Jacksonville Jaguars 2014 Free Agency – Red Bryant No Surprise

With plenty of cap space and numerous needs, the Jacksonville Jaguars were expected to be players in the free agent market. They started their involvement on Saturday when they signed former Seattle Seahawks defensive lineman Red Bryant.

This isn’t a huge move by the Jaguars, but it adds some much needed depth to the defensive line and a player who has a championship pedigree.

David Caldwell and company did a good job of not overpaying and handing out an exorbitant contract. It’s difficult to pay a player’s actual value in free agency due to demand, but I think the contract matches the value Bryant has on this team. He was still playing at a relatively high level in Seattle, and his release was more of an indication of the Seahawks’ cap situation than Bryant’s level of play.

Clearly the connection with head coach Gus Bradley played a huge part in Bryant’s signing. While it’s become nauseatingly easy to make all these connections with Seattle about the Jaguars drafting a short quarterback or a late-round guy like Russell Wilson, the links between Bradley and his former players on defense are real and logical. Bradley is implementing a similar scheme and philosophy to what he had in place in Seattle, so having personnel to fit that scheme just makes sense.

"Gus has a fire about him. I played for him for four years and I know what type of man he is. He’s committed to winning and you best believe he’s going to come up with the best game plan to beat us.– Red Bryant"

The Jaguars likely aren’t done in free agency. A guy to keep an eye on is former Vikings defensive end Everson Griffen, who might be a good fit as a LEO/outside pass rusher.

-Daniel Lago

Yell at me on Twitter @dlago89