When Jacksonville Jaguars starting left tackle Cole Van-Lanen opened the 2026 training camp on the Active/Physically Unable to Perform list, the fan and media expectation seemed pretty straightforward: Walker Little would hold down the left tackle spot until Van Lanen returned. The offensive line depth chart would stay largely intact.
Just six practices later, that expectation looks considerably less certain.
Anton Harrison, the Jaguars’ 23rd overall pick in 2023 who has started 48 career games at
right tackle, has spent the last six days primarily on the left side and he has been dominant. Harrison was a initially left tackle in college at Oklahoma, before Jacksonville drafted him 23rd overall in 2023 and moved him to the right side. Three years later, the conversation about moving him back to his natural position seems no longer hypothetical; it is happening on the practice field every single day.
Coen-Approved
Anton won all four of his one-on-one pass rush reps on the first padded practice day, including two against Josh Hines-Allen, the franchise’s all-time sack leader, while head coach Liam Coen praised his consistency publicly after Day 5. But most importantly, Coen stopped well short of closing the door on the switch becoming permanent, telling reporters simply that the team was seeing what works and what does not and that a permanent move would not be unwelcome.
“I think he’s done a nice job. It’s part of what we’ve done, moving those guys around and seeing what sticks and if that ends up sticking, hopefully that’s a good thing for us.”
For a coaching staff that has pretty clearly made a habit of backing up their public words with actions, this doesn’t ring as the normal NFL coachspeak word-salad. The question is no longer whether Harrison can play left tackle. It’s whether or not it makes sense for the Jaguars to allow him to.
Contingency or Test Drive?
The Harrison experiment did not emerge from nowhere, however. This is not the first time the current Jacksonville regime has leaned into offensive line versatility as a competitive philosophy. In their first season implementing Coen’s offensive system in 2025, the Jaguars cross-trained the majority of their offensive linemen throughout the offseason, deliberately creating competition and flexibility across every position on the front five. The result of that wide-open competition was a starting unit that most observers ultimately expected, but the process of getting there seemed to be an intentional, not accidental process towards gaining a variety of experiences.
Also, one piece of context from that 2025 competition sharpens the current picture considerably. Cole Van Lanen likely entered that offseason as a general depth option for the team, with Walker Little as the expected starter at left tackle. In the true competition that ensued, he may have been a contender for the starting left tackle job before a shoulder injury temporarily removed him from the offseason program. Whether Van Lanen would have won that role outright then, had he remained healthy, is impossible to say with certainty, though a reasonable assumption with hindsight.
Using that example as a gauge, the team’s cross-training clearly history supports the move. If the Jaguars’ commitment to offensive line competition is a genuine organizational belief rather than simply a talking point, then Harrison’s current run at left tackle carries real weight beyond a temporary fill-in role.
Additional Considerations
Van Lanen ultimately earned the starting job in 2025, and with it, a week 17, three-year, $51 million extension that followed. Harrison, meanwhile, is under contract through 2027, following the team picking up his fifth year option in April. He’s currently eligible for an extension, which adds just another layer to this conversation of where to play, and pay him. Left or right? Van-Lanen’s $17-million annual average would place him as a top-10 right tackle salary, behind the Denver Broncos’ Mike McGlinchey ($17.5-million).
Could Lightening Strike Twice?
Notably, the catalyst that prompted Cole Van-Lanen’s 2025 move for the starting left tackle role was
- Uneven play early on by Walker Little, and
- A Walker Little concussion opening the door to Van-Lanen to man the role, for what initially seemed to be a temporary assignment.
The resemblance to last season is hard to miss. Harrison is now performing in a different starting role, created by Van Lanen’s absence, and he is doing so convincingly enough that the coaching staff would like to see more.
Whether this storyline ends the same way Van Lanen’s did a year ago remains to be seen. But the blueprint for exactly that outcome already exists inside this building:
- Injury to an expected starter
- Camp performer locks down a higher profile role
- Performer earns the contract to match new role
Competition breeds change. And change can often move quickly. As the practice days continue to stack up, Anton Harrison is very clearly making a legitimate case to remain at left tackle.
Jaguars fans, let us know your thoughts, and your predictions, on the Cole Van-Lanen/Anton Harrison competition in the comments below!
