Jaguars showcase new offense in Week 1 of the 2026 season

Somehow, despite not possessing a first-round draft selection, the Jaguars were the talk of the 2026 NFL Draft. Jacksonville selected Texas A&M’s Nate Boerkircher, and what followed was a generational run at the tight end position. Following Boerkircher at pick 56, six more tight ends were taken inside the Top-100.

One week into the 2026 season, that Boerkircher selection seems to have changed the very nature of the Jaguars’ offense. Opponent specific gameplan’s change from week to week, but the Week 1 tendencies provide a general idea of this new offense.

Let’s take a peek at what’s changed in Liam Coen’s system.

With Boerkircher, the hypothesis was the Jaguars would run more 12 and 13 personnel. And boy did they ever against Cleveland.

According to SumerSports, the Jaguars ran 60.4% of their Week 1 plays out of multi-TE sets, second-most of any team in Week 1. That figure is over double the 24.9% from a season ago. The Jags’ use of 13 personnel in particular jumped from 2.9% in 2025 to 17.9% against the Browns.

With more multi-TE sets, the Jags (and the NFL on the whole) ran far more plays under center in Week 1. Last year, the Jags ran 38.3% of plays from under center. Their under-center rate in Week 1? A whopping 60.4%, fourth-highest in the NFL.

Of the 32 plays under center, 23 were of the rushing variety. The run-game struggled mightily towards the end of the 2025 season, and the Jags are hopeful the combination of multiple tight end sets and plays from under center will help the run-game.

A strong run-game from under-center breeds play action. The Jags ran more play-action (48%) in Week 1 than any other team. For comparison, that number is up from 25% a year ago.

Again, this is just a one-game sample size, but it offers an idea of what the Jaguars want to do on offense. It was assumed the Jags would run far more multi-TE packages, but a jump from 25.9% to 60.4% is quite the escalation. The Jags are also getting an immediate return on their investment as Nate Boerkircher led all rookie tight ends in snaps in Week 1.

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