Following his breakout season, Devin Lloyd was projected to get a top-market contract. Couple that with the fact that the Jacksonville Jaguars were dealing with a cap crunch, and it was a foregone conclusion that the 2022 first-round pick would be leaving in free agency.
Lloyd ended up signing a three-year deal worth $45 million with the Carolina Panthers. Although it's not chump change, it fell short of the original market projection.
Make no mistake, though, the Panthers locked up a playmaker without having to pay a premium, but the early details of the contract show that Jacksonville never intended to re-sign Lloyd.
The Jaguars weren't going to get in a bidding war with the Panther for Devin Lloyd
After three solid-but-not great campaigns, the Jaguars opted not to pick up the fifth-year contract on Devin Lloyd's rookie contract, effectively making him a free agent in 2026. He responded by having a career season. Aside from displaying substantial improvement in coverage, he registered a personal-best five interceptions, including his pick-six of Patrick Mahomes.
Rightly, Lloyd was projected to cash in big as a free agent. Valuations varied, ranging from $15 million to $20 million in the open market, but the floor appeared to be $15 million. In the end, that's precisely what he got.
As Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated noted, Lloyd and his agent were shooting for $20 million per year but ultimately came up short, adding that it was a tough market for off-ball linebackers. For comparison, Nakobe Dean got $12 million per year, while Quay Walker got an annual average of $13.5 million. On a related note, both of them signed with the Las Vegas Raiders.
As you can see, Lloyd didn't get significantly more than either Dean or Walker, which begs the question: Why didn't the Jaguars make an aggressive effort to re-sign him? If they wanted to, they could've restructured a few deals and made a competitive offer.
They didn't, probably because that was never part of the plan.
Devin Lloyd wasn't part of the Jaguars' plans beyond 2025
This is just a conjecture, but it seems like that from the moment the Jaguars declined Devin Lloyd's option, they expected him to walk in 2026. Sure, they could've changed their mind once he showed out, but they were working with a fixed budget and had other priorities on their to-do list. This is a long-winded way to say that Jacksonville wasn't going to make an aggressive effort.
Moreover, the Jaguars already have a viable in-house replacement in 2023 fourth-round pick Ventrell Miller. Granted, Lloyd may be the better of the two, but the dropoff might not be nearly as steep.
Heck, Miller outplayed Lloyd back in 2024, which is why it looked like he had a shot to start next to Foyesade Oluokun last year. Now, he'll have a chance to show his worth.
It's also worth noting that Jacksonville re-signed Dennis Gardeck. On top of that, Yasir Abdullah and sophomore Jack Kiser are still in the mix, so the linebackers corps isn't depleted.
Could the Jaguars add reinforcements at linebacker after losing Devin Lloyd? You bet, but the pass rush and the defensive tackle position are bigger needs right now, so don't expect them to take a big swing at the position. That was likely the plan all along.