The Jacksonville Jaguars‘ roster on Sunday will include a quarterback who wasn’t on the active roster a few days ago.
He’s a familiar face, though, as the Jags make sense of their depth chart behind Trevor Lawrence.
The move was announced Saturday: QB Nick Mullens will be on the gameday roster.
It’s the first of three potentially allowed practice squad elevations for Mullens this season.
The Jacksonville Jaguars have elevated QB Nick Mullens to the active roster from the practice squad for tomorrow’s game via standard elevation.
— JaguarsPR (@JaguarsPR) September 12, 2026
Why Is Nick Mullens Elevated?
The Jaguars traded in the preseason for Quinn Ewers from the Dolphins, and the expectation was that Ewers would become the QB2 behind Lawrence.
That doesn’t appear to be the case in Week 1, though.
The problem? Ewers hasn’t really been around long enough to be Lawrence’s true backup yet.
On the flip side, Mullens was the backup in Jacksonville last season. He knows Liam Coen’s system.
This is how ESPN’s Michael DiRocco explained it on X:
Jaguars elevated QB Nick Mullens from practice squad to active roster today. Would expect he would be the backup to Trevor Lawrence on Sunday against the Browns because Quinn Ewers has only been with the team two weeks. Mullens backed up Lawrence last season.
— Michael DiRocco (@ESPNdirocco) September 12, 2026
It makes perfect sense. Ewers should be up to speed shortly, but if Lawrence got hurt, plugging in Mullens might be better for the Jags’ offense in Week 1 specifically.
Jacksonville will be hoping it doesn’t need a backup QB to come to the rescue, though. They’d prefer Lawrence stay healthy and simply handle the lowly Cleveland Browns.
Nick Mullens With Jaguars
Mullens joined Jacksonville for the first time last season.
Lawrence stayed healthy, so Mullens didn’t have to start, but he did get into five games.
In his limited action, Mullens was 3-for-3 completing passes for a total of 19 yards.
Mullens has a career 5-15 record as an NFL starter with 34 passing touchdowns compared to 31 interceptions in his career.
He’s far from a high-profile backup, and he doesn’t have the kind of upside to lead a team to the playoffs, and that’s likely why the Jags took a shot on Ewers.
That doesn’t mean Mullens isn’t reliable to some extent. He has completed 66.0% of the passes he has thrown in his NFL career, including 5-for-5 passes total across the 2024 (Vikings) and 2025 (Jaguars) seasons.
Mullens isn’t a player like the starter Lawrence, so if he was pressed into action, the Jags would likely have to scale down the offense a bit.
But this time of year, Mullens has a basic advantage: He does know the offense and how it works. For now, that has kept him in a gig and given him a chance to suit up in Week 1 to act as insurance behind Lawrence.
Jaguars Add New QB for Week 1 vs. Browns