{"id":398475,"date":"2026-09-13T07:28:59","date_gmt":"2026-09-13T07:28:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/398475\/"},"modified":"2026-09-13T07:28:59","modified_gmt":"2026-09-13T07:28:59","slug":"4-jacksonville-jaguars-breakouts-the-nfl-isnt-ready-for-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/398475\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Jacksonville Jaguars breakouts the NFL isn’t ready for in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Jacksonville Jaguars opted not to make many big additions in the offseason<\/a> because they expect their returning players to build off their impressive 2025. Many of them already had a massive impact last year, but a few others are ready to take the next step.<\/p>\n

These players have already flashed potential, and they will be in a position to put it all together next season. With this in mind, here are five breakout candidates that the NFL isn’t ready for. <\/p>\n

4 Jaguars players poised for a breakout season in 2026Bhayshul Tuten, running back<\/p>\n

The Jags felt confident about letting Travis Etienne walk in free agency partly because they had Bhayshul Tuten in the fold. Sure, Tuten’s average of 3.7 yards per carry in 2025 isn’t particularly impressive, but he got lots of work in short-yardage situations. Understandably, that kind of role was going to bring down his total numbers. <\/p>\n

Anyway, Chris Rodriguez will also get his fair share of carries next season, but Tuten will be the lead back, and he’ll prove why. His home-run speed will allow him to break off big runs on a weekly basis<\/a>. Heck, don’t be surprised if the former Virginia Hokie reaches the 1,000-yard mark in his sophomore campaign. <\/p>\n

Travon Walker, defensive end<\/p>\n

Even though Aidan Hutchinson was the better player of the two, Travon Walker is quietly getting the recognition he deserves<\/a>. Last year, Walker missed time with knee and hand injuries, and the defense as a whole suffered a drop-off. The former Georgia Bulldog is once again healthy and ready to pick up where he left off before he was hampered by injuries.<\/p>\n

The two seasons before 2024, Walker posted 10 sacks in consecutive years. He’ll show in 2026 just how much he’s improved with a 15-sack campaign. <\/p>\n

You may also like: Ranking the Jags against the rest of the AFC South<\/a><\/p>\n

B.J. Green II, defensive end<\/p>\n

Travon Walker isn’t the only Jaguars defensive end who’ll experience a surge in 2026. B.J. Green II showed enough improvement in the offseason program that he’s slated to become the No. 3 pass rusher<\/a> behind Walker and Josh Hines-Allen.<\/p>\n

The former Colorado Buffalo had two sacks as a rookie, you can count on him having triple that amount in 2026. <\/p>\n

Travis Hunter, cornerback (and wide receiver)<\/p>\n

When the Jaguars drafted Travis Hunter, they did it because they believed they were getting a game-altering talent that could have an impact on both sides of the ball. After a slow start to his rookie campaign, he began to flash that two-way capability when a knee injury brought his season to a screeching halt<\/a>. <\/p>\n

After spending the offseason recovering, Hunter returned to the team in training camp. He showed no signs of injury and quickly picked up where he left off. That said, Jacksonville plans to use him mostly at cornerback. He’ll still get playing time on offense, but not nearly as much as last year. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, though. <\/p>\n

With the opportunity to focus on playing corner, Hunter will be able to reach his All-Pro potential on defense<\/a> and quiet all his critics along the way. <\/p>\n

\"\"Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Jacksonville Jaguars opted not to make many big additions in the offseason because they expect their returning…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":398476,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117],"class_list":["post-398475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398475","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=398475"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398475\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/398476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=398475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=398475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=398475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}