JACKSONVILLE – This was what Walker Little wanted. Absolutely.

The Jaguars' fourth-year left tackle had an idea about his ideal immediate future. That the Jaguars shared that idea made at least part of Sunday a good day for he and the team.

"I'm obviously super-excited," he said.

Little, a second-round selection in the 2021 NFL Draft who spent his first three-and-a-half NFL seasons mostly as a swing tackle, on Sunday signed a contract extension with the Jaguars. The team announced the signing before a 23-20 loss to the Houston Texans at EverBank Stadium.

"I thought he responded great," Head Coach Doug Pederson said Monday. "I thought Walker did an outstanding job yesterday, both in the pass and run game. Excited for him and his family for this opportunity to have this extension and lock him up for the next several years. But he responded well."

Little, who moved into the starting lineup this season after the Jaguars traded left tackle Cam Robinson to the Minnesota Vikings, has started the last five games this season. He has started 22 games in four NFL seasons, starting four games at left guard and seven at tackle in 2023.

All five of his starts this season have been at left tackle.

"It's been nice to be able to start consecutive games in a row," Little said. "I feel like I'm able to steadily play a little better each game and just get a groove. It's just nice being able to kind of know where you're going to be in practice and prepare in a single position.

"Honestly, I'm sure it helped me kind of moving around and learn different parts of the O-line, but it is nice just having one spot now."

Little said the sides began discussing an extension during the Week 12 bye week, agreeing to terms Saturday. He officially signed Sunday morning.

"Once I signed it, just kind of moved on to the game," Little said. "I wanted to play well in the game, regardless of the deal or not. I obviously didn't really know that was going to be a piece of that story I guess, until I was able to sign it Sunday morning. So, I was just prepared to play the game and go out and try to play well."

Added Little, "I was anticipating if I was going to get an extension done, it would probably be after the season. When they reached out in the bye week, I definitely wasn't expecting, but it was a nice surprise."

And while the timing surprised him, and while he said he didn't know what the future held had he not signed during the season, solidifying his foreseeable absolutely made Sunday a good day personally.

"I love Jacksonville," he said. "I love this team. I love the group of guys. I love the people I get to come to work with every day. Really love the city. Always wanted to stay here. Obviously going into a contract year this year, didn't know if it would happen or not, but I was really glad to work something out and I'm going to be able to be here for a few more years."

QUOTABLE

• Little on the team remaining focused despite being eliminated from the AFC South race Sunday with a 2-10 record: "We've done a really good job of just focusing each week on the next opponent and each individual trying to play really well and just win. Everyone on this team really wants to win. We have not many discussions at all about coaching changes, about organization changes, anything like that. We're focused. Everyone here works really hard. We're trying to figure things out and trying to figure out how to get some of these close games that we think we should have won. I think it'll happen. We're dedicated to changing that through these last five games."

QUOTABLE

• Linebacker Foyesade Oluokun "We’ve got five games to try to make stuff look right in our preparation and just the way that we take our preparation to the game. There's bigger fish to fry than the division championship right now. Us being professionals and the talent that we have, not being able to get it right is what we need to focus on week-in and week-out."