Foye Oluokun

Jaguars Activate LB Foyesade Oluokun

October 26th, 2024 at 2:12pm CST by Ely Allen

The Jaguars have officially activated linebacker Foye Oluokun after opening his 21-day practice window four days ago. Per Mike Garafolo of NFL Network, Oluokun and offensive tackle Cam Robinson will both be returning from their respective absences this weekend.

Jacksonville signed Oluokun the year after he led the NFL with a career high 192 total tackles in 2021 with the Falcons. In his first year with the Jaguars, Oluokun doubled down as the league-leader in total tackles for a second straight year with 184, also leading the league with 128 solo tackles. His 173 total tackles in 2023 was only good for fourth in the NFL, but he once again finished with the most solo tackles with 111.

While Oluokun became a tackling machine in Atlanta, he didn’t begin to stand out analytically until his move over the Florida-Georgia line. Following a season in which Pro Football Focus (subscription required) graded him as the 64th-best linebacker out of 86 graded players at the position, Oluokun improved to 29th in 2022 and 21st in 2023. Though he only has three games under his belt this season, Oluokun currently grades as the 10th-best linebacker in the NFL, per PFF.

Oluokun has been on injured reserve the last four games as he’s dealt with plantar fasciitis. Since Oluokun’s stint on IR took place after the season began, he will count toward’s the team’s remaining activation count. Jacksonville has four activations left with Oluokun getting moved to the active roster. The team will hope his return helps spark improvement on defense, a unit which has struggled in a number of areas in 2024.

Robinson had been limited in practice this week after getting knocked out of last week’s victory over the Patriots with a concussion. Garafolo reports that Robinson has now cleared concussion protocol and does not have an injury designation heading into the weekend.

Additionally, the team announced this afternoon that running back Jake Funk and defensive end Joe Gaziano will be activated as standard gameday practice squad elevations for the second straight week.

Jaguars LB Foye Oluokun, S Andrew Wingard To Resume Practicing

October 22nd, 2024 at 12:38pm CST by Adam La Rose

The Jaguars secured a win during the second London contest, and they could have a pair of defensive reinforcements in place ahead of their next game. Linebacker Foye Oluokun and safety Andrew Wingard have both had their 21-day practice windows opened, the team announced on Tuesday.

Oluokun was dealing with plantar fasciitis which he suffered in September, leading to his placement on injured reserve. An absence of at least four games was guaranteed by that move, with Week 8 marking the earliest point at which he could be activated. Today’s update is an encouraging sign with respect to Oluokun’s progress in recovery.

The 28-year-old has been as advertised in terms of tackle production since he signed in Jacksonville in 2022. Oluokun led the league in total stops (184) during his debut Jags campaign, and his 111 solo tackles last year also topped the league. He posted 22 through three games to begin the current season while remaining a full-time starter. The former Falcon logged over 1,100 snaps each year from 2021-23, and his durability was a factor which helped him earn a three-year, $30MM extension this offseason. His return to the linebacking corps will be welcomed.

Like many teams, the Jaguars took advantage of the NFL’s new roster-building rules in August. Wingard – along with running back Keilan Robinson – was placed on IR while being designated for return. That kept him eligible to play in 2024 but used up one of Jacksonville’s eight in-season activations. Once he is brought back onto the roster, Wingard will likely reprise his role as a key special teams contributor. The 27-year-old served as a defensive starter in 2021, but otherwise his presence has primarily been felt in the third phase.

Since Oluokun’s IR stint took place after the season began, he will count toward the remaining activation count once he is officially positioned to return. Jacksonville will have four left after Oluokun gets moved to the active roster. The team will hope his return helps spark improvement on defense, a unit which has struggled in a number of areas (but not when it comes to stopping the run) in 2024.

The 2-5 Jaguars also released Tre Flowers on Tuesday. The veteran corner made four appearances this season, his first in Jacksonville. He played sparingly on defense and special teams, making three tackles. As a veteran being let go before the trade deadline, Flowers will not be subject to waivers and as such he will be free to join a new team at any time.

Jaguars Place LB Foye Oluokun On IR

September 28th, 2024 at 12:50pm CST by Adam La Rose

TODAY, 12:50pm: Oluokun has officially landed on injured reserve. The team announced that they’ve placed the injured linebacker on IR, keeping him off the field for at least the next four weeks. Oluokun will be eligible for reinstatement in Week 8.

TUESDAY, 6:30pm: The Jaguars fell to 0-3 on Monday night, and the team’s defense suffered a blow in the process. Linebacker Foye Oluokun is dealing with plantar fasciitis, Tom Pelissero of NFL Network reports.

As a result, Oluokun is expected to miss multiple weeks. Pelissero notes the worst-case scenario has been avoided in this instance, adding that no surgery will be needed. Nonetheless, this news means Jacksonville will be shorthanded at the second level on defense for a stretch. It will be interesting to see if injured reserve comes into play.

An IR stint would guarantee at least a four-week absence and deal a blow to the Jaguars’ ability to recover from a poor start to the year. In any case, being without Oluokun will create a notable linebacker vacancy. The 29-year-old is consistently among the league’s top tacklers, and he led the NFL with 184 stops during his debut Jags campaign (2022). He had matched that feat the year prior, and 2023 saw the former Falcon amass 173 stops. Prior to the injury, Oluokun racked up a team-leading 22 tackles while logging a heavy defensive workload.

The former sixth-rounder was one of several incumbent players who landed a Jaguars extension this offseason. Oluokun inked a three-year, $30MM deal in March; as a result, he is on the books through 2027. Missing him for any period will be acutely felt by Jacksonville, a team which ranks 11th against the run this year but sits near the bottom in a number of other defensive categories.

2022 first-rounder Devin Lloyd is still in the fold as a linebacker starter for the Jags. He comfortably reached triple-digit tackles in each of his first two seasons, and the 25-year-old will be counted on to remain productive with Oluokun temporarily unavailable. The likes of Chad Muma, Caleb Johnson, Ventrell Miller and Yasir Abdullah represent the team’s options on the active roster to take on a first-team role. No member of that group is attached to a big-ticket deal, a sign of Jacksonville’s reliance on Oluokun to serve as an anchor at the second level.

The Jaguars designated Keilan Robinson and Andrew Wingard for return ahead of the roster cutdown deadline. That will use up two of the team’s eight IR activations, something which will be taken into account regarding an IR move in Oluokun’s case. His prognosis will be worth watching closely as the team braces for multiple games without him in the fold.

Jags, LB Foye Oluokun Agree On Extension

March 29th, 2024 at 10:40pm CST by Sam Robinson

One of the NFL’s top tacklers has a new deal in place. Foye Oluokun, a Jaguars free agency pickup in 2022, has agreed to terms on a new four-year extension, NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero reports.

Oluokun’s second Jaguars contract will lock him down through the 2028 season; the deal is worth $45MM and includes $22.5MM fully guaranteed. The ex-Falcons linebacker has led the NFL in solo tackles in each of the past two seasons. The contract can max out at $48MM, ESPN’s Adam Schefter tweets. The team has since announced the extension.

AAV-wise, this agreement checks in a bit south of Oluokun’s first Jags contract. The Yale alum had signed a three-year, $45MM deal to join the Jags; that average salary ranked fourth at the position entering Friday. Oluokun received $28MM guaranteed at signing two years ago, but the contract did not feature any guarantees for the upcoming season. Oluokun now has additional security.

Oluokun, 28, has rewarded the Jags on their initial investment, starting 17 games in each of the past two seasons. He reached 128 solo stops in 2022 and 111 last season. The former sixth-round pick has made at least 173 tackles in each of the past three seasons, leading the league in total tackles twice in that span.

Oluokun’s 192 stops in his final Falcons slate are the most any NFLer has accumulated in the 21st century. That created a big market for him in 2022, and although the Jags have jettisoned multiple free agents they signed to help on defense that year (Foley Fatukasi, Darious Williams), they are doubling down on their prolific tackler.

This agreement will drop Oluokun’s cap number from its present $21.75MM place, providing cap relief for a Jags team that has made multiple big investments in free agency. The team signed Gabe Davis and Arik Armstead to eight-figure-per-year deals this month. The Jags have also begun negotiations with Trevor Lawrence. Although the team will have Lawrence locked up through 2025 due to the soon-to-be-exercised fifth-year option, many first-round quarterbacks since the 2011 CBA changed the rookie salary landscape have agreed to new deals before Year 4.

No one else this century has even eclipsed Oluokun’s second-best tackle season (184); Pro Football Focus has viewed the former Falcons De’Vondre Campbell successor as a top-30 linebacker in each of his two Jaguars seasons. After letting Campbell walk in 2020, the Falcons received tremendous production from Oluokun. The Jaguars have certainly benefited as well; the ex-Ivy Leaguer has tallied 20 tackles for loss over his two Jaguars slates.

With Deion Jones‘ extension still on the payroll in March 2022, Atlanta let Oluokun walk. But the team soon traded Jones, starting over at linebacker. Oluokun has topped both Jones and Campbell on his third contract, with his guarantees almost definitely set to run through at least the 2025 season.

Jaguars Optimistic On Evan Engram Deal, Want To Retain Jawaan Taylor

March 1st, 2023 at 3:19pm CST by Sam Robinson

As the Jaguars transition from spending wildly in 2022 to a 2023 free agency period featuring little action in terms of outside hires, they are going down to the wire with two priority players.

The Jags’ interest in re-signing Evan Engram has been on the radar for a while, but Jawaan Taylor is also a keeper candidate for the resurgent team. GM Trent Baalke confirmed Engram and Taylor talks are ongoing, as the Combine annually ignites discussions between teams and key free agents.

Engram has joined Taylor in indicating he would like to stay in Jacksonville, and NFL.com’s James Palmer points to optimism a deal will be reached (Twitter link). Particularly with Engram, this will be a time-sensitive matter. The Jags have not ruled out tagging either Engram or Taylor, but with the tight end tag checking in at barely $11MM, Engram profiles as the likelier candidate to be cuffed. It would cost the Jags $18.2MM to tag Taylor.

“I think with Jawaan and Evan, I don’t want to speak for them, they know how we feel about them, and I think we know how they feel about us, and there’s a win-win in there somewhere. We’ve just got to get to that,” Baalke said, via the Florida Times-Union’s Demetrius Harvey. “We’ve got a nice window here before free agency starts, and our goal is to try to close those deals within that window.”

Given Engram’s interest in coming back, it should not be considered a lock the Jaguars will lose the seventh-year veteran if they pass on tagging him by the March 7 deadline. But that is the failsafe point for the Jags, who gave the ex-Giants first-rounder a one-year deal worth $9MM in 2022 and saw him produce a single-season franchise record for tight end receiving yards (766). Engram, 28, staying would further strengthen Jacksonville’s receiving corps, which has Christian Kirk, Zay Jones and Calvin Ridley under contract.

Taylor’s path is a bit more complicated. The Jags already tagged left tackle Cam Robinson twice, eventually extending him last year. The tackle landscape reveals the either/or decisions teams have made recently regarding payments; clubs with big-ticket left tackle deals on their respective payrolls have not doled out much money to right tackles. Robinson’s $17.9MM-per-year pact ranks seventh at left tackle. The Jags have Walker Little as a possible option to succeed Taylor, who would be poised to do well on the market, with dependable O-linemen being coveted commodities annually.

Robinson’s meniscus tear, however, clouds the Jags’ plans here. Robinson would tentatively be on track to return by Week 1, but Doug Pederson confirmed his potential unavailability factors into the Taylor talks. Taylor, 25, has never missed a game as a pro.

The Jags do have more money to work with as they navigate these negotiations now. They recently restructured the contracts of Kirk, Jones, Brandon Scherff and Foye Oluokun, according to ESPN.com’s Field Yates and NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport (Twitter links). Altogether, this created $36MM-plus in cap space. Jacksonville has boosted its total to $16.1MM, as of Wednesday afternoon.

The team has re-signed Roy Robertson-Harris to a three-year, $30MM deal, keeping the D-line starter off the market. That contract is already factored into the team’s updated payroll. Engram and/or Taylor may follow suit; each would be free to negotiate with other teams beginning March 13.

Jaguars To Sign Foye Oluokun

March 14th, 2022 at 12:55pm CST by Adam La Rose

The big spending continues in Jacksonville. Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reports that the Jaguars have agreed on a three-year, $45MM deal with linebacker Foye Oluokun (Twitter link). He adds that there is $28MM in guaranteed money.

The 26-year-old Yale product has emerged as a highly productive linebacker in the past two seasons in particular. In 2021, he played in all 17 games, registering a league-leading 192 combined tackles. He also added two sacks, three interceptions and a forced fumble, as he was an integral part of the Falcons’ defense.

That production had Atlanta eager to keep him. However, it was believed he would garner enough interest to land outside of the team’s price range. At an average value of $15MM per season, that has certainly turned out to be the case.

That figure stands in stark contrast to what an analytical evaluation might deem him to be worth. In his two seasons as a starter, Oluokun has received PFF grades of 56.6 and 46.5. While that is principally driven by underwhelming numbers in coverage, his run-stopping ability will be put to good use in Jacksonville. His addition, along with that of defensive tackle Folorunso Fatukasi, should improve a Jacksonville defense that gave up 125 yards per game on the ground in 2021.