Hurricane Milton Alters Jaguars Travel Plans For London

The Jacksonville Jaguars trip to London will be a bit later due to Hurricane Milton.

Oct 8, 2023; London, United Kingdom; Flags and helmets in the evening sun during the second half of an NFL International Series game at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Peter van den Berg-Imagn Images / Peter van den Berg-Imagn Images

The Jacksonville Jaguars' annual trip to London is set to look a bit different this year, with their scheduled departure time for the overseas trip delayed by Hurricane Milton.

A Jaguars spokesperson told The Associated Press that Hurricane Milton, which made landfall in Florida on Wednesday evening, has "slightly" delayed the Jaguars departure time. It is currently unclear when the Jaguars will leave for London. A Thursday departure has been a consistent timeframe for the Jaguars during their annual series of games in London.

“Obviously, when we find out that we're playing in London and things like that, we put the kind of the wheel, the ball in motion, so to speak, months in advance of this week," Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson said on Wednesday.

"So, a lot of things were already in place as far as travel and whatnot. But obviously, now with this storm coming in, it's not going to affect us much today, but it could affect just some timing tomorrow trying to get out. But it looks good. It looks promising anyway for our window to get out of here sort of on time with not too many delays or hiccups in the next 24 hours or so.”

Different teams have approached the London trip with different strategies in past years. This year, the Jaguars first London opponent -- the Chicago Bears -- left the United States and arrived in London on Tuesday morning.

But as Jaguars defensive end and star pass-rusher Josh Hines-Allen said on Wednesday, most conversations with opposing teams and players about London center on what the Jaguars do. The Jaguars have made the annual trip for London since 2013, with 2020 serving as the only year the Jaguars did not play a game overseas in that span.

"I think people try to figure out what we try to do more so then us trying to figure out what everyone is doing. We've been going out there for six years so what advice is somebody going to give us about traveling?" Hines-Allen said.

"You know with Doug [Head Coach Doug Pederson], he's a routine guy. He's been doing this for the past couple of years now, so his timing isn't going to change much if any, other than this hurricane that is happening. But, in regards to that we're just going to head down there. Whenever we leave, we leave. We play ball and we get ready to go."

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