JACKSONVILLE — The Jaguars posted a 13-4 regular-season record, won the AFC South title and fielded the NFL’s best run defense last season, but a near-unanimous verdict from the team’s media analysts heading into 2026 training camp is blunt: the pass rush must improve or the defense will hit the same ceiling that ended their January playoff run against Buffalo.
Jaguars senior writer John Oehser framed the challenge around the interior defensive line, noting that defensive tackle Arik Armstead dealt with a hand injury for the last five weeks of the regular season. “This is a good defense. Ratcheting up the interior defensive pressure could make it great,” Oehser wrote. The Jaguars’ opponents got rid of the ball at the second-fastest rate in football last season, senior correspondent Brian Sexton noted, leading to a disappointing sacks total of 32.
Former Jaguars defensive end and media analyst Austen Lane pointed to the AFC Wild Card Playoff loss in Jacksonville as the defining question. “Can this defense get to the quarterback?” Lane asked, adding that “with another year in coordinator Anthony Campanile’s defense, more wrinkles being added, and the possibility of incorporating more speed packages in nickel and dime situations, I think the Jaguars could make getting after the quarterback a defining part of their identity.”
Defensive ends Josh Hines-Allen and Travon Walker are central to the answer. Action Sports Jax Sports Director Brent Martineau said the Jaguars showed their belief in Walker by signing him to an extension this offseason. Walker’s career best is 10.5 sacks, and Martineau predicted he will have his most productive season yet, saying that if so, “he and Hines-Allen have the chance to be the highest sack duo in the NFL.” Former longtime NFL assistant coach and Jaguars media analyst Mark Duffner said Walker has at times played as an interior rusher, leaving the Jaguars in need of effective edge pressure, and added that the team “still may need a veteran free-agent presence.”
Sexton said the secondary could be the multiplier, with new defensive pass game coordinator Mathieu Araujo bringing a coverage philosophy described as a better fit for Campanile’s scheme. The return of cornerbacks Travis Hunter and Jourdan Lewis from injuries, plus safety Caleb Ransaw — who missed all of last season with a foot injury — gives the unit a chance to take what Sexton called “a big step forward. If they do that, it could be the difference between 32 sacks and something approaching 50 — the latter of which is the mark of a top-tier pass-rushing unit.”
The other major defensive storyline is the departure of linebacker Devin Lloyd, who signed with the Carolina Panthers as an unrestricted free agent. Jaguars Media correspondent John Shipley identified Ventrell Miller and Branson Combs as the two candidates to take Lloyd’s spot next to Foyesade Oluokun. Radio Voice of the Jaguars Frank Frangie echoed the interior pass-rush concern, while jaguars.com reporter J.P. Shadrick said maintaining the No. 1 run defense remains the priority for Campanile and that Lloyd’s production can be “spread out around the defense.”
Padded practices during training camp will provide the first real answers on whether the defensive front can close the gap before the regular season.