It’s time for Jacksonville Jaguars to sign free-agent DE Ryan Kerrigan

The Jacksonville Jaguars did a good job of bolstering the defensive front in free agency, bringing back a couple of players, and signing others in the open market. However, there are still a few interesting players available in the open market and former Washington Football Team defensive end Ryan Kerrigan may be the best of the bunch.

Kerrigan became a free agent for the first time in his NFL career but his market never materialized. This is probably because he is 32 and has registered just 11 sacks in the last two seasons after posting 13 in 2018. While teams can’t certainly disregard the age factor, they also have to take into account that his number of snap has gone down as well.

After appearing in 79 percent of the Football Team’s total snaps on defense in 2018, the ten-year veteran just played 57 percent in 2019 and 38 percent last season. You could argue his playing time went down because of a drop in performance, but the truth is that there weren’t enough snaps to go around in Washington with 2020 second-overall pick Chase Young, and 2019 first-round selection Montez Sweat on the roster.

Kerrigan said before free agency that he still wants to be a starter but that seems unlikely at this point of his career. Nevertheless, he should still be productive as part of a defensive line rotation. Moreover, signing wouldn’t require a heavy financial commitment as teams are now looking for bargains and low-key value in the open market.

How would Ryan Kerrigan fit with the Jacksonville Jaguars?

The Jaguars already have a crowded defensive end room. Josh Allen and K’Lavon Chaisson should be the Opening Day starters and Dawuane Smoot and Adam Gotsis re-signed with the team this offseason. Jacksonville also signed Roy Robertson-Harris and Jihad Ward in free agency, so there may not be much room to add Kerrigan.

On the other hand, Kerrigan may be arguably better than some of those players and could compete for a roster spot. The Jaguars could offer him a reasonable deal and wouldn’t risk much. If he doesn’t make the team, they can just simply cut their losses and move on.

The Jaguars’ defense looks better than it did last season, at least on paper, but that doesn’t mean they should stop adding talent. If they can reach an agreement with Kerrigan, they shouldn’t hesitate to sign him.