{"id":378850,"date":"2026-08-23T04:58:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-23T04:58:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/378850\/"},"modified":"2026-08-23T04:58:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-23T04:58:14","slug":"quick-thoughts-before-buccaneers-vs-jaguars-in-2026-nfl-preseason-week-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/378850\/","title":{"rendered":"Quick Thoughts Before Buccaneers vs. Jaguars in 2026 NFL Preseason Week 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE \u2013 Senior writer John Oehser, senior correspondent Brian Sexton, team reporter Kainani Stevens and correspondent John Shipley offer quick thoughts as the Jaguars move forward to Preseason Week 3 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at EverBank Stadium<\/a> Friday<\/p>\n

On to Tampa.\u00a0A 34-17 loss to the Carolina Panthers at EverBank Stadium in Preseason Week 2<\/a> Friday wasn’t pretty, but the Jaguars should be encouraged by at least one area: Wide receiver, where a trio of rookies \u2013 Josh Cameron<\/a>, CJ Williams<\/a> and Trebor Pe\u00f1a<\/a> \u2013 continue to impress. Cameron and Williams have impressed since joining the team as sixth-round selections in the 2026 NFL Draft. They combined for six receptions for 63 yards Friday, with Head Coach Liam Coen<\/a> saying after the game, “Those guys are earning trust for sure and they’re going to continue to earn more.” The same is true of Pe\u00f1a, who signed with the Jaguars as a collegiate free agent following the 2026 NFL Draft \u2013 and who caught four passes for 72 yards and a 29-yard touchdown Saturday. The thought here is Cameron and Williams will be on the regular-season roster if healthy, and that Pe\u00f1a is capable of being a practice-squad player the team can trust to contribute. That’s a lot of potential production from the late rounds and undrafted free agency, and that’s a positive sign for a steadily improving roster.Getting closer.\u00a0The Jaguars’ offensive line has reshaped during 2026 Training Camp \u2013 and as Friday’s preseason finale approaches, we could have a feel for how that group will look. The Jaguars on Thursday activated tackle Cole Van Lanen<\/a> from the Physically Unable to Perform list, with Coen on Friday saying that Van Lanen \u2013 who finished last season starting at left tackle \u2013 will work on the right side as he returns to the lineup. That means Anton Harrison<\/a> will remain on the left side, where he has worked during ’26 camp after starting his first three NFL seasons at right tackle. This came the same week in which rookie third-round selection Emmanuel Pregnon<\/a> began working consistently at first-team left guard. Ezra Cleveland, last season’s starting left guard, has worked at right guard. That means the starting unit early in the season if healthy may be Harrison (left tackle), Pregnon (left guard), Robert Hainsey (center), Cleveland (right guard) and Van Lanen (right tackle). That’s a lot of change from the end of last season, when the line was Van Lanen (left tackle), Cleveland (left guard), Hainsey (center), Patrick Mekari (right guard) and Harrison (right tackle). A mark of the Jaguars under Coen is being willing to work different players at various positions to find the best personnel groupings. That has happened again in a major way on the offensive line.Earning attention.\u00a0When the Jaguars signed Ameer Abdullah<\/a> in the spring, I didn’t think anything of it. He’s 33, in his 12th NFL training camp \u2013 and he’s on a team that drafted Bhayshul Tuten<\/a> and LeQuint Allen Jr.<\/a> in 2025, signed Chris Rodriguez Jr.<\/a> in 2026 free agency and added J’Mari Taylor<\/a> as a collegiate free agent after the 2026 NFL Draft. Coen surprised me in New Orleans when he said Abdullah will be a hard guy to release, and Abdullah showed what Coen meant Friday night. He ran with quickness, vision and a touch of power in amassing 45 yards on the ground and he caught three passes for 47 yards. He was impressive. “He showed up tonight and it’s what we’ve seen in practice,” Coen said. “You talk about a pro’s pro, a guy who does everything right. He’s one of the first guys in the building, along with [wide receiver] Parker [Washington]. He takes care of himself, treats himself right in terms of his body, and getting his mind right for practice every day. He was able to show up tonight and look a little better than everyone else.” It will be interesting to see if Allen’s soft-tissue injury will mean Abdullah making the 53-player roster \u2013 or if the Jaguars can get him through waivers onto their practice squad. Most “good stories” of a camp focus on young players making the roster; this one defies convention.Practice matters. Friday’s loss to the Panthers featured too many penalties, turnovers and mistakes to feel good about what we saw. Which is why Wednesday’s joint practice with the Panthers was so important. “I definitely liked what I saw from the joint practice, for sure,” Coen said. “I was pleased with the physicality, the effort, the energy and a lot of the execution. There is a ton to continue to clean up here, obviously. [The joint practice] was a step in the right direction as you look at \u2013 not necessarily milestones in Training Camp<\/a>, but \u2013 good moments [we] can draw on and say, ‘Hey, that’s our brand of football on display against another quality opponent.”’ Preseason games have never been especially pleasing to watch \u2013 even more so now that starters often don’t play. The Jaguars hope to have another strong showing on Tuesday and Wednesday against the Buccaneers in Jacksonville.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE \u2013 Senior writer John Oehser, senior correspondent Brian Sexton, team reporter Kainani Stevens and correspondent John Shipley…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":378851,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[881,116,118,117,885,880,884,883,3215,887],"class_list":["post-378850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-front-page-headline","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-john-oehser","tag-news-front-page-headline","tag-news-gameday","tag-news-jaguars-news","tag-news-quick-thoughts","tag-sponsor-nemours"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=378850"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378850\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/378851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=378850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=378850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=378850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}