What Jaguars Must Do to Free Up Salary Cap Space

No one thought the Jacksonville Jaguars were going to do what they did in the 2025 NFL season. No one except for General Manager James Gladstone, Executive Vice President of Football Operations Tony Boselli, and the rest of the team's brass. This might have been a retooling year for the Jags in theory, but the moves that the front office made last offseason and throughout the campaign painted a simple picture: Jacksonville wants to win now.

And win they did. All of their acquisitions paid off with 13 wins, an AFC South championship, and a home playoff game. Unfortunately, the Jaguars' season ended the same as 30 other teams', without the Lombardi in hand. Now, Gladstone, Boselli, and the rest of the braintrust have to figure out how to bring this roster over the hump.

Jacksonville Jaguars, NFL, Arizona Cardinals, General Manager James Gladstone — Nov 23, 2025; Glendale, Arizona, USA; Jacksonville Jaguars general manager James Gladstone against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Jaguars have to do some financial finagling

The Jacksonville Jaguars are in great shape for the future. They're coming off a transformative season and have several young cornerstones in place already. They'll be able to add to that core with nine picks in the 2026 NFL Draft, including four in the first three rounds. Not to mention that they ripped off their eight-game win streak to claim the AFC South without Travis Hunter Jr., who went down with a season-ending knee injury before Week 9.

However, Jacksonville has to worry about the talent they might lose in free agency. And if General Manager James Gladstone wants to bring in any new veteran talent this offseason, he'll have to cook the books first. The Jaguars are projected to be $10+ million over the salary cap for next year, when accounting for the rookie contracts they'll have to dole out if they keep all of their selections. Clearly, that's untenable, but it's a problem with multiple viable solutions.

Jacksonville Jaguars, NFL, Arizona Cardinals, Walker Little — Nov 23, 2025; Glendale, Arizona, USA; Jacksonville Jaguars offensive lineman Walker Little (72) against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

What the Jaguars can do

Jacksonville will have to free up that money somewhere, whether that's by way of contract restructuring or cutting its in-house talent. Thankfully, Gladstone has already shown a creative mind when it comes to NFL accounting, with the Jaguars tweaking Walker Little and Dyami Brown's contracts last offseason and mending Greg Newsome II's after trading for him midseason.

He'll have to open his Excel sheets once again this spring to make Jacksonville liquid again, but there are options available. Contrary to popular belief, cutting Arik Armstead would only offer the Jaguars a little over $2 million in cap relief. However, they could restructure his deal to free up around $10 million. That would get them close to where they need to be. Here are some other actions Jacksonville could take and how much it would save the franchise:

Player	Action	Cap Savings
Josh Hines-Allen	Restructure	$5.1M
Foye Oluokun	Restructure	$6.6M
Patrick Mekari	Restructure	$7.8M
Walker Little	Trade	$7.2M
Jourdan Lewis	Restructure	$6.4M
DaVon Hamilton	Restructure	$5.4M
Jakobi Meyers	Restructure	$4.3M
Chuma Edoga	Cut	$3M
Johnny Mundt	Cut	$2.6M
Hunter Long	Cut	$1.5M

Keep in mind that restructuring contracts is also called the "kick the can" method, as it incurs more dead cap later on in the future. Jacksonville already owes over $42 million in dead cap next year.

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