Is Josh Scobee the Jaguars Most Important Free Agent?
Of the free agents the Jaguars have to make a decision on, Josh Scobee could be the most important. With a free agent list that includes the likes of Jeremy Mincey, Rashean Mathis, Dwight Lowery, and Matt Roth — franchise tagging Scobee is a move the Jaguars should be proactive about. Find out after the jump why Scobee should be franchised!
The first, and perhaps biggest, reason why the Jaguars should franchise Scobee is the price tag that comes with it. In case you’re a bit rusty, here is the new system for the franchise tag via Jason La Canfora of NFL.com:
"In the past, a franchise tag was derived from averaging the top five salaries at a particular position from the previous season. The new formula is much more complicated and is formed by determining the franchise tags at that position over the last five years as a percentage of the overall cap figure in each of those five years."
With this system, Scobee’s franchise tagged deal will be slightly higher than his 2011 salary of $2.4 million. Compare that to what the team would have to pay Mincey ($10 million) and Lowery ($6 million), suddenly Scobee’s sub-$3 million deal doesn’t look so bad.
Another reason why the Jaguars should tag Scobee is you can’t run thin on special teams. Scobee’s leg is by far the biggest asset on the special teams unit. Scobee had the eighth longest kick of the season at 55 yards and ranked seventh on kicks of 50+ yards. With the way the kickoffs are structured now, it’s hard to bet against Scobee kicking off. And how can anyone forget the game-winning 59-yard field goal to down the Colts a couple of seasons ago?
It’s tough to compare Scobee to Billy Cundiff, who as we all know missed the would be game-tying field goal in the playoffs, but would Scobee miss a 32-yard field goal? The last time Scobee missed a field goal in the 30-39 yard range was in 2010 in the ‘Hail Mary’ game against the Texans, and that was a 39-yarder.
While the price tag makes Scobee look more attractive than Mincey and Lowery, who else would the Jaguars want to tag? Mathis is coming off of a season-ending ACL tear, does the team want to gamble on that kind of injury? With these four players being arguably the most important on the free agent list, it’s clear that Scobee should be considered the most important. The team figures to be very active in free agency, and still holds the seventh pick in the upcoming draft. For those two reasons, the team doesn’t have to rush into making a decision on the rest of the list.
What do YOU think? Which free agent is the most important for the Jaguars to franchise tag?
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-theeCodyTaylor