With Tom Coughlin now gone and a new power structure in place, Jacksonville Jaguars general manager Dave Caldwell and the organization’s front office will now only have to answer to Shad Khan, which is how they did things early in Caldwell’s tenure. While that may make things less complicated, Caldwell still has his work cut out for him with the upcoming free agency period for 2020 as the Jags are projected to be over the cap by $972,783. That’s a total that would put them at 30th in the league.
The Jags are scheduled to have 22 free agents hit the market this spring, but luckily, there is only one pending restricted free agent and starter who the Jags can’t lose — and that’s edge rusher Yannick Ngakoue. However, to do that, they will need to decide on some players with high cap figures like Calais Campbell, A.J. Bouye, Marcell Dareus, Marqise Lee, Jake Ryan, and Geoff Swaim just to name a few.
There are also some reserves who will be pending free agents that the Jags may want to consider keeping, too. Tight ends Seth DeValve and Nick O’Leary could be solid backup tight ends. Keelan Cole, who will be a restricted free agent, should be likely to come back as the argument could be made that he played better than Dede Westbrook in 2019.
On defense, the Jags have a few depth pieces at linebacker who should be under consideration to return. Donald Payne (restricted), Najee Goode and Austin Calitro all received a lot of snaps with Myles Jack and Quincy Williams going on injured reserve, and their experience gained in 2019 could make them perfect for spot duties if the Jags need players who could temporarily start a game or two.
Here’s the list of all 22 of the Jags’ pending free agents with expiring contracts, per Over the Cap:
Note: Players are listed by snap count. Also, Alfred Blue was cut by the Jags earlier in October of 2019.
