Big Cat Country
The Jacksonville Jaguars have had an interesting year when it comes to their 2o25 rookie class. Their aggressive draft day trade for Travis Hunter dominated the storylines for Jacksonville well into the early part of the season but an injury ended his rookie year after just seven games. Their second pick in the draft was safety Caleb Ransaw who was injured during training camp and missed the entire season, while their next pick, OL Wyatt Milum, missed time with an injury and ultimately played a limited role as primarily an extra lineman all year.
Those three were supposed to make a significant impact in year one but the injury gods weren’t on their side. Luckily for the Jaguars, a few late round picks, and even some undrafted free agents, have picked up the slack for James Gladstone’s first rookie class as the Jacksonville GM. Here are three names that have a chance to make an impact against the Bills and beyond in the playoffs.
Bhayshul Tuten
The Jacksonville rushing attack has been pretty inconsistent this season. They finished the regular season ranked 20th in rushing yards and 27th in yards per rush at just 4.0 per game. That’s all while running the ball at the eighth highest rate in the league.
Starting running back Travis Etienne has had a solid season when you look at the stats but his efficiency numbers fell off a cliff down the stretch. Over the last six games leading up to the playoffs, Etienne has averaged just 3.2 yards per carry as teams have prioritized stopping the run in an attempt to slow down the offense. Obviously that has backfired as it has been a factor in Trevor Lawrence having the hottest streak of his career.
That said, Liam Coen is going to want to make sure the run game gets back on track against statistically the worst rush defense in the league in Buffalo. One way they could do that is by getting rookie running back Bhayshul Tuten more involved. Tuten’s physical style of running is a stark contrast to Etienne’s finesse game and in a game of this magnitude, physicality at the line of scrimmage is going to be necessary. Don’t be surprised if we see packages where both Etienne and Tuten are on the field at the same time in an effort to keep the defense guessing on Sunday.
Rayuan Lane
There has been a lot of talk about the impact of special teams going into this Jags vs. Bills matchup, particularly in regards to the edge Jacksonville has in the kicking game. However, Buffalo has a special teams x-factor as well by the name of Ray Davis. The team’s third string running back has quietly been the best kick returner in the league in 2025. His 30.4 average on kickoffs was tops in the NFL for players with at least 20 returns and he took one to the house against the Texans in Week 12.
The Jacksonville kick coverage unit hasn’t...
