4 easy moves that would save Jaguars over $24 million in cap space

No. 2 player the Jaguars can release in 2022 – Marvin Jones Jr., WR.

You could make the case that the Jaguars signed wide receiver Marvin Jones Jr. last offseason because of his familiarity with former offensive coordinator and interim head coach Darrell Bevell. But there’s a new coaching staff in place and Bevell is now the Miami Dolphins quarterbacks coach.

Even though the Urban Meyer era was a disaster and the Jags’ offense was 32nd in points scored last season, Jones still managed to haul in 73 receptions for 832 yards with four touchdowns. That kind of production is noteworthy when you take into account that the veteran was the de facto number one receiver and opposing defenses often zeroed in on him.

New Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson could certainly use a player like Jones. After all, he’s still effective and could become more productive if the Jags re-sign DJ Chark Jr. and/or add another receiver this offseason. On the other hand, if the new regime wants to get younger at wide receiver or doesn’t see Jones as a fit, his release would have a dead cap hit of $5.21 million but would also free up $3.5 million in cap space.

That’s a lot of dead money but $3.5 million could prove to be useful if the Jaguars want to go into a shopping spree in free agency. They would need to be in a cap crunch for this scenario to come into fruition but it shouldn’t be ruled out either.