The Jacksonville Jaguars have announced their team captains for the 2026 season, with two veterans being named captains for the first time. In the first team meeting before the Jaguars take on the Cleveland Browns in Week 1, eight players were chosen by their teammates for the honor.
Six players — Trevor Lawrence, Robert Hainsey, Foyesade Oluokun, Josh Hines-Allen, Jourdan Lewis, and Logan Cooke — are returning captains from last year. Two players, however, have been named captains for the first time. In media remarks this morning, head coach Liam Coen said there were multiple people who were in the running.
"We had a ton of guys on this team get votes and get a decent amount of votes," Coen said. "Wasn't just like the one or two that you get because
you're friends with somebody; there was a lot of quality human beings and people that were in the mix to become captains."
Our 2026 captains 🫡#DUUUVAL pic.twitter.com/GvUMnUS7XV
— Jacksonville Jaguars (@Jaguars) September 7, 2026
Long snapper Ross Matiscik has spent his entire career in the NFL in Jacksonville and has been widely credited as one of the best long snappers in the league. In addition to being named to the Pro Bowl three times, Matiscik has been selected twice as a member of the All-Pro First Team, and once to the Second Team. While his resume is undeniable, Coen said it was his growth as a leader in the locker room that set him apart this year.
"I think he is really ascending as a leader on this team," Coen said. "I think he's really — I mean, look, three-time Pro Bowler, that speaks for itself, but I think his maturity, presence, accountability in there as well, I think will really help Logan and Cam and those guys as they lead that special teams unit."
Jakobi Meyers made an immediate impact on the Jaguars offense after joining the team more than halfway through the season, and though he wasn't an official captain, he still showed leadership right away.
“He may as well have been [a captain] in terms of his impact and influence on our team,” Coen said.
Lawrence and Hines-Allen, with six captain nods, have now become the first players in franchise history to earn the honor six times, and Coen said the returning captains still set themselves apart, though the roster is strong as a whole.
"Those guys have continued to ascend in the leadership category, but we had a lot of guys that we could have named captains," he said. "So it's a good group."
This article originally appeared on Jaguars Wire: Liam Coen praises the impact of Jaguars’ newest captains
