Most of the credit for the Jacksonville Jaguars' season-opening 34-10 drubbing of the Cleveland Browns on Sunday has rightfully gone to the usual suspects.

Trevor Lawrence had a spectacular game. He threw for 245 yards and four touchdowns while completing 18 of his 23 passes. Lawrence was in control the entire game and started the season by making a huge statement to the rest of the league that last year was no fluke.

Parker Washington continued his stellar play from last season, leading the team with five catches for 83 yards, including a beautiful diving 30-yard touchdown. If he keeps turning in games like Sunday's, the cost of re-signing him will keep going up.

Star edge rushers Josh Hines Allen and Travon Walker began their quest to become the NFL's best pass-rushing duo. Each had 1.5 sacks against the Browns and made life miserable for Cleveland QB Deshaun Watson. 

Walker played through injuries last season, which clearly hampered his play. After two straight years of double-digit sacks, Walker had only 3.5 in 2025. Just one game into this season, he is almost halfway to last year's total.

If Jacksonville is going to make a deep playoff run this season, it will need its best players to play like it. They did on Sunday against the Browns.

However, the Jaguars also received strong outings from many of their young, inexperienced players.  Rookies Emmanuel Pregnon and Nate Boerkircher, as well as second-year safety Caleb Ransaw, who missed his entire rookie year with an injury, were all making their NFL debuts.

Speaking with the media, head coach Liam Coen pointed out the contributions his young players made and how pleased he was with their performances.

"I Think They Played Great"

When asked what he thought of his rookies and other young players, Coen excitedly spoke about their efforts and made a point of naming a few who stood out to him.

"I think they played great. You know, a ton to work on. Bork (Boerkircher)...played the most of any rookie tight end...did a lot of really good things in the run game. It was good to get Foye (Oluokun) out of there in the fourth quarter and got Branson (Combs) a ton of reps at linebacker. Caleb Ransaw played his first real NFL experience game...he did some nice things."

Not only did Coen think the young guys played well, but he also believed they handled the bright lights of a real game, and it was obvious the moment wasn't too big for them.

While it wasn't his first NFL game, Combs received the biggest chunk of defensive snaps thus far in his career. After battling with Ventrell Miller all offseason for a starting job, the second-year LB was able to make an impact once he entered the game, tallying a sack and four total tackles.

Final Thoughts

It was a very promising opener for many of the Jaguars' young players, some making their NFL debuts.

The team's stars showed up as one would hope, and the young guys were able to perfectly complement them.

As Coen noted, next Sunday will be a much better task as the Jaguars travel to Denver to take on the Broncos. It will be interesting to see how the youngsters fare against what should be a much tougher opponent.