Doug Pederson: Jaguars' Starters Will Play in Preseason Opener vs. Kansas City Chiefs

The starters will play a few series this weekend vs. the Chiefs.

Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver Gabe Davis (0), left, and head coach Doug Pederson greet before practice during the seventh day of an NFL football training camp practice Wednesday, July 31, 2024 at EverBank Stadium’s Miller Electric Center in Jacksonville, Fla. / Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union / USA TODAY NETWORK

When the Jacksonville Jaguars and Kansas City Chiefs meet at EverBank Stadium for a preseason opener on Saturday, you can expect to see most of the Jaguars' big names on the field.

"You guys know, I usually play the starters, or the penciled-in starters, a series or two in this first game, and then get them out. Then really, from there, we want to look at everybody," Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson said on Monday.

This has typically been the strategy for the Jaguars in recent years, outside of 2022 when they played in the Hall of Fame Game. The starters will get a chance to get loose and either score or prevent a score, and then the rest of the roster will fill in.

"So, you have three quarters, maybe three and a half, to really get a good look at a lot of the young players and see what you have there," Pederson said. "Sometimes it doesn't work out that way. Maybe guys play more special teams than they do offense-defense. But at the same time, you still want to give everybody a chance to get in this game and play.”

Among those expected to play is starting quarterback Trevor Lawrence. There was some question of whether Lawrence would play with three of the Jaguars' five starting offensive linemen currently injured, but Pederson confirmed that he isn't worried about his starting quarterback's protection.

"We’re still in a good spot with the five right now. Hopefully with Anton [Harrison] today and tomorrow, we’ll see where he's at. Hopefully, get him back out on the field on Wednesday sometime and get him ready to go," Pederson said.

"Cam [Robinson] has been working some individual walkthroughs, get him going again coming up. Ezra [Cleveland], we’ll just have to see with him. I don't want to push him with his—I think it's his left heel. Just want to make sure that he's 100 percent. But these first couple of games, we get to control kind of what we do offensively. Again, you just want to see execution and the guys play hard.”

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