T
he Super Bowl is around the corner, but for teams like the Jacksonville Jaguars, the offseason is the main focus. Improving drastically off of a 4-13 season from 2024 en route to finishing 13-4 this year, the Jaguars looked like a team ready to compete for a championship, but saw their season come to a crashing halt in the wild card playoffs. Now, the Jaguars are back to the drawing board where they will look to figure out where to improve for 2026 and beyond.
But a big starting point to the offseason for the Jaguars is on the offensive line– specifically, what to do about left tackle Walker Little’s contract. Before the end of the ’24 campaign, and before the new regime took over, Little and the Jaguars agreed to a three-year, $40.5 million extension to keep him as the franchise’s starting left tackle. But once new head coach Liam Coen and new general manager James Gladstone took over, the franchise signed Cole Van Lanen to a three-year, $51 million deal to be the left tackle, creating a position controversy. And now that the season is over and Van Lanen has looked like the better player, the Jaguars have to decide what to do with Little.
What Do the Jaguars Do With Little?
Signing Van Lanen shows that he is clearly Coen and Gladstone’s choice to be the left tackle and considering how much Little is getting paid, having him be a backup is not really an option. But another option for Little is to compete for a spot at guard, a position he played during week 16 and 17 of the season while Patrick Mekari was nursing an injury. And while Mekari is also one of the Jaguars’ highest paid linemen, Little could compete to start opposite him.
Another option for the Jaguars is to find a team in need of a left tackle and look to trade them Little– which would cost the Jaguars around $7.2 million in dead money but would save them about $7.25 million. But, if the Jaguars offer him up in a trade, it would prove to teams that they no longer view him as a starter, making a trade less appealing. Given Little’s experience and versatility, he will most likely be kept around for 2026.
Little’s Career Thus Far
A three year starter at Stanford, earning Pac-12 Co-Offensive Freshman of the Year honors in 2017 and First-team All-Pac-12 honors in 2018, Little was a highly touted prospect going into the 2021 NFL Draft. Selected 45th overall by the Jaguars, Little spent the first two seasons of his career as a rotational player on the line, before becoming a starter by 2023– starting 11 out of the 14 games he was available for. By 2025, Little was a foundational part of the offensive line, starting 14 out of the 15 games he was healthy for.
Jaguars Have Big Decision to Make This Offseason on $40 Million Lineman