Big Cat Country
The Jacksonville Jaguars travel to face the Houston Texans this Sunday. Here are three key battles to keep an eye on in Week 10:
Let’s dive straight in with the newest addition to the Jaguars. With injury wiping out a chunk of the receiver room, James Gladstone made a move before the trade deadline, sending the Las Vegas Raiders a 4th and 6th round selection in next year’s draft for Jakobi Meyers. In the final season of a 3-year, $33m deal, Meyers requested a trade back in August when negotiations weren’t going anywhere. Despite the impasse, he led the Raiders in receptions through the first nine weeks of the season, even though he hasn’t scored a touchdown or accumulated the yards he was accustomed to whilst with the New England Patriots.
Meyers won’t have time to ease himself into the Jaguars playbook. With Travis Hunter on IR, Braun Thomas missing practice with an ankle injury sustained against the Raiders last week and Dyami Brown still working his way back from a concussion, he’ll need to contribute from the slot immediately. That matches him up with Jalen Pitre, one of the best slot corners in the NFL this season. On course for the best season of his career, Pitre already has three interceptions in 2025 and has been one of the leaders of a secondary up there with the best in the NFL. And, worryingly for the Jags, he’s picking up pace too, with 24 of his 46 tackles coming in the last three games.
Pitre missed Wednesday’s practice recovering from a concussion sustained in the Texans’ game against the Denver Broncos, but according to all reports he will be suiting up on Sunday. Meyers needs to hit the ground running to ensure Trevor Lawrence has options when he drops back to pass.
Whilst Pitre looks set to recover from his concussion, quarterback CJ Stroud will not – confirmed as out for the game this coming weekend. That means the Texans will turn to Davis Mills to lead the offense whilst their franchise QB recovers.
Mills is the epitome of a game-managing quarterback, an ideal backup that has limited capacity to win a game but won’t often be the reason why you lose one. Despite falling to a last second field goal on Sunday Mills was serviceable, going 17/30 for 137 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions. His presence under center won’t strike fear into the Jaguars’ secondary, but having a guy with 6,300 passing yards under his belt on standby is far from the worst case scenario Houston could be facing right now.
I was going to match Mills up with Devin Lloyd who is set to return from injury this week and has tormented quarterbacks when dropping back into coverage. But Mills’ real weakness is his inability to escape pressure; a lack of mobility hamstrung him as a starter in the 2021 and 2022 seasons where...
