We Speak NFL
Walker Little Goes From Trade Candidate to Crucial Starter for Jaguars
Two weeks ago, Walker Little looked like a player the Jacksonville Jaguars might move. Today, he is the man protecting Trevor Lawrence’s blind side for a first-place team.
Little’s sudden promotion comes after left tackle Anton Harrison was lost for the season with a torn ACL in his right knee. Harrison was injured during Jacksonville’s win over the Philadelphia Eagles at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London on Oct. 11, twisting his knee as he planted his leg to make a block. He was carted to the locker room, and after the team returned from overseas, arthroscopic surgery revealed the torn ligament. The Jaguars have placed him on injured reserve.
Harrison, selected 27th overall in the 2023 draft, had started 53 games for Jacksonville and moved from right tackle to left tackle this season. He allowed just 13 pressures and two sacks in five games this year. He is the first Jaguars starter to sustain a season-ending injury in 2026.
Little, though, is not a typical backup. He started 14 games for Jacksonville in 2025 and has 40 career starts over six seasons with the team, experience that made him a logical trade candidate for tackle-needy contenders before fate intervened. He has already stepped in, starting against Houston, and will hold the job the rest of the season.
“I’ve learned a lot over my career and watched guys that have kind of been in my position as that sixth O-lineman, how they’ve done it, how they stay ready for the moment,” Little said Monday. “It’s just staying locked in, not letting things slip through the cracks even though you may not get the opportunity to play, so that when your number is called you can jump in and flow with the offense.”
Head coach Liam Coen backed his new starter without hesitation.
“Excited about him and his opportunity,” Coen said. “There’s not many guys that care more than Walker in a lot of ways about this team and about this group of guys.”
Jacksonville sits atop the AFC South heading into Week 8. Keeping Lawrence upright is now Little’s job, and the Jaguars’ season may depend on how quietly he does it.
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The Pittsburgh Steelers have spent the last month winning games with an incomplete roster. The cavalry is finally in sight.
Wide receiver Roman Wilson and defensive tackle Derrick Harmon are nearing the end of their required four-game stays on injured reserve, and Pittsburgh’s upcoming bye week falls at the perfect time to welcome them back. The Steelers play once more in Week 8 before the bye gives their returning players an extra week to get ready.
Pittsburgh has weathered the absences well, beating the teams it was supposed to beat, including the New Orleans Saints 16-10 in the NFL’s first game in Paris. But the holes have been real. At receiver, the Steelers lost Michael Pittman Jr. to injured reserve in Week 5 after he aggravated a foot injury, and Wilson went down with a finger injury in the second half of that same week and landed on IR as well. Rookie Germie Bernard has been asked to carry a bigger role behind DK Metcalf ever since.
Not every return is on schedule. Reports indicate there is a chance Pittman misses the rest of the season, and defensive lineman Sebastian Joseph-Day’s return timeline remains unknown. But Wilson and Harmon would restore two rotation pieces at positions where Pittsburgh has been stretching its depth for a month.
Head coach Mike McCarthy likes where his roster stands as the reinforcements approach.
“We’ve got the right guys,” McCarthy said during his weekly press conference. “We’ve got a really great mix of veterans and young guys, and you’re just seeing it come together.”
The Steelers built their record without some of their best young players. If Wilson and Harmon come off the bye at full strength, the team that takes the field for the second half of the season will be deeper than the one that survived the first half.
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