Who's QB3 for Jaguars? Joey Aguilar, Carter Bradley now wait for cutdown day

Trevor Lawrencewill start his sixth NFL season at quarterback for the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sept. 13 at home against the Cleveland Browns, his 78th consecutive start when not injured.

Nick Mullens will be the primary backup for the second season in a row.

Who's QB3?

Based on the stats in three preseason games, rookie Joey Aguilar has put some distance between himself and 2025 holdover Carter Bradley to be the third quarterback, who likely will be destined for the practice squad after cutdown day on Aug. 30.

Aguilar had another near-perfect outing on Aug. 28 in a 19-0 victory over the Tampa Bay Bucs at EverBank Stadium, completing 7 of 9 passes for 57 yards, a week after he went 9 for 10 for 130 yards and a touchdown in a 34-17 loss to the Carolina

Panthers.

Bradley struggled early against the Bucs but can count in his favor that he was behind center for the Jaguars' only offensive points, a 61-yard field goal by Cam Little in the second quarter and a 1-yard TD pass to DeeJay Dallas in the third period, followed by Carter's run for the two-point conversion.

Bradley also led the Jaguars to a comeback victory against the New Orleans Saints on Aug. 15, after the Jags faced a 20-6 halftime deficit. Behind a strong game by rookie running back J'Mari Taylor, theJags won 24-20.

Joey Aguilar won the numbers game

In terms of production in the preseason games, Aguilar won the stats game. He was 17 of 20 (85 percent) for 230 yards and a 131.25 passer rating. Bradley was 24 of 45 (53.3 percent) for 233 yards with two TD passes but also two interceptions, for a passer rating of 64.40.

Mullens, as an aside, rallied from an awful day vs. the Saints and in his last two games, completed 11 of 14 passes for 127 yards.

Bradley and Aguilar will now have to wait for a final decision, with one moving on to another NFL team.

"There's a lot of things that I need to improve on," Bradley said. "I try to put my best foot forward, try to lead as much as I could. I put everything under God's will, and I kind of surrendered everything to Him. So wherever He wants me to be, if it's here, if it's somewhere else, if it's time away, it doesn't matter. I'm ready to kind of see what He has for me."

Aguilar was also honest in his self-assessment.

"I thought I did okay... definitely a lot of stuff I wish I could do better," he said. "I could be cleaner all around, operation, getting through my reads. But I'm excited for the future and can't wait to see where this journey leads. And I'm just blessed to be here. Attacking every day like my last."

Bradley's edge if familiarity with Liam Coen's offense

If Bradley, the son of former Jaguars coach Gus Bradley, has an edge, it's that he's been working in Liam Coen's offense since signing on Sept. 29, 2025, and spending the entire season on the practice squad. He has the stronger arm and also has had a front-row seat to how Coen, Lawrence and Mullens have worked together for the last 11 months.

"There's a lot that goes into this offense," he said. "It's a lot of prep work during the week, getting the guys ready. Especially seeing how Trevor and Nick talked to the guys last year. I feel like I've learned a ton that way. But it's been cool this offseason to get your hands on the offense."

Coen said both players had their moments in the final preseason test.

"Both of them were efficient," Coen said. "I think there were a few things both of them would like to have back. I thought Carter did a nice job leading the touchdown drive. I thought Joey came in and, you know, obviously was a little bit later and not being asked to truly push the ball down the field too much/"

Coen said Aguilar might have an intangible that's hard to measure by stats.

"He has a presence about him," he said of the former Tennessee star. "The offense kind of rolls with him in there at times and he's crafty with some of the zone read stuff where we're able to kind of spit the ball in the perimeter and be able to get the ball in space."

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Who's QB3 for Jaguars? Joey Aguilar, Carter Bradley now wait for cutdown day