Trent Williams and Richard Sherman Emphasize the Jaguars Are Ready To Contend
It wasn’t that long ago the NFL Players Association was warning players about going to the Jacksonville Jaguars. Now, it appears the tone about the team has shifted in a major way.
In December 2019, the association sent out a memo alerting players to the amount of grievances that had been filed against the Jaguars organization under personnel chief Tom Coughlin. As a result of this and other complaints, Coughlin was fired by team owner Shad Khan.
Former Jaguars and current Atlanta Falcons defensive end Dante Fowler Jr. along with the NFLPA, won a grievance which returned $700,000 to Fowler, citing improper fines. The players association followed that up with a league wide memo to its members with an ominous warning. It read, in part:
"It should be noted that Jaguars players continue to be at odds with Jaguars management over their rights under the CBA far more than players on other clubs," the NFLPA said. "In the last two years, more than 25% of the grievances filed by players in the entire league have been filed against the Jaguars.
"You as players may want to consider this when you have a chance to select your next club.”
Now, only a little over a year later, the Jaguars have become a possible destination. Coughlin is gone, former head coach Doug Marrone and former general manager Dave Caldwell have both been relieved of their duties. Legendary college coach Urban Meyer is returning to the sidelines as the head man for the Jags. And for the first time in franchise history, the club owns the No. 1 overall NFL Draft pick. It will presumably be used on Clemson Tigers quarterback Trevor Lawrence.
Oh, and there’s the over $73 million Jacksonville has in cap space, the most in the league this year (and in a year when the cap was lowered due to COVID-19 effecting revenues) and 11 total picks in the draft. That’s enough to change a franchise, and players are taking notice.
San Francisco 49ers left tackle Trent Williams appeared on the Cris Collinsworth Podcast Featuring Richard Sherman this week, and spoke with his current (possibly soon to be former) teammate Sherman. Williams is set to become a free agent next week and although he’s made it clear he’d like to return to the 49ers, as the highest-rated tackle on the market, he’ll be a hot commodity.
With that in mind, Sherman pressed him as to where he’d like to end up and more importantly, how much the quarterback would factor into the decision. Unprompted, Williams outlined a scenario that made Jacksonville an intriguing destination for he and other free agents.
“I think any team that has a quarterback that we can say ‘oh that’s a day one starter’ right now in March, I think that team is ahead of the curve because getting a quarterback is by far the hardest thing to accomplish in the NFL. So any team right now that has a quarterback that we can pencil in, as a day one starter, I think you can’t really call that a rebuild process because you got the main piece in place right?
“If you don't have a quarterback, it’s like, who knows how long it’ll take to get a Trevor Lawrence. So you know these guys aren't just growing on trees, they ain't, they're not accessible every draft.”
Pundits and scouts have pushed the possibility of BYU passer Zach Wilson being a better prospect than Lawrence. But it’s Lawrence—the 2020 Heisman trophy finalist—that Williams zeroed in on as a generational guy.
“I think like—a quarterback like Trevor Lawrence, as a rookie, I think he's not gonna be like playing with a regular, I mean with a normal rookie quarterback. I think the type of player he is, he is ahead of the curve. I think he will be a dynamic player at the next level, just because he has escapability when things don’t, when things don't add up with his eyes, he can use his legs.”
It’s not just Lawrence though that makes Jacksonville an attractive landing spot—although he is the nucleus. As mentioned, the Jaguars have ample cap space. In a year when half the league has negative cap space due to the amount being lowered after revenues dipped in the pandemic, that’s almost a luxury.
The Jags have spent the past couple of years “flushing” expensive contracts (as Williams worded it), gathering roll over money and draft picks. As Williams tells it, the rebuild is over. A year after going 1-15, now it’s time to compete.
“They went through the rebuild and now you're about to reap the benefits.”
The club placed the franchise tag on left tackle Cam Robinson earlier this week, with Urban Meyer revealing he expected a long term deal to be on the way. So it’s unlikely Trent Williams will be coming to Jacksonville anytime soon. Still, someone of his caliber expressing such an opinion sends a message about how the perception around the Jaguars is changing.
And with free agency looming, set to start on March 17, Sherman (a free agent himself now, and one of the best veteran options on the market) sees a mass exodus from teams…and subsequently guys predicting possibilities with the Jaguars.
“[Jacksonville has] got a high draft pick with a quarterback, they got a lot of cap space. And it's about to be a massacre, it's got to be a bloodbath of free agents flooding the market in the next couple of days.
“So it's one of those situations where they could go from a team that's rebuilding, to drafting the franchise quarterback, grabbing a few pass rushers, grabbing some key players, grabbing some protection, and all of a sudden in a division that that Tennessee [Titans] and Indianapolis [Colts] have kind of dominated, they can be a contender."
How quickly could Trevor Lawrence and Urban Meyer (in white) change the Jaguars? Mandatory Credit: David Platt/Handout Photo via USA TODAY Sports
“The AFC kind of can be up for grabs quick," continued Sherman. "In a year like this where, who knows how many high caliber, high profile players would be on the market, sometimes for a bargain. So they might get two or three guys for the price of what would be one guy in a normal year.”
On Tuesday, Head Coach Urban Meyer told reporters his goal was to make Jacksonville the destination for free agents and a place athletes want to not only play but live.
"I refuse to believe that this cannot become a destination spot for free agents or for a great player," stated Meyer.
"We need to make sure that everything’s in place to have that player want to be here. I’m not just talking about from August to December, January. Maybe it’s a dream, but that’s a dream I’m going to hold onto that I just someday see our players living here, training, get the best training possible, and enjoying a life in Jacksonville, Florida.”
There are a lot of pieces that still need to come together for the Jags to be a perennial contender. But they could be coming together even quicker than most anticipated. That’s the perception at least. And just over a year after being warned away from the club, players are now turning their sights to the Jacksonville Jaguars.
