Jaguars OTA Observations: Parker Washington Attacks Day 1

JACKSONVILLE, FL - MAY 26: Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver Parker Washington (11) catches a pass during Jacksonville Jaguars OTA on May 26, 2026 at Miller Electric Center in Jacksonville, Fl. (Photo by David Rosenblum/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

On Tuesday, the Jacksonville Jaguars completed their first of nine days of Organized Team Activities (OTAs) in this third phase of the 2026 NFL offseason.

Head coach Liam Coen took the opportunity to re-emphasize his initial message to the team: attack.

New year, new team. Everything about the way we're attacking this is fresh," he said to local media. But the entire message is we're attacking this season with a relentless pursuit. And the way that we're going to go about is, man, we'll play any place, anytime, anywhere. That's got to be the mindset, and for the games that we are at home, we need this city to continue to come out and support. But we don't care who we're playing, what time it is, where it is, doesn't matter. We're going to attack this thing with a relentless pursuit."

Here are our observations from Day 1 of OTAs.

Defense Attacks the Day

Defensive coordinator Anthony Campanile's unit seemed to especially take Coen's message to heart. Despite contact being basically outlawed, the defense was flying around at full energy on Tuesday.

Ventrell Miller was right in the mix of it. His high-pitched war cries were frequent, and as expected, he slotted in as the starting linebacker opposite Foye Oluokun. Miller easily made the most plays of anyone at his position, though Oluokun spent a decent amount of time on the sideline to allow Jack Kiser and others to get more reps.

Eric Murray had a great interception of Trevor Lawrence over the top, Preston Hodge picked off fellow UDFA rookie Joey Aguilar, and Jabbar Muhammad had one go right through his hands.

Both sides of the ball are running pretty mundane schemes at this point in the offseason - the offense pretty much stuck to crossing routes and zone runs - so add an extra grain of salt to everything you hear out of spring practices. That said, Campanile's bunch looked real good to begin OTAs.

"It's elite, I will say that."@CalebRansaw7 shares his thoughts on the defense.#DUUUVALpic.twitter.com/UNkw4IZBhe

- Jacksonville Jaguars (@Jaguars) May 26, 2026

Growing Chemistry with WRs

Trevor Lawrence took some time to shake off some rust. He had a few uncharacteristic misses throwing to receivers against air, and he overthrew a deep crossing route to Brian Thomas Jr. during 7v7 drills that was intercepted by Murray.

Fortunately, the sixth-year pro eventually found his footing. He succeeded on a second deep attempt to BT by placing the ball perfectly over the arms of multiple trailing defenders, and he was surgical during the final 7v7 session of the afternoon.

Lawrence's connection with Thomas is among the biggest storylines to monitor this offseason. Coen said it's most important thing for his franchise quarterback to work on over the next few weeks.

I think it's the chemistry between he and BT first and foremost. Working on that chemistry. It was nice to see a great start to that today live and in person. I think those two have worked at it this spring thus far throughout phase one, phase two and then showed up in a nice way today. Just getting to that page where, he, BT, Parker [Washington], Jakobi [Meyers] specifically, they all really know what each other is doing, right? And what on each concept, the spacing and areas of what those guys can do at a high level, what are some of the weaknesses to be able to throw to each player a little bit differently? Not every guy is going to run the route the exact same way. And mastering that, mastering how each guy runs a route and being able to adjust to some of those things I think is critical for us moving forward."

It's telling, albeit unsurprising, that Coen named Thomas first in his response. Lawrence already has a great rapport with Meyers and Washington (who had one of the best practices of any Jaguar on Tuesday). Jacksonville is still looking for BT to level up.

We've put a lot of work in throughout all spring really of just trying to get the timing down, the chemistry, all those things, get on the same page, and it's starting to pay off," said Lawrence. It doesn't always happen immediately. Sometimes it takes a little time. But he's super committed to it and so am I and I think us getting those extra reps is paying off. And we've got a lot more time. I mean, we've got what, four more weeks or five more weeks of OTAs-type practices? And then we also have the break in the summer until training camp. So, so many reps that we can get from now until then to get us ready for the season. But I mean, I have no doubt we're going to be ready to go. He is going to have a great year. He is special player and just excited that I feel like we're clicking more and more every day."

The Jaguars ran a neat drill to simulate scramble situations, in which chemistry between the passer and pass-catcher is paramount. It may not be anything groundbreaking, but I don't remember seeing it before.

#Jaguars QBs practicing a scramble drill pic.twitter.com/iFkpLlSDDa

- Gus Logue (@gus_logue) May 26, 2026

Travis Hunter was also out there catching passes as a limited practice participant.

Trevor Lawrence to Travis Hunter during OTAs pic.twitter.com/S1rZQ30LaF

- Gus Logue (@gus_logue) May 26, 2026

New-Look RB Room

With Travis Etienne off to his hometown New Orleans Saints, the Jaguars will lean on a three-man rotation between Bhayshul Tuten, LeQuint Allen Jr., and Chris Rodriguez Jr. this season.

It's a wide-open room," Coen said. It's truly wide open. Bringing Chris in only continues to provide those opportunities for those guys. I've really liked how Tuten has run it this spring so far and the way he looks as opposed to last year at this time.

It's so hard to evaluate a running back until you're playing tackle football. I think that our guys that we have in the room, all three of them are going to be better when you play 11-on-11 tackle football than right now in t-shirts and shorts, right? That's not really all of their game. Their game, a lot of them, is based on physicality, toughness, breaking tackles, extra yards, the hidden yards in a game that we're just not going to see out here."

With that caveat, Tuten and Allen looked about as you'd expect, though it'll take some time to get used to the latter wearing No. 5. Rodriguez was a surprise absentee, even though OTAs are technically optional. The only word we got about that from Coen was, The injury report will come out at some point here," but I wouldn't be too concerned, given how he talked about the room in general. Rodriguez still seems to be a big part of the Jaguars' plans in 2026.

Also absent were Josh Hines-Allen (presumably to train in Arizona like he did last year), Cole Van Lanen (injured), Josh Cameron, and Keith Taylor.

And while we're talking about running backs... DeeJay Dallas looks like a certain former Packers running back out there. (Sorry, DeeJay.) Look for UDFA rookie J'Mari Taylor, whom the team seriously considered drafting on Day 3, to compete with veteran free agent pickup Ameer Abdullah for RB4 duties.

We're back" levels are increasing daily

: https://t.co/EpEGvYmb92pic.twitter.com/fAhYwHPknt

- Jacksonville Jaguars (@Jaguars) May 26, 2026

Jaguars fans, let us know your thoughts in the comments below!