. He has become part of the conversation around how Jacksonville wants to shape Trevor Lawrences supporting cast, and getting him back on the field gives the offense another chance to sort through roles and rhythm before the real evaluation begins. The bigger question is how quickly Washington can pick back up once he returns, because the Jaguars have plenty riding on the pieces around Lawrence settling in the right way. [Read more 🡒]