The Jaguars are still contemplating extending an offer sheet to free agent center Alex Mack, according to Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com. Because Mack is the Browns’ transition player, the team would have the opportunity to match a Jacksonville offer, and as Kabot details, it sounds like team owner Jimmy Haslam is leaning that way.
“We remain optimistic that Alex Mack will be a Cleveland Brown for a long time,” Haslam said yesterday. “We want him to be. I think we’ve made it very clear that he’s the kind of person, the kind of player we want in our organization.”
As the Jaguars continue to mull an offer for the standout center, we’ll check in on one idea for how they could structure their offer, along with a few more draft-related updates out of Jacksonville…
- Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com spoke to several agents and executives to try to get an idea of how the Jaguars could structure a contract for Mack that would make the Browns reluctant to match it. The best suggestion he heard involved a two-year deal with a base salary of $10MM for year one, and $1MM for year two, with a $15MM roster bonus early in that second year.
- The specific dollar figures on that potential Mack offer aren’t as important as the structure — the Jags could conceivably restructure the deal in the second year to convert the big roster bonus into a more cap-friendly signing bonus, and the Browns would be reluctant to match since they’d be paying a premium annual salary for just two years of Mack. Additionally, if Cleveland were to match such an offer and then release Mack before his second-year roster bonus, the team wouldn’t receive future compensation when he signed elsewhere.
- It’s a big week of pre-draft visits for the Jaguars, and we can add a few more notable names to the list of prospects who will be in town. Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets that Clemson receiver Sammy Watkins will visit the Jags tomorrow, while Ryan O’Halloran of the Florida Times-Union tweets that South Carolina defensive end Jadeveon Clowney will arrive in town tonight.
- More pre-draft visits in Jacksonville: According to Peter Schrager of Fox Sports (via Twitter), Texas A&M wideout Mike Evans is visiting the Jaguars today, and O’Halloran reports (via Twitter) that Alabama signal-caller A.J. McCarron will meet with the club tomorrow.