Jaguars v. Browns: Inside look at Week 1 matchup with Cleveland

The Jacksonville Jaguars open the regular season at home against the Cleveland Browns.

To help us preview this matchup, Andrew Harbaugh, the managing editor of Browns Wire, answered a handful of our questions to provide some insights into this Cleveland team.

Harbaugh: My raw, unfiltered response is: nothing. I truly believe he is named the starter because they need to give him one last chance given the contract he is on. It made no sense based on what was shown between him and Shedeur Sanders that they didn’t give the younger quarterback the weapons, offensive line, and coaching. But alas.

Harbaugh: The defense remains the strength of this team. Even without Myles Garrett, this unit has a chance to be just as good with Jared Verse leading the way. On top of that, the secondary remains a strong unit; Carson Schwesinger leads the linebacker group. They just have playmakers in every unit, and they are young with a chance to take a big development step in 2026.

Harbaugh: The quarterback play remains this team’s Achilles heel. They are keeping four quarterbacks in 2026, none of which project as franchise leaders. This team could either go winless or win a handful of games, and I would be equally surprised.

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Harbaugh: Maliek Collins doesn’t get talked about enough, but he got healthy on the back end of the preseason, and he is a monster in the middle of this Browns defensive line. He missed most of November and all of December and still had 28 pressures, 6.5 sacks, and both were career highs. Look for him to help stuff the run but also enjoy one-on-ones while Jared Verse gets a lot of attention.

Harbaugh: I don’t see how this doesn’t make the Jaguars look like Super Bowl contenders. This reminds me of the Miami-Stanford matchup last weekend in college football where both are big programs, but one is clearly in a different tier than the other right now. I think the Jags win 38-10 in a game that isn’t close after the first quarter.

This article originally appeared on Jaguars Wire: Jaguars v. Browns: Inside look at Week 1 matchup with Cleveland