Jacksonville Jaguars lack of early moves in NFL Free Agency not overly shocking

The Jacksonville Jaguars lost right tackle Jawaan Taylor and tight end Chris Manhertz in the legal tampering period of free agency. Although the deals won’t be official until March 15th, it’s hard to see either contract not going through. The Jags would have liked to keep both but they have $6.93 million in cap space, so their lack of activity in the early stages of free agency isn’t overly shocking.

The front office went on a spending spree and added several key players last offseason. This left little space to make any splash signings this year, which isn’t necessarily bad when you consider that Jacksonville won the AFC South title and made the playoffs in 2022.

Taylor agreed to a four-year deal worth $80 million with the Kansas City Chiefs but the Jaguars are well-equipped to overcome his loss. Walker Little can step in at right tackle immediately. He competed for the job in training camp and is most likely the first in line to replace Taylor. And if the Jaguars’ brass isn’t fully sold on Little, an alternative is to use the 24th overall pick on an offensive tackle.

Also, Jacksonville could take several paths to replace Manhertz. Selecting a tight end early in the draft, even after applying the franchise tag on Evan Engram, should be ruled out. The truth is that Taylor and Manhertz played important roles for the Jaguars last season but there are a handful of paths the Jags can take to overcome their departure.

Don’t expect the Jacksonville Jaguars to make splash moves in free agency

As of this writing, the Jacksonville Jaguars have been linked to a handful of free agents but nothing has come to fruition. Moreover, the players the Jags are seemingly interested in aren’t of the big-name variety.

Tavierre Thomas has appeared in 27 games with 14 starts for the Houston Texans for two seasons. While he would be a solid addition to the Jaguars’ cornerback group, signing him isn’t the kind of move that will send shockwaves around the league but that’s alright. The Jaguars don’t have the cap space to hand out top-market contracts this offseason, so they need to be selective when choosing whom to target.

Keep in mind that it’s not a given that the Jaguars will sign Thomas. However, he’s the kind of player you should expect them to pursue in free agency. Then again, they have a pretty stacked roster and they can address most of their needs of their draft. While the Jaguars could make a surprise signing in the upcoming days, don’t be surprised or concerned if they don’t. This was by design.

Heck, you could even make the case that by not being active in free agency, the Jaguars are winning. Instead of overpaying for talent, they’ll wait until the draft to load up on talent. This kind of strategy won’t get rave reviews but for a team that has a solid core in place and just needs to add a few more pieces to compete in 2023, it might be the best course of action.