Just over two years apart from one of the most outrageous races in recent NFL history, the Jacksonville Jaguars are almost unrecognizable. Most of the injuries were self-inflicted.
The 2017 Jaguars that were part of the Super Bowl LII game are now spread across the NFL, or at least are looking for a way out in the case of another. The post-combine week started with the announcement of the passage of the shredder Yannick Ngakoue look for a job elsewhere, although the Jags are sure to tag it. And Tuesday afternoon, Jacksonville agreed to an agreement who will send cornerback A.J. Bouye to Denver for a fourth round pick.
This second-tier defense could not stay together forever, and the unit was doomed longer than Blake Bortles had started as the team’s quarterback. The three-year contract extension at Bortles was a mistake after the 2018 season, it is still a mistake today, and that decision set the course for where the Jaguars are today.
Rather than making a true position assessment, Jacksonville decided to reward Bortles for a season in which he had 10 regular season games where he had one or zero touchdowns. The $ 54 million, three-year contract looked terrible when the team spent two months between victories in the middle of the 2018 season, and the Jags were eager to get out of it, even if it meant $ 16.5 million. of space cap in 2019.
Add to that Jacksonville doing the one thing and signing free agent Nick Foles for a four-year, $ 88 million contract last season, and the strings on the Jags’ purse were as tight as possible.
Add to the mix the hard and fine nature of Tom Coughlin and the Jags culture has suffered throughout the last season. This obviously bleed in this off-season as Ngakoue continues to look for a way out.
To be fair, the skies do not fall on Duval. Coughlin obtained his marching documents after the NFLPA publicly embarrassed the winning double coach of the Super Bowl and forced Khan to do the only logical thing and fire him.
Getting two first-round picks – and not just a first and a second, for example – for Ramsey was a win. Getting a fourth round pick for Bouye when they were going to cut it later this month is also a win.
The team has two starting caliber quarterbacks at Foles and Gardner Minshew when some teams do not even have a single viable starter who is in good health. They’re not in a terrible cap right now with over $ 30 million in space, although it will get worse once the tag is extended to Ngakoue.
The Jags have 10 choices in the April draft, including six in the first four rounds. Next spring, they’ve already got nine picks, as well with six in the first four rounds.
Khan may regret his decision to keep the staff intact with the multitude of choices in 2020, especially if the season begins slowly. By deciding to retain general manager Dave Caldwell and head coach Doug Marrone in 2020, Khan expressed a desire to compete for a playoff spot this year. This will weigh like the sword of Damocles on the two men this fall.
This week’s news with the Jags highlights no less than three things for me in the months to come:
1. Any non-quarterback is a fair game in the repechage at No. 9.
There are needs at all levels, and the “best player available” cliché should apply here.
2. The team can exchange Foles.
Cutting the posts is not an option and the Jags are ready to go camping with the two quarterbacks. But the quarterback carousel is about to start in the NFL, and what happens when a Tom Brady draw team misses? Or, what if, after Brady returns to New England and Teddy Bridgewater is recovered, the teams decide that Foles is the next best option than Philip Rivers?
Like my colleague Notes by Sean Wagner-McGough, the Jags could trade Foles (and part of this capital project) in a salary cut with a team that could do it. The Colts team close to the ceiling comes to mind if the Rivers twinning never works.
3. Calais Campbell should be safe.
The Jags would save $ 15 million in caps if they reduced the defense before their 34-year season, but that would be unwise for a number of reasons off the field.
Campbell has just won the NFL Walter Payton Man of the Year award. He is loved in the locker room and in the Jacksonville community in general. The Jags have already shipped two of their home games to London for the coming season. The franchise has made a playoff appearance in a dozen years.
Releasing Campbell is, to me, unthinkable at this point. The Jaguars can’t send yet another message to their fans that they don’t care about them.
A series of errors over the years has caused the Jaguars to float in the worst possible place: football purgatory. The events of the next two months will remove them from their maintenance.
