In advance of March 14, the start of free agency in the NFL, Pro Football Rumors will detail each team’s three most glaring roster issues. We’ll continue this year’s series with the Jacksonville Jaguars, who finished with a 10-6 record before advancing to the AFC Championship Game for the first time in more than 20 years.
Depth Chart (via Roster Resource)
Pending Free Agents:
- Arrelious Benn, WR
- Aaron Colvin, CB
- Tyler Gaffney, RB (RFA)
- Corey Grant, RB (RFA)
- Chad Henne, QB
- Ben Koyack, TE (ERFA)
- Marqise Lee, WR
- Lerentee McCray, LB
- Patrick Omameh, G
- Matt Overton, LS
- William Poehls, T (ERFA)
- Paul Posluszny, LB
- Chris Reed, G (ERFA)
- Mychal Rivera, TE
- Allen Robinson, WR
- Peyton Thompson, S (RFA)
- Shane Wynn, WR (ERFA)
Top 10 Cap Hits for 2018:
- Calais Campbell, DL: $17,500,000
- Malik Jackson, DT: $15,500,000
- A.J. Bouye, CB: $15,500,000
- Telvin Smith, LB: $11,810,235
- Marcell Dareus, DT: $10,175,000
- Blake Bortles, QB: $10,000,000
- Brandon Linder, C: $9,406,250
- Dante Fowler Jr.: $7,474,167
- Tashaun Gipson, S: $7,050,000
- Allen Hurns, WR: $7,000,000
Other:
- Projected cap space (via Over the Cap): $29,848,410
- 29th pick in draft
- Must exercise or decline 2019 fifth-year option for DE Dante Fowler Jr.
Three Needs:
1) Add competition for Blake Bortles: The Jaguars will run it back in 2018 — instead of exploring a quarterback upgrade via the free agent market, where they could have gone after Kirk Cousins or Case Keenum, the Jags will stick with Blake Bortles after agreeing to a new three-year, $54MM deal that contains $26.5MM in guarantees. Bortles was already under contract for more than $19MM in 2018 thanks to Jacksonville exercising his fifth-year option. That option is guaranteed for injury only, but given that Bortles is recovering from wrist surgery and likely wouldn’t have been able to pass a physical, the $19MM+ figure could be considered effectively fully guaranteed.
Under the terms of Bortles’ new contract, his cap charge will be reduced to just $10MM, giving the Jaguars about $9MM in additional cap space. The pact will add a partially guaranteed base salary in 2019 ($6.5MM of $16MM is fully guaranteed), which will make it difficult for Jacksonville to part ways with Bortles: a $16.5MM dead money charge would accelerate onto the club’s salary cap if it releases Bortles next offseason. That number might not be as scary given that Bortles’ contract now contains offset language (meaning the Jaguars will be off the hook for whatever salary Bortles theoretically earns with a new team), but there’s no doubt Jacksonville has committed to keeping some form of Bortles — either the flesh-and-blood player, or simply the remnants of his salary — on its 2019 books.
But the move to extend Bortles wasn’t about the 2019 campaign — no, it was about the upcoming season, when the Jaguars clearly feel they can once again compete for the AFC championship and a Super Bowl title. Once it became clear Bortles and his $19MM salary would stick due to injury, Jacksonville didn’t have a ton of other options. So decision makers Tom Coughlin and Dave Caldwell opted to double down on 2018, create cap space to solidify other parts of the Jaguars roster, keep Bortles in place as the team’s starting quarterback, and worry about 2019 when the time comes.
However, Bortles’ new contract shouldn’t preclude the Jaguars from adding long-term competition under center, and while that will likely need to occur in the draft, there is one free agent signal-caller who could make sense for Jacksonville. Teddy Bridgewater will officially hit the free agent market after five seasons with the Vikings, and while all the tea leaves point to him returning to Minnesota, the former first-round pick could be interested in moving on, especially if the Vikes bring in Kirk Cousins.
Bridgewater, of course, hasn’t played a full season since 2015 while recovering from a gruesome knee injury, but he’s still only 25 years old. Perhaps he’ll want to land with a team that will allow a clearer shot at a starting job, but I question whether NFL clubs will trust Bridgewater’s health. Jacksonville, though, could promise Bridgewater the chance to start later in the 2018 season if Bortles fails, and might be able to ink him to a contract that would keep him in town through 2019 or 2020.
In the draft, the Jaguars aren’t likely to get a shot at Sam Darnold, Josh Rosen, Baker Mayfield, or Josh Allen, but Louisville’s Lamar Jackson could be available at pick No. 29. Jackson, the 2016 Heisman winner, would be fascinating entrant as Bortles’ backup in 2018 and a future starter in 2019 and beyond. Lance Zierlein of NFL.com calls Jackson a “maestro of improv who is Second City worthy,” and Jackson would be deadly utilizing run-pass options in Jacksonville’s offense. He needs work — Zierlein says Jackson needs to improve his accuracy on the run and his pocket awareness — but the former Cardinal seems like a high-risk, high-reward option that would mesh with the rest of the Jaguars’ roster.
2) Bolster the offensive line: Jacksonville invested in its offensive line in 2017, using the 34th overall selection on Alabama tackle Cam Robinson. Although he started 15 games on the blindside during his rookie campaign, Robinson graded as a bottom-five tackle in the NFL, according to Pro Football Focus, seemingly confirming pre-draft concerns that he was a right tackle or guard. Ideally, the Jaguars would add new left tackle, shift Robinson to the right side, and release incumbent right tackle Jermey Parnell, but the utter lack of left tackles in both free agency and the draft makes that strategy untenable.
Instead, the Jags will likely give Robinson another shot on the blindside and seek upgrades on the interior. Center Brandon Linder is an excellent pivot and under contract through 2022, so he’s not going anywhere, but Jacksonville should pursue improvement at guard. Patrick Omameh and A.J. Cann finished 36th and 37th, respectively, among 77 PFF qualifiers, so the Jags can certainly aim for more production. Additionally, neither Omameh or Cann is signed to a long-term deal: Omameh, in fact, is scheduled to hit free agency next month, while Cann has one year left on his rookie contract.
Jacksonville has never been afraid to spend in free agency, and it wouldn’t be out of the question for the club to go after Panthers guard Andrew Norwell, who figures to be one of the top free agents available on March 14. While the Jaguars use signing bonuses sparingly (they prefer to front load deals and, in turn, make them easier to get out of after a year or two), Caldwell & Co. could give Norwell fully guaranteed base salaries in both 2018 and 2019 while utilizing a small bonus that won’t incur much dead money down the line. Norwell will almost surely aim to top recent guard contracts given to Kelechi Osemele and Kevin Zeitler by earning $13MM annually, and the Jaguars could fulfill that requirement by offering a creative contract.
If Norwell proves unattainable, Jacksonville will other free agents to consider at guard. Josh Sitton will now hit the open market after the Bears declined his 2018 option, and he’d make sense for a win-now Jaguars team. Jack Mewhort, Josh Kline, Zach Fulton, and Spencer Long are all age-29 younger and have started at least 30 career games. If Jacksonville is comfortable adding an older player, Matt Slauson, Brandon Fusco, or Alex Boone could come into play. The Jaguars could even explore trades: current Jacksonville offensive line coach Pat Flaherty worked with Ereck Flowers during his rookie season in New York (as did Coughlin), so if the Giants make the former first-rounder available for trade, could the Jags acquire him and move him to guard?
The draft offers another avenue through which the Jaguars can add help at guard, and if the club doesn’t use its first-round pick on a quarterback, I’d fully expect it to select an interior lineman at pick No. 29. A plethora of guard options means Jacksonville should see a solid player slip to the end of the first round, and Billy Price (Ohio State), Isaiah Wynn (Georgia), James Daniels (Iowa), and Will Hernandez (UTEP) will all be in consideration for the Jaguars. Hernandez, specifically, impressed during Senior Bowl practices, per Michael DiRocco of ESPN.com, who identifies the UTEP product as someone Jacksonville will watch at the scouting combine.
3) Make decisions at wide receiver: Heading into the 2016 season, the Jaguars appeared to boast one of the league’s more impressive wide receiver corps. Allen Robinson was fresh off a 1,400-yard campaign in which he led NFL in receiving touchdowns, while Allen Hurns also topped 1,000 yards as Jacksonville’s No. 2 pass-catcher, and subsequently inked a four-year, $40MM extension.
Things have changed, but the Jags aren’t necessarily worse off. Robinson — a pending free agent — is now recovering from a torn ACL but expects to be ready for 2018, and Hurns is likely to be released, but Jacksonville has also discovered an entirely new crop of wideout talent on its roster. Former second-round pick Marqise Lee finally grew into himself to post back-to-back solid campaigns, while young players such as Keelan Cole and Dede Westbrook have proven themselves as contributors. Now, the Jaguars just need to sort out which receivers will be on their roster going forward.
Robinson is clearly the key piece as Jacksonville analyzes its receiver room. The Jaguars are open to deploying the franchise tag on Robinson, and while such a tender would be worth more than $16MM, it would offer the club several benefits. First and foremost, it would keep Robinson on the roster as Jacksonville competes for a Super Bowl in 2018. And while the tag is expensive, it would allow the Jaguars to see how Robinson plays in his first foray after his ACL tear. If he progresses well, Robinson could be extended in-season à la Alshon Jeffery.
Hurns, meanwhile, is likely a goner no matter the outcome of the Robinson talks — he hasn’t topped 500 yards in either of the past two years, and the Jaguars can clear his entire $7MM cap charge through release. Lee, meanwhile, is a pending free agent, and if Jacksonville brings Robinson back, I’d expect Lee to sign elsewhere. While he’s a decent No. 2 wide receiver, Lee at $5-6MM annually doesn’t make sense for the Jaguars if they’re already paying Robinson $16MM+ and have affordable alternatives such as Cole and Westbrook.
Jacksonville isn’t likely to go after any free agent receivers (aside from their own), but an early draft pick wouldn’t be out of the question, especially if the club uses the franchise tag on Robinson and thus only controls him for a single season. In his most recent mock draft, Josh Norris of Rotoworld sent Christian Kirk (Texas A&M) to the Jaguars at the end of the first round. Per Dane Brugler and Rob Rang of NFLDraftScout.com, the 5’11” Kirk is not only able to “shift gears effortlessly,” but is mature beyond his years and boasts a “professional makeup.”