JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Jaguars cornerback Jourdan Lewis likes to go bird-watching when his team is playing on the road.
He'll do it from inside the team bus when it pulls up to the opponent's stadium, and he doesn't have to look too long to find one. He doesn't need a field guide to identify the type, either.
"I love seeing the fans pull up middle fingers and flip the bird at us," Lewis said. "It gets the juices flowing."
He had better get used to seeing that regularly, because the Jaguars aren't going to be spending much time at EverBank Stadium over the next 23 months. They'll play just four of the next 30 regular-season games in Jacksonville, a stretch necessitated by the $1.4 billion renovation to their stadium that is forcing the Jaguars to play 2027 home games in Orlando at Camping World Stadium, a two-hour drive south.
As daunting as that odyssey might be, the Jaguars aren't grumbling about it. They've embraced it and turned it into a slogan: Anywhere, anytime, anybody.
"We're not going to use it as an excuse," Jacksonville coach Liam Coen said. "It is what it is, and our mindset and mentality is going to be: Drop us off on a plane anywhere and we'll go play you."
By the time the 2026 regular season ends, the Jaguars will become the first NFL team since the Duluth Eskimos in 1926 to play in 12 or more stadiums in a single season. The Eskimos from Minnesota had just one home game that campaign and played in 14 stadiums. The Jaguars will play in 12 stadiums in 2026 -- not including any potential away playoff games -- with seven of their final 10 contests on the road.
The Jaguars beat the New England Patriots 35-6 at home on Sept. 27, and the next time they'll play there will be Nov. 1 against the Indianapolis Colts. That 34-day break is allowing for -- weather permitting -- uninterrupted work on EverBank Stadium. The Jaguars and the city of Jacksonville are splitting the cost of the renovation (team owner Shad Khan is responsible for all cost overruns), and work began following the team's playoff loss to the Buffalo Bills in January.
International games are a significant part of the Jaguars' pilgrimage -- starting this week. They leave Thursday for London (approximately a nine-hour flight) to play back-to-back designated home games against the Philadelphia Eagles at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday (9:30 a.m. ET, NFL Network) and the Houston Texans on Oct. 18 at Wembley Stadium (9:30 a.m. ET, NFL Network). Those will be the 15th and 16th games the franchise has played in London dating back to the 2013 season. No other NFL team has played more than eight international games (Bills).
When the Jaguars face Philadelphia, Jacksonville punter Logan Cooke will play in his NFL-record 10th international game, breaking a tie with former Jags offensive lineman Tyler Shatley. It's a record that Cooke said really means one thing: He has been around a long time for a team that makes regular trips to play games out of the country.
"I didn't use to enjoy the trip at all," said Cooke, a seventh-round draft pick in 2018 who is the longest-tenured Jacksonville player. "The first few years we would stay at just a place downtown in a hotel on the street and there wasn't a whole lot to do. Once you saw the town one time, that was it. But now, we get to stay [at a resort on the outskirts of London], get to play some golf every now and then. Every morning, we'll get a cup of coffee and go walk around, walk the course before practice and meetings. It feels 50s outside, you get a cup of coffee, there's pheasant running across the golf course and ducks flying, and it's just real peaceful."
Three lockers down from Cooke sits wide receiver Jakobi Meyers. He has been in the NFL since 2019 but has not yet played an international game. Meyers said he's looking forward to his first trip to Europe, and he has spoken with teammates about their experiences staying 11 days in London and playing back-to-back games, something the Jaguars did in 2023 and 2024.
However, he isn't worried about the length of the trip or the 26 games the Jaguars will play away from Jacksonville between now and the 2028 season. He has fully embraced anywhere, anytime and anybody.
"Whether it's here, whether it's there, it really doesn't matter for real," Meyers said. "It's a chance to go play in another city or another country or whatever it is, but it's more so the football part that I'm looking forward to.
"I just like to play ball, so it really doesn't matter where you put [the game] for real. Let's just go hoop and have a good time."
The stadium agreement between the city of Jacksonville and the Jaguars includes a clause that allows them to play a maximum of three international games in 2027, though none is scheduled at this point.
The Jaguars have had success away from Jacksonville in Coen's 21 games as head coach. They lost three of their first five road games (including last season's London matchup with the Los Angeles Rams), but they have since won five of their past six. Five of the Jaguars' next six are away, including at the Baltimore Ravens and the New York Giants.
Though coaches and players generally avoid talking about games other than the next one, Coen addressed the ambitious road schedule with the team during training camp. He wanted to make sure the players understood the focus is still on winning.
"I think just being honest, like, 'Hey guys, if you're a part of this organization right now, this is the reality,'" Coen said. "This is our truth, this is our reality, and nobody in this league and in this fanbase is going to care at the end of the day. Like, nobody. It's not going to be an allowed excuse or an allowed reason, because the results are what they are at the end of the season.
"Your record's your record, and nobody's going to look at it and say, 'Oh, well, they had to go play a lot of games away from home.' I mean, it is what it is."
The travel is not ideal, Jags center Robert Hainsey said, but everyone will just have to deal with it. Will there be grumbling? Yes. Will that become an issue? He says no.
"We're so process-oriented and we're such creatures of habit as NFL players that you just do the same thing," Hainsey said. "We know exactly what it's going to look like, so there's no surprises. It's not like, 'What's going to happen on this away game?' The schedule's the same every time. So, it's easy to just stick with your routine and you just go through it.
"As far as next year goes, who knows? We'll deal with that when we get there, but I'm not too worried about that yet."
There is one benefit, though: a lot more chances for Lewis to go bird-watching. "It's always fun," he said.