Football is a young man’s sport. Every year, there are aging players who see a decline in play and are no longer worth the money or role on the team, and are replaced by a younger player. Whether it is draft status, contract impact, or performance on the field or in practice, the younger players eventually get their chance to take the reins from the old guard and create a new path for the team. The three players we will discuss are players who will be replaced at some point in the 2026 season.<\/p>\n
had a difficult 2025 campaign, ranking 68th out of 81 guards. With the Jaguars’ window now open, the margin for error is slim, and they cannot afford to have weak links at one of the most important positions. Emmanuel Pregnon<\/a> was one of the top guards in college football in 2025 and was widely considered a draft steal by the Jaguars.<\/p>\n Mekari will likely open the season as the team’s starting right guard. He has the experience and established chemistry with the rest of the offensive line. But two factors could potentially see this be his last season with the Jaguars. Mekari’s cap hit will jump to $18.1 million in 2027<\/a>, and the Jaguars would save $13 million by cutting him.<\/p>\n Mekari would have to perform at a high level in 2026 to justify keeping him on the roster at such a high cost, all while a cheaper rookie sits behind him. In fact, Mekari could be replaced mid-season if his performance is once again below average. A lot is working against Mekari for him to remain with the team long-term, and this could be his last season in teal.<\/p>\n DaVon Hamilton<\/a> is the longest-tenured current Jaguar, playing with the team since 2020. He offers solid run support, but very little as an interior pass rusher. With the Jaguars’ selection of Albert Regis<\/a> <\/span><\/span>and the trade for Ruke Orhorhoro<\/a>, Hamilton’s time with the team is numbered.<\/p>\n Entering the final year of his contract, the Jaguars have already found two potential replacements for the veteran defensive tackle. Much like Mekari, the odds are stacked against him to receive a long-term contract with the team, and he could even be replaced during the 2026 season.<\/p>\n Of the three players on this list, Eric Murray is the least likely to be benched or cut in 2027. His future cap number<\/a> is extremely low, and the Jaguars’ safety room has a lot of questions<\/a>.<\/p>\n Caleb Ransaw did not play in 2025 and will open the season behind Johnson and Murray. Murray is entering his 11th season and is far from a Pro Bowler, but he is a serviceable safety whose veteran presence can make an impact while the younger safeties learn behind him.<\/p>\n Antonio Johnson had a fantastic 2025 season and is entering the final year of his contract. If he is to replicate his success, he may be too expensive for the Jaguars to afford. If he is to have a drop-off in production, the Jaguars would simply not bring him back, leaving third-year safety Caleb Ransaw as the team’s starting safety. If this were to happen, keeping Murray would be ideal until the Jaguars can find his replacement.<\/p>\n Mekari, Hamilton, and Murray will all have a variety of factors working against them to stay with the Jaguars long-term. How they perform relative to their pay and expectations will be the deciding factor in whether they get benched or remain on the team.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Aging NFL veterans who see a decline in play are often replaced by a younger players who eventually get their chance to take the reins and create a new path for the team. These three Jacksonville Jaguars vets are likely to be replaced at some point in the 2026 season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5773,"featured_media":288694,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[36,13,6431],"tags":[34230,33395,34958,34006,3102,6220,32409],"class_list":["post-288234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl-news","category-jaguars","category-nfl-teams","tag-albert-regis","tag-caleb-ransaw","tag-davon-hamilton","tag-emmanuel-pregnon","tag-eric-murray","tag-patrick-mekari","tag-ruke-orhorhoro"],"modified_by":"Sue Levine","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5773"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=288234"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288234\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":288692,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288234\/revisions\/288692"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/288694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=288234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=288234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=288234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}DaVon Hamilton<\/h3>\n
Eric Murray<\/h3>\n