5 Positions the Jaguars Should Make Sure to Avoid in Free Agency
March is going to be an important month for the Jacksonville Jaguars. The club will have to make pivotal decisions on which current players to keep or let go, as well as which veterans of other teams they want to add.
The Jaguars have been big spenders in past free agency cycles, including in 2018 when they signed quarterback Nick Foles to the largest guaranteed contract in the team's history (four-year, $88 million, with over $45 million in guarantees). The years prior, Jacksonville inked players like Andrew Norwell, Calais Campbell, A.J. Bouye, and several others in pursuit of stocking the team with free agent talent.
But in 2020, the Jaguars are going to have to be much more selective in terms of which players they add than in the past. Jacksonville is currently projected to have negative cap space in 2020, plus have to consider the fact that a potential deal with Yannick Ngakoue's could still be in the cards.
The Jaguars don't exactly have the opportunity to overspend on free agents, and there are some positions they should avoid entirely. While Jacksonville shouldn't stand pat during free agency and should absolutely consider some veteran options to restock the roster, the Jaguars can afford to avoid a few specific positions.
So, which positions should the Jaguars avoid in free agency, allowing them to shift their focus elsewhere?
Running Back
Paying a running back at any time is risky, and the Jaguars have learned this under general manager Dave Caldwell after the failures of Toby Gerhart and Chris Ivory's tenures. But when you consider the fact that Jacksonville already has the eighth highest-paid running back on its roster in Leonard Fournette, who is entering the final year of his rookie deal, it makes zero sense for the Jaguars to even consider adding a running back in March. The Jaguars would instead be wise to either roll into 2020 with Ryquell Armstead as their primary back or draft another running back with one of their nine draft picks in April's draft.
Offensive Tackle
The Jaguars already have their right tackle of the future in 2019 second-round selection Jawaan Taylor, who was one of the best rookie offensive linemen in the NFL last year, so there is no need for another right tackle. Left tackle is less settled, however. 2017 second-round pick Cam Robinson had an up-and-down year in his first year back from the ACL injury he sustained in his second season. Despite this, the Jaguars shouldn't invest in a veteran left tackle. This year's offensive tackle class is considered one of the deepest position groups in the entire draft, and taking a younger lineman with one of the early picks would give the Jaguars more long-term security, and short-term cap relief, than a veteran tackle would.
Center
Jaguars' center Brandon Linder is coming off the first season of his career in which he has played 16 games, helping put behind some of the injury concerns that had followed him for the bulk of his Jaguars' tenure. Linder is one of the few consistent starters on Jacksonville's offensive line and while he has guard experience, there makes no sense in shifting him from his home at center. Jacksonville isn't a team that can afford to invest in handing out deals to backup centers, either, so if they want to add any backup plans behind Linder, they should do so via the draft.
Defensive end (not including Ngakoue)
While Ngakoue very well may walk in free agency and there are veteran options set to hit the open market who would make sense to add, the Jaguars would be better off investing in the position in April instead. Of course, resigning Ngakoue to a long-term deal or placing a franchise or transition tag on him makes more sense than to create another need on the roster. With that said, in the case Ngakoue does leave the Jaguars should put their full trust in Josh Allen as a starter and let Calais Campbell continue to take snaps on the edge. Campbell struggled at times on the interior in 2019, and playing on the edge could extend his time as a productive defensive lineman. Aside from those two, a rookie defensive end to add to the mix would make the most sense for a cap-strapped team.
Quarterback
This one is obvious. Not only are the Jaguars still currently on the hook for Foles' massive contract, but they have a developing quarterback in Gardner Minshew II who impressed in major ways as a rookie. Going 6-6 in 2019 on a bad Jaguars team, Minshew has shown enough to convince the Jaguars that there is no need in investing in another veteran quarterback, even if they haven't named him the full-time starter yet.
