Final Anton Harrison Injury Update Gives Jaguars a Bye Week Loss

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The bye week is not often kind to the Jacksonville Jaguars, and the trend has repeated in 2026

Bye weeks, or at least bye week-adjacent weeks, have normally brought bad news for the Jaguars over the years and this year that news comes in the form of left tackle Anton Harrison, who is now out for the season.

"Jaguars starting LT Anton Harrison was revealed to have suffered a torn ACL during his surgery yesterday, sources say," NFL Network's Ian Rapoport said on Friday. "The hope was just an arthroscopic procedure, but instead there was more damage. Harrison, who is already on Injured Reserve, is now out for the season."

Loss of Harrison

The hope when Harrison was injured, of course, was that he would potentially be able to return this season if the Jaguars were able to avoid the worst-case scenario. But the worst-case scenario is now year and, for the second year in a row, a Jaguars' offensive tackle has sustained a serious knee injury after Cole Van Lanen suffered a similar injury in January in Week 17 of the 2025 season.

Van Lanen was able to attack rehab and be ready to return for the season-opener on Sept. 13 this year against the Cleveland Browns, though he has still had to work himself back into form. The timeline of Harrison's injury does suggest that he should be back by Week 1 next season as well, but that is little comfort for the Jaguars when it comes to their playoff push this season.

With Harrison out, the Jaguars only have a few real options. The most obvious and likely of those options is for the Jaguars to turn back to former left tackle Walker Little, who has started 40 games in his NFL career, with the bulk coming at left tackle. Little started for the Jaguars at left tackle last week against the Houston Texans and played well against Will Anderson Jr. and Danielle Hunter, and he will now have to man the blindside spot to give the Jaguars a chance to win the AFC South and go on a deep run.

“I probably can't overstate how important it is because we really are fortunate to not have to play a backup in a situation when a tackle goes down. I don't look at Walker as a backup tackle or a backup guard," Jaguars offensive coordinator Grant Udinski said last week.

"We have seven, eight starter-caliber offensive linemen, and I know that's an incredibly rare luxury to have that type of depth at the offensive line. So, it totally changes the way you gameplan, it changes the way you attack the run game, it changes the way you attack pass protection, so to have that luxury, like I said, is really unimaginable in many other places in the NFL."

The Jaguars have the luxury of being able to sustain Harrison's injury, but that doesn't change the fact that the Jaguars just got dealt a loss during their bye week ... once again.