Jaguars practice squad: Revolving door at kicker, other takeaways

1. There wasn’t demand for Jaguars players on the waiver wire

The Jaguars had top priority in the waiver wire, and they were quick to call dibs on several players other teams waived. However, most of the players Jacksonville released didn’t get much attention, and only sophomore defensive tackle Jay Tufele was picked up by the Cincinnati Bengals.

There are several ways to look at this. On the one hand, the Jags are coming off a 3-14 season and the front office cleaned house in the offseason. Several players that logged a meaningful amount of snaps are no longer with the team. Wide receivers Laviska Shenault Jr. and Laquon Treadwell lead the way but they’re not the only ones. Gone is also linebacker Chapelle Russell, who made an important stop in Jacksonville’s Week 6 win over the Miami Dolphins.

On the other hand, this reflects well on the Jaguars and the roster they built over the last few months. Their wide receiver corps is stacked. The same is true for their linebacker group and their cornerback unit. Simply, they got better talent and they only had a finite number of roster spots and practice squad slots.

Tufele seemed like a good bet to make the roster after showing progress in the offseason. Furthermore, the Jaguars released veteran Malcom Brown, paving the way for Tufele. But he ended up getting waived because there are other players with a bigger upside, at least in the front office’s eyes.

In the end, Tufele found another team quickly while the Jaguars’ roster is in good shape after undergoing a makeover in the offseason, so this could turn out to be a win-win situation for both parties.