Big Cat Country
Welcome to Big Cat Country’s staff roundtable! Today, we’re previewing Week 1’s matchup between the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Carolina Panthers at EverBank Stadium.
What is the biggest question about the Jaguars you want to have answered after Week 1?
Dillon Appleman: Who is going to separate themselves from the pack in a crowded running back room? There is still a lot of uncertainty about what the usage will look like among the Jaguars’ running backs. It feels like the plan is for Travis Etienne and Tank Bigsby to split most of the work, but it’s possible we see rookies Bhayshul Tuten or LeQuint Allen Jr. get some touches as well. No matter the splits, Week 1 is an opportunity for somebody to prove they deserve more of a workload going forward.
Travis Holmes: The Jaguars recently named center Robert Hainsey as a team captain for the 2025 season. After wrapping up a preseason where the Jacksonville offense never faced a starting defensive unit, I’m interested in seeing how Hainsey performs this week against nose tackle Bobby Brown III, the dominant run-stopping plug in the middle of Carolina’s defense. Hainsey was signed in Jacksonville after losing his starting role in Tampa Bay, primarily due to struggles in dealing with the more powerful DTs, so this should be a great opening test for the newly designated captain.
Gus Logue: What will Anthony Campanile’s defense look like? According to Daniel Griffis of Action News Jax, the 2024 Jaguars ranked top-three in man coverage rate and press coverage rate, and bottom-three in blitz rate and stunt rate. Ryan Nielsen deployed a predictable, vanilla scheme. Expect Campanile to do a complete 180 and turn up the heat by sending extra rushers and disguising zone coverages.
Henry Zimmer: I think in Week 1 I would just like to see a clean game from Trevor Lawrence. He looked great in the preseason but that was limited. Now it’s time to see it in full action and all signs are pointing to yielding great things. The Panthers aren’t world beaters, but it would be a great sign heading into Cincinnati if Lawrence played a clean game.
If you could ‘steal’ a player from the Panthers and place them on the Jaguars’ roster, who would it be?
Dillon: I’m taking the Panthers’ shiny new free agency addition, Tre’von Moehrig. The veteran safety would instantly provide this defense with a tone-setter on the backend that they do not currently have. Moehrig’s 5 TFLs last year are equal to the entire Jaguars safety depth’s total in 2024, which goes to show how impactful he is when getting downhill. That type of player has been missing for the Jacksonville secondary for a while.
Travis: I think Jacksonville would thrive with a player like Tre’von Moehrig roaming the Jaguars’ secondary. The recently signed Moehrig came over from Las Vegas, where he rarely missed tackles, ranking sixth among safeties in PFF run defense grade (87.5). Despite the Raiders’ pass rush taking a hit...
