2026 Team Previews: Jacksonville Jaguars
Jacksonville Jaguars 2026 Preview
All ADP data is courtesy of Fantasy Pros.
** = target in drafts at this ADP
Drafted Everywhere
**Bhayshul Tuten, RB (ADP: 60, RB25): Tuten is getting treated with a lot of respect based on his current ADP, and deservedly so. While his final numbers last season – 386 total yards, seven touchdowns – don’t jump off the page at you, it’s worth remembering that he was second banana to Travis Etienne. Tuten, as a fourth-round rookie, put up big numbers in college, impressed enough in training camp to facilitate a trade of Tank Bigsby early in the season, and eventually carved out a real role on one of the best offenses in football by season’s end. He was impactful in the running and receiving game, and even proved more effective in short yardage than Etienne. Tuten received eight carries inside the opponent’s 10-yard line and scored five touchdowns, while Etienne scored only four times on triple the attempts. Tuten’s efficiency when it comes to finding the end zone is likely why the Jaguars felt comfortable letting Etienne move on this offseason, and letting him expand his role.
Now, with an offense as loaded as this one, you’d expect the lead back to be even higher-ranked than this. Tuten may have impressed in a small sample in 2025, but he’s unproven as a bell cow, and there’s no guarantee the Jaguars won’t continue to use him in a committee. Jacksonville did bring in veteran RB Chris Rodriguez who, like Tuten, has thrived in smaller doses of work. It’ll be interesting to see this RB situation play out, but the early returns on Tuten have been nothing but gold.
**Brian Thomas Jr., WR (ADP: 67, WR30): Thomas is a player I wrote about in depth very recently here, but let’s go over it again. His 2025 was an unmitigated disaster based on where managers had to draft him, and his ADP has justifiably tumbled. Still, I’m a strong believer in Thomas’ talent, and I think that shaking off the nightmare of last season can reap rewards now. I noted in that article that Thomas’ 1,200 yards as a rookie was rare and wrote “this is the complete list of WRs who put up 1,200+ yards as rookies: Randy Moss, Ja’Marr Chase, Bill Groman, Odell Beckham Jr., Billy Howton, Thomas, Puka Nacua, Justin Jefferson, Anquan Boldin and Malik Nabers.”
That’s a pretty impressive list, and we’re talking about an offense with a superstar QB who seemed to fully grasp new coach Liam Coen’s system by season’s end and turned the offense into a juggernaut. This season, Thomas is presumably much healthier, and with a fuller receiving corps for an entire season, he might be used in a way that is better suited to his strengths. We saw him struggle with slant routes even in that fantastic rookie campaign, and that continued, but extended to digs as well while his zone success cratered. These are big issues that could stand in the way of a return to true WR1 form, but remember three things. First, he’s only entering Year 3 of his career, and we’ve got to keep in mind the potential for him to develop significantly as a player. Second, he battled injuries that likely played a big role in the mental aspect of his game falling off. We saw drops that were unusual for Thomas, and an aversion to going over the middle that became very pronounced. Lastly, even if he does not wind up returning to his peak form as a WR1, he’s being drafted as a middling WR3. If he finishes in the Top 24, that returns big value on his current ADP, and we know his ceiling is Top 12 because he’s done it already. Unlike 2025, Thomas’ ADP this year is very unlikely to sink your battleship, and his best-case scenario is league winning. That’s exactly the kind of chance I advise managers to take.
Parker Washington, WR (ADP: 78, WR33): Last season when I wrote the Jaguars preview, I noted Washington was a nice player who tended to perform when given opportunity, but seemed boxed in by the talent ahead of him. Washington did get a chance to shine in 2025 and he took advantage. Now he’s ranked just three positional spots behind Thomas, and he’s become a fantasy darling. While I’m a fan of Washington’s work, I do think that the fantasy world might be getting a little bit too ahead of itself on Washington and setting itself up for a letdown.
As impressive as he was, he finished 2025 with 58 receptions, 847 yards and five touchdowns. These are good, but unremarkable numbers. Washington eclipsed 85 yards four times last year, and in each of those games he was targeted nine or more times. Obviously, more targets offers more opportunity to produce, but Washington relied on that volume for his production. Efficiency was not his calling card, and while Jacksonville’s offense projects to be high-octane and full of volume, there’s a lot of players who will demand target share. Washington can easily be a player who is far better in a real-life sense than for fantasy teams. I am treating Washington more like roster glue, a player who can provide stability if risks were taken in the early parts of the Draft. This ADP treats him like a little bit more than that, and so I’m not likely to bite unless it falls which I don’t foresee happening.
Trevor Lawrence, QB (ADP: 85, QB10): I was very bullish on Lawrence ahead of the 2025 season, and I looked like a fool for awhile until I really didn’t. Lawrence ended up being a major fantasy factor, becoming one of six QBs to throw for 4,000 yards, tossing the fifth-most TD passes in the NFL (29) and tying Jaxson Dart for the second-most rushing TDs (9) from the QB position. The Jaguars have invested heavily in Lawrence’s arsenal, juicing up his pass-catching options and diversifying his RB room too. The decision to hire Liam Coen also proved sage; by season’s end Lawrence was tearing it up, throwing for 250+ yards in five of his final seven games, with 2+ TD passes in six of those games.
Now, entering 2026, we’re looking at a young QB with No. 1 overall pick pedigree, who was billed as a generational talent, who clearly gained comfort with a new system by season’s end and who will have a full season with Jakobi Meyers, health for Brian Thomas and another year of learning for Travis Hunter. Lawrence isn’t quite the bargain he was a year ago, but he’s still at a very affordable price considering his massive upside.
Interesting Players
Jakobi Meyers, WR (ADP: 113, WR48): Meyers spent the early part of 2025 operating as the Raiders’ WR1, a job which he was ill-suited for. He was traded in-season to the Jaguars, and upon his arrival Jacksonville’s pieces seemed to snap into place for their stretch run of dominance. Meyers’ numbers weren’t dramatically better with the Jags, but he did see an uptick in his yards per reception, yards per game, and he scored three touchdowns vs. zero in Las Vegas. Meyers should operate as the flanker for the Jaguars most of the time, so we can expect a very fantasy-relevant season, but even in this high-powered outfit I don’t expect him to crack the WR2 or even WR3 ranks. Meyers’ career has been a string of 800-900 yard seasons with around 3-6 touchdowns. He has outlier seasons of 1,027 yards (2024) and eight touchdowns (2023). Those marks are in reach here with the Jaguars, but don’t expect them.
Chris Rodriguez Jr., RB (ADP: 136, RB44): Rodriguez looms as a real threat to Tuten’s ascension as a big-time fantasy back, and this ADP isn’t treating him like that level of threat. Rodriguez doesn’t have any of Tuten’s blazing speed or highlight-reel sizzle, but in three NFL seasons all Rodriguez has done is chew up yardage whenever given the opportunity. In three seasons with the Commanders Rodriguez never averaged fewer than 4.5 yards per carry, he graded out as PFF’s No. 27 RB, grading well ahead of Tuten, and worked his way past Jacory Croskey-Merritt on the depth chart in Washington last year en route to 500 yards and six touchdowns.
There are limitations. He doesn’t have breakaway speed, and he’s maxed out at four targets in a season. The lack of involvement on passing downs is a killer for his overall value, especially if he doesn’t dominate early-down touches. But, it’s possible Rodriguez does force that much of a split, and he could potentially earn goal line work as well. It’s going to be something to watch out for, and managers who believe in Tuten and want to spend earlier capital on him should make it their beeswax to draft Rodriguez as well just in case.
**Brenton Strange, TE (ADP: 140, TE18): Strange is a player almost everyone seems to like, but this ADP tells us that the community is unsure of his potential to be great. If you subscribe to the concept that there can be “too many mouths to feed,” then it makes sense to be out on him given the level of talent on this roster. I don’t really believe in that theory when the offense has a high-end QB running it and respected coaches designing it, both of which are in place with the Jags. Strange amassed 46 receptions, 540 yards and three touchdowns in 12 games in 2025, and he had four or more receptions in 10 of those 12 games. Strange didn’t really provide monster games like Brock Bowers or Trey McBride, nor did he have any outings where he was hypertargeted by Lawrence. Instead, he was just seeing a steady stream of games in which he saw four to seven targets or so, and hauled in over 75% of those looks. Strange might not be an upper tier elite fantasy TE, but he seems like a great bet to beat this ADP.
Deep Cuts
**Travis Hunter, WR (ADP: 162, WR63): Saying Hunter has the most upside of any player on this roster would be irresponsible, so I won’t say that. But I will say that Hunter does have the largest potential leap from his current ADP to his ceiling. The No. 2 overall pick in last year’s draft was extremely disappointing for the season from a fantasy perspective, finishing with only 28 receptions, 298 yards and a single touchdown. Excitement for him has disappeared because of the narrative that he’s going to be focusing on playing cornerback this year and, quite frankly, the Jags’ depth chart at WR supports that narrative. However, this ADP is at a point where we’re all just guessing and throwing darts. Sometimes we may cast our line and try to reel in someone who just has a defined role late in drafts, or we can try to strike gold on big time talent. Hunter is absolutely the latter, and an injury or two in the receiving corps that leads to extended playing time on offense could leave us with a high-impact player.
On Reception Perception, Hunter as a rookie looked like the second coming of Odell Beckham Jr. That was lofty, but even in the very limited action he saw as a rookie Hunter was a demon vs. man coverage (75% success, 81st percentile) and press (76.9%, 82nd percentile). He has room for growth against zone, but he wasn’t bad at all checking in with a 78.4% win rate. Hunter showed prowess on digs and posts, proving he could sting opponents at the intermediate and deep parts of the field, and he was a monster on slants, flats and screens. Mind you, all this goodness came largely out of the slot in 2025, when he was an exclusive outside receiver in college. This is a player who was not only raw as a receiver prospect, but was learning a completely different role than the stripped down one he played in college.
Ultimately, playing time might sink his fantasy value in 2026, but there’s no risk at this ADP, and the upside is significantly higher than almost everyone else in this range at any position.