3 Hard Takeaways From Jaguars' First Two Days of Free Agency

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The Jacksonville Jaguars are in an interesting spot through the first 48-plus hours of free agency.

The Jaguars are one of just three teams that have yet to sign an outside free agent, though it is not as if the Jaguars have done nothing. They have spent the last several weeks keeping top backups, and then they kept well-regarded starters Montaric Brown and Dennis Gardeck before the tampering period began.

But what do we really make of the first two days of free agency for the Jaguars? We break it down below.

Jaguars making the decisions they can with 2026 guardails

Jaguars general manager James Gladstone entered this year's free agency period with limited wiggle room. The Jaguars, who have still been in the act of clearing cap space via restructures and releases, did not have the cap space to get into real bidding wars. This was especially true after the Jaguars made deals with Brown and Gardeck at the buzzer.

There is also the fact the Jaguars do not have a first-round pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, which has perhaps limited them from taking part in some of the bigger trade talks of the offseason. The Jaguars still have avenues to improve, but they have operated exactly as expected to this point in the offseason.

Are they waiting for 4 p.m.?

As things stand today, the Jacksonville Jaguars are set to get three projected compensatory draft picks thanks to the exits of Devin Lloyd, Travis Etienne and Greg Newsome. The Jaguars are set to get a fourth, a fifth and a sixth-round pick in the process, which maybe is one reason the Jaguars have yet to add anyone.

If the Jaguars sign players who are officially released by 4 p.m. as of the start of the league year, then those players do not count toward the comp pick formula. Perhaps we see the Jaguars go that route, especially with the amount of defensive tackles that are set to be released.

Which free agent they should still re-sign

There are only six Jaguars who have not agreed to new deals at the time of this writing: wide receivers Dyami Brown and Tim Patrick, safety Andrew Wingard and defensive linemen Dawuane Smoot, Emmanuel Ogbah, and Austin Johnson. This of course isn't a big-name group, but I do think there is one free agent the Jaguars should bring back on a small deal: Tim Patrick.

Perhaps the Jaguars want to invest a draft pick in a receiver to take the No. 4/No. 5 spot on the depth chart, perhaps they are banking on Tim Jones or Austin Trammell taking a leap. But there is no downside to bring Patrick in for another year, especially as Hunter's focus shifts more to defense.