Will the Jacksonville Jaguars make more offseason moves?

As the race to training camp and the regular season has begun, will the Jacksonville Jaguars make more offseason moves?

As of now, according to Spotrac, the Jacksonville Jaguars have over $21.6M in salary cap space should the front office look to sign more free agents. That figure, which is currently ninth in the NFL, includes the $17.8M franchise tag number assigned to defensive end Yannick Ngakoue, who has yet to sign on the bottom line.

That number also includes the more than $8M assigned to Leonard Fournette, who was shopped to other teams last week during the NFL Draft without any takers. One could assume that Fournette, who is in the final year of his rookie deal, will not see his fifth-year option picked up by the organization and should a deal be offered by another team in need of a running back, general manager David Caldwell will listen carefully.

The reason for the importance of numbers is the potential flirtation by the Jaguars with bringing in a veteran quarterback to back up or compete with starter Gardner Minshew in camp. If I am the Jaguars GM, I am making every move possible to bring in Andy Dalton – after I listen to offensive coordinator Jay Gruden beg and plead for his former starter to come down south.

More from Jacksonville Jaguars News

• Jacksonville Jaguars should welcome Derrick Henry into the kingdom
• Jaguars Rumors: Trent Baalke seems to be getting respect now
• Jaguars News: This division rival might be making a big move
• Former Jacksonville Jaguars S Johnathan Cyprien: “New Profession, Same Standards”
• Jacksonville Jaguars TE Evan Engram officially gets the franchise tag: 3 takeaways

Dalton made $16M last season, played in 13 games and threw for 3,494 with 16 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. By contrast, Minshew played in 14 games, started 12, threw for 3,271 yards with 21 touchdowns and only 6 interceptions. He made over $542,000 last season.

And for those of you wondering, Cam Newton made $16.7M last season.

If the Jaguars do bring someone in, the two mentioned above or make a deal with another veteran, can they afford to invest that kind of money unless they are named the starter? Also, if Minshew goes on to have a season for the ages, which tops the season Blake Bortles had in 2015 if 4,428 yards and 35 touchdowns, how do you not ink the second-year player to a massive new contract?

The implication of signing a veteran quarterback doesn’t just affect this team financially this season, but also in the future. The Jacksonville Jaguars figure to have more than $99M in cap space to play with for the 2021 season.

That means contracts of Fournette, Ngakoue, Cam Robinson, Andrew Norwell and Nick Foles (the team is paying his $18.75M salary this season) come off the books. It might make more sense to ride with Minshew this season (and Joshua Dobbs as the backup) and hunt for a new signal-caller new year – if need be. Also, take into consideration this is a franchise that could be in the hunt for Trevor Lawrence or Justin Fields and the competition becomes wide open.

For now, the Jaguars have a second-year starter, a backup who has not thrown a live pass for the organization and a sixth-round rookie who is nothing more than a developmental quarterback. A decision will be made soon if the team moves forward with what it has or will it look to bring someone in, like Dalton, who could disrupt the apple cart if he proves he can beat out the incumbent starter.

In other news: The team announced it has signed free-agent running back Chris Thompson to a deal on Monday.

"Per NBC Sports, “The longtime Redskins running back has reportedly agreed to a one-year deal with the Jacksonville Jaguars, the team confirmed on Friday.  In Jacksonville, Thompson reunites with Jay Gruden, as the Jaguars hired the former Redskins head coach as their offensive coordinator earlier this offseason.”"