Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Liam Coen
Getty
Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Liam Coen
O
n May 14, the NFL will unveil its full schedule of matchups for the 2025 season, where teams will know which week they will face a certain team, the game time and the location, among other things. And even though the full schedule reveal does not come out until later in the day, some games have already been leaked.
For the Jacksonville Jaguars, their week one matchup has been announced. To kick off the new era of Jaguars’ football, the team will host the Carolina Panthers— where rookies Travis Hunter and Tetairoa McMillan will face off for the first time as professionals.
Breaking Down the Matchup
The kickoff time for the game has not been revealed yet, but according to Fox Sports insider, Jordan Schultz, it has been confirmed that the two teams will meet to begin the new campaign. And what a matchup it could be. Jaguars new head coach, Liam Coen, will make his coaching debut against Dave Canales– was the offensive coordinator with the Buccaneers before Coen took over that job prior to the 2024 season. After Canales left to become the Panthers head coach, Tampa Bay hired Coen.
It will also be the first time that fans will get to see Travis Hunter in a regular season game, and in a game that will feature McMillan, it is very possible that we could see Hunter and McMillan matchup against one another. The Jaguars’ schemes will look drastically different this season under Coen and in a week one game against an up and coming Panthers squad, things could look very interesting.
But arguably the most intriguing part about this matchup is the family connection that it will have. For the first time in the NFL, brothers Travis and Trevor Etienne will play each other– with Travis expected to be the starting running back for the Jaguars while Trevor begins his journey with the Panthers.
The Rest of the Jaguars’ Schedule
Even though the rest of the schedule is still to be determined, we do know who the Jaguars’ opponents will be for the 2024 season. At home, the Jaguars will face the Indianapolis Colts, Houston Texans, Tennessee Titans, Kansas City Chiefs, Los Angeles Chargers, Los Angeles Rams, Seattle Seahawks and New York Jets.
On the road, the team will go up against the Colts, Texans, Titans, Arizona Cardinals, Denver Broncos, Las Vegas Raiders, San Francisco 49ers and Cincinnati Bengals. And when it comes to the Jaguars’ strength of schedule, they have one of the easier ones in the league based on win percentage from last year– putting them in a good position to defy expectations and fight for a playoff spot.
This will not be an easy season by any means, but the offseason that they had shows that they are serious about competing. Now all that is left is to wait and see if everything can come together to create something special.