JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — What was heralded as a group of great depth just a couple of weeks ago, consisting of nine players with NFL starting experience, has quickly run rather dry after numerous injuries.
Cole Van Lanen, Walker Little, Patrick Mekari, and Chuma Edoga are all working through injuries, leaving very little NFL experience across the Jags’ frontline.
It has left the Jaguars staff in a bit of a tough spot as they try to play musical chairs with the remaining players, hoping to find the best five.
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Among those is rookie Emmanuel Pregnon, who played his first NFL snaps against the New Orleans Saints this past weekend. He played all 32 snaps at left guard, the position he primarily played at Oregon, allowing just one pressure off of a stunt play.
With as much uncertainty as there is for the Jaguars offensive line, Pregnon may get the opportunity to move around a bit this preseason as well.
Going into the season, it was expected Cleveland would start at left guard as Walker Little, Patrick Mekari, and Wyatt Milum duked it out for the starting right guard spot. Pregnon was likely to lie in wait with Cleveland set to hit free agency this coming offseason. But that plan has all but been thrown out the window with the injury bug spreading throughout the Jags’ O-Line room.
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At Oregon, Pregnon allowed just five pressures on 471 pass-block snaps during his final season. That’s good for a pressure rate of just 1.1%, among the best in college football. And he only allowed one sack across his final two seasons.
While he did get fooled on that stunt, he was otherwise stout in pass-protection and nasty in the run-game. He even made the rare, yet highly coveted, highlight play as a lineman, bulldozing a Saints’ edge rusher to the ground.
There’s always going to be a learning curve in the NFL, no matter how “pro-ready” a player may be. But there’s a good reason Pregnon was considered one of, if not the top, guards in the 2026 NFL Draft. He’s got the athleticism and talent to be a Jaguars’ starter of the future. That future might just come a little sooner than initially thought
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