With training camp in Duval officially on the horizon, the Jacksonville Jaguars enter the summer as one of the AFC’s most intriguing rosters, paired with postseason aspirations and multiple unsettled starting position groups. And while most of the offseason attention in Duval has been directed at the wide receiver room and the direction of the offense under Liam Coen, it’s the competition in the trenches and elsewhere that will likely determine the final playoff standings for the 2026 Jaguars.
Here
is a breakdown of the five most impactful position battles heading into 2026 Training Camp.
Running Back
Battle: Bhayshul Tuten vs. Chris Rodriguez Jr.
The departure of Travis Etienne to New Orleans created the most significant backfield void Jacksonville has faced in years, and the competition to fill it has been anything but straightforward. Bhayshul Tuten enters camp firmly entrenched as the projected starter after taking over every meaningful offensive snap during the offseason program, with Chris Rodriguez’s Minicamp absence due to injury. In 2025, Tuten rushed for 307 yards and five touchdowns as a rookie in a part-time role.
The concerns are real, though. A 3.7 yards-per-carry average as a rookie, albeit on less than 90 carries, while paired with multiple injuries isn’t an ideal welcome to the NFL. For a back being asked to carry a 17-game workload for the first time, availability and starting off hot early will be key in taking over the role.
Meanwhile, Chris Rodriguez’s path to a starting role was made more complicated before camp began, when he underwent left foot surgery this summer. Head coach Liam Coen publicly indicated Rodriguez is expected to be a full participant next week when camp opens. Still, his absence throughout OTAs and minicamp only widened the organizational gap between him and Tuten. When healthy, Rodriguez brings a completely different element to this backfield, however: a physically punishing running style. His 45.5 percent rushing success rate ranked among the top ten in the NFL in 2025, and a 4.0 yards-after-contact average spotlights his ability to create on contested runs. His near-total absence from the passing game, however, means Rodriguez’s real value to this offense is concentrated almost entirely in short-yardage situations and the goal line exactly the kind of role that could quietly steal the touchdowns this backfield, while also leaving open a clear path for Tuten to run through. The continued health of Rodriguez’s foot when the pads go on and his football conditioning will be the defining questions of this competition.
Right Guard
Battle: RG Patrick Mekari vs. Wyatt Milum and Emmanuel Pregnon
The right guard battle is shaping up to be one of the most entertaining on the entire roster, if for no other reason than the gap between what this position has delivered and what the Jaguars believe it can become. Patrick Mekari arrived in 2025 on a three-year, $37.5 million contract and never found his footing in Jacksonville, following multiple injuries throughout the offseason and season. Following three games missed due to injury, Mekari ranked 63rd out of 83 eligible guards in run-blocking efficiency for the season. As the incumbent, he enters camp as the projected starter, but his hold on that job is more tenuous than it was a year ago.
Wyatt Milum spent much of his rookie season on the sidelines after a knee injury disrupted his development in training camp. The former West Virginia standout settled into guard after playing left tackle in college, with 101 offensive snaps in 2025 at left guard, right guard, and left tackle.
Oregon bulldozer, Emmanuel Pregnon arrives as the freshest face in this competition, a first-team All-American out of Oregon who many scouts believed was worthy of a second-round selection before sliding to 88th overall. His combination of size, strength, and finishing ability makes him an ideal fit for the more physical, man-run concepts Coen may want to expand to in 2026. Neither Milum nor Pregnon was drafted with the expectation of serving as a backup and Mekari will need to prove, in camp, that the starting job is still his to keep. Per offensive coordinator Grant Udinski, in OTAs, Pregnon started his development and learning solely on the left, based on his past experience at left guard. However, he noted that the team would look for opportunities to cross-train linemen in multiple spots, as they did in 2025.
Rotational Edge
Battle: Danny Striggow vs Wesley Williams, Zach Durfee, and B.J. Green II
Behind defensive ends Josh Hines-Allen and Travon Walker, the depth of the Edge room is one of the most important position competitions in all of Jacksonville’s training camp. The departures of Dawuane Smoot and Emmanuel Ogbah this offseason opened up a significant number of rotational snaps, creating a genuine opportunity for a younger player to step into a meaningful role. The number of possible candidates are plentiful, enough that nothing is guaranteed for anyone.
Danny Striggow and B.J. Green II arrive as the closest things to veterans in this competition, having both earned their way onto the roster as undrafted free agents in 2025 and made enough of an impact in the second half of the season to generate confidence in their floor. Striggow, arguably, enters camp with the inside track to the third defensive end spot, based on 2025 production. Wesley Williams (Round 4, Duke) and Zach Durfee (Round 7, Washington) both arrive as this year’s drafted additions to the room. Williams has the athleticism and versatility to make an early push, with significant experience getting to the quarterback using stunts.
Meanwhile, Durfee, tabbed as ESPN’s 2026 Prospect X, brings a legitimate pass-rush profile that produced 6.5 sacks, 35 pressures, and an 11th-ranked pass-rush win rate among all defensive ends in his final college season at Washington. Both rookies face a steep uphill climb with experienced competition already on the roster. Yet, still, Jacksonville is a franchise that has recently proven that it will reward production regardless of how a player arrived. That opens the door.
Safety
Battle: Caleb Ransaw vs Jalen Huskey
Antonio Johnson and Eric Murray are widely expected to enter the season as the starting safety tandem, and the competition at this position is primarily focused on who fills the third safety role, a spot that carries genuine value given Anthony Campanile’s well-documented preference for three-safety defensive packages. With the explosion of 13 personnel across the NFL, an accompanying increase in three-safety, ‘Big Nickel’ defenses will naturally follow for many franchises.
The second-year Ransaw, out of Tulane, lost his entire rookie season to a foot injury before even playing a single regular-season snap, but he has, notably, turned heads in OTAs and minicamp with the kind of athleticism and instincts that prompted the Jaguars to spend a third-round pick on him a year ago. Jalen Huskey arrives as the 2026 third-round investment at the position, and seemingly the same role. Huskey, a 6-foot-1, 196-pound ballhawk from Maryland will require a training camp performance that turns heads from the first padded practice to snatch the third safety role. With both players, in many ways, being first-year players on the field, this competition could come down to early knowledge of the playbook. That edge should, theoretically, go to Ransaw, who had a season of learning the defensive playbook while injured.
Kick Return
Battle: Josh Cameron, CJ Williams, J’Mari Taylor, LeQuint Allen, and Others
The kick return competition may be the least discussed and most genuinely open battle on the entire roster. In 2025, Bhayshul Tuten and LeQuint Allen combined to handle the bulk of the kick return duties. With Tuten stepping into an expanded offensive role in 2026, the organization faces a real question about who absorbs the return responsibilities and, crucially, who can do so at a high enough level to maintain the field position advantage that was a meaningful part of Jacksonville’s 13-4 season.
Josh Cameron, the sixth-round selection out of Baylor, returned from a calf injury in time for mandatory minicamp and wasted no time making an impression in his offensive debut. Offensive coordinator Grant Udinski praised both Cameron and fellow sixth-round receiver CJ Williams publicly following minicamp. With Jacksonville having one of the deepest receiver rooms in football, special teams may provide the easiest route to cracking the 53-man roster for both.
Undrafted rookie J’Mari Taylor adds another dimension to this conversation. The NFL’s new dynamic kickoff style has resulted in more running backs and bulkier wide receiver-types being tagged for the new kick return duties. With many players on the roster having college experience returning kicks and the current NFL returns being more in the style of a run play, this could be the area where either of these three rookies makes a compelling case to join LeQuint Allen back deep or even push him for the role.
Which camp battle do you see having the largest impact on this 2026 Jacksonville Jaguars season? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
