How Jaguars Can Kill Two Birds with One Stone this Offseason

The Jacksonville Jaguars need to add talent while also freeing up cap space at the same time this offseason.

Nov 23, 2025; Glendale, Arizona, USA; Jacksonville Jaguars general manager James Gladstone (left) with owner Shad Khan against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

The Jacksonville Jaguars showed that they're good enough to win the AFC South and make the playoffs this season. However, they were expeditiously escorted out of the postseason by Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills. There's a decent chance that the Jaguars had the misfortune of drawing the toughest opponent possible for Wild Card Weekend, but they'll have to wait until next year to prove it.

Nevertheless, General Manager James Gladstone and the rest of Jacksonville's brass can't get complacent now.

This team should get some improvement from their young parts through internal development, but they have to worry about potential losses in free agency and the rest of the league looking to take their spot in the upper echelon next season. To ensure that they remain a contender, the Jaguars have to keep upgrading their roster. The only problem is that they have little means to do so.

Jacksonville Jaguars first-round draft pick Travis Hunter (with uniform No. 12) poses with team management after his first news conference on April 25 at the Miller Electric Center. From the left are team executive vice-president for football operations Tony Boselli, hunter, coach Liam Coen and general manager James Gladstone. | Garry Smits/The Times-Union / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Jaguars can add a transformative talent and create more cap space

As it stands, the Jacksonville Jaguars are projected to be north of $10 million over the 2026 NFL salary cap. There are several ways for them to clear the room necessary to ensure that they can keep the impending free agents they want and sign their new rookies. However, General Manager James Gladstone won't have much money remaining to chase any outside talent.

The Jaguars should be able to add some key pieces in the upcoming 2026 NFL Draft. However, they won't be able to bring on a top-tier prospect in the first round, as they traded their No. 1 to the Cleveland Browns last year to move up and select Travis Hunter Jr. Jacksonville does still have plenty of draft capital, though, with nine total picks, including four in the first three rounds.

From @Jared_NFLDraft:

Jaguars 2026 7-Round Mock Draft 1.0, Post-Playoffs https://t.co/FcSDkBrJWG

— John Shipley (@_John_Shipley) January 12, 2026

It might behoove Gladstone and the Jaguars' brass to package their selections together to move back up into the first round. If Jacksonville uses all four of its picks in rounds two and three, it'll have to allocate around $5 million in cap space for those four players.

If the Jaguars trade those picks for a late first, they could wind up saving around $2 million in cap hit. For example, Maxwell Hairston, the Buffalo Bills' 30th-overall selection from last year, cost a little over $2.7 million in cap space this season. Jacksonville already has 43 players on its active roster for 2026. Doing a four-for-one deal in the draft would allow Gladstone to make another first-round pick and add a potentially transformative talent, such as Penn State guard Olaivavega Ioane, while saving the Jaguars some coin, too.

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