After a meteoric rise to the Super Bowl, Mike Vrabel’s squad faces offseason turmoil and a blockbuster trade before heading to Jacksonville for a high-stakes AFC showdown.
The Jacksonville Jaguars' 2026 season starts reasonably enough with a home date against a Cleveland Browns team that finished 5-12 in 2025.
Then, well, things get tougher.
Much tougher.
The Jags play their first road game of 2026 against a Denver Broncos team that earned the AFC's No. 1 seed in last year's playoffs.
Jacksonville then returns home to face the New England Patriots, who represented the AFC in last year's Super Bowl. After that, the Jags go back on the road to face the Cincinnati Bengals, who have missed the playoffs three consecutive times but still have one of the best quarterbacks on the planet in Joe Burrow.
The next week, it's off to Londontown for a battle with the Philadelphia Eagles, who are less than two years removed from winning a Super Bowl. The Jags will remain in England the next week to face the AFC South rival Houston Texans, who won 13 games, including one in the playoffs last year.
So four of Jacksonville's first six opponents are reigning playoff teams, and today, we'll focus on the Patriots.
It would have taken a lot for Jacksonville's 2025 turnaround (4-13 to 13-4) to not be the league's best in 2025, but somehow, New England's transformation was even more impressive.
The Patriots started life without Bill Belichick by going 4-13 in 2024.
Then, the team fired Jerod Mayo and hired Mike Vrabel, and, yeah, it worked out well.
The Pats went 14-3 in the regular season, earning a bye in the AFC playoffs, then took care of the Texans at home and the Broncos in a Mile High snowstorm to make it to their first post-Belichick/Brady Super Bowl.
Although New England fell in the big game to the Seattle Seahawks, everything was pointing to continued success in 2026.
A little more than a month after the Super Bowl, the outlook became a little different, and it didn't have anything to do with the on-field product.
Instead, it had to deal with coach Mike Vrabel's personal life, which turned into the biggest story of the NFL offseason.
On the field, the Patriots are still set to be one of the league's top teams, and cemented that by completing the long-rumored trade for former Eagles' star WR AJ Brown. Although the Pats did lose star wideout Stefon Diggs to free agency, the signing of Romeo Doubs from the Green Bay Packers and the trade for Brown should give QB Drake Maye plenty to work with.
The Pats defense finished fourth in the league in scoring last year, which could make life tough on Jacksonville QB Trevor Lawrence and company.
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