The Jacksonville Jaguars will have to make several tough decisions in free agency, as a handful of prominent players are slated to become free agents. In any other year, the team's brass should have no trouble re-signing most of them. The issue is that the Jags will be dealing with a cap crunch.
After signing several players to reserve/future contracts, Jacksonville is nearly $22 milion over the cap. Even when the front office restructures a handful of deals and release a few players, general manager James Gladstone won't have enough money to bring back some of their pending free agents. But if the has to choose one, the option is abundantly clear.
The Jaguars need to find a way to re-sign Montaric Brown before free agency
Montaric Brown is among the Jags' most prominent players scheduled to become a free agent. The good news is that Spotrac has a contract valuation of $27.6 million ($9.2 milion per year) for him. That's relatively cheaper in comparison to some of the top contracts at the position in free agency last year. The likes of Carlton Davis, D.J. Reed, and Byron Murphy got deals that paid them $15 million or (way) more per year.
A seventh-round pick in 2022, the former Arkansas Razorback didn't get much playing time as a rookie, but injuries pressed him into action the next two seasons. Having said that, he was somewhat inconsistent and routinely showed that he was better suited for a backup role. At least that was the case until Anthony Campanile became the defensive coordinator in 2025.
Under Campanile's tutelage, Brown showed substantial improvement, registering a career-best two interceptions while giving up a completion rate of just 54.4 percent. Rightly, he's poised to earn a salary bump in the open market.
Why the Jaguars shoud prioritize signing Montaric Brown
There's no doubt that the Jaguars would love to keep linebacker Devin Lloyd and running back Travis Etienne. After all, the former is coming off a breakout year and at last became a key cog on defense, while the latter is an integral piece on offense with dual-treat capability.
That said, other teams (with more cap space) may make Lloyd an offer he may not be able to refuse, and Jacksonville already has a potential replacement for Etienne in sophomore Bhayshul Tuten. On the other hand, letting Montaric Brown walk would exacerbate the need at the corner.
Even with Brown in the mix, corner is among the team's top needs. If he leaves, it will arguably become the top priority, as James Gladstone might also need to replace him and Greg Newsome, who's also slated to hit the open market.
Granted, having Travis Hunter around would soften the blow. However, the Jags cannot have too many cornerbacks in place when you take into account that injuries exposed their dearth of depth in the loss to the Buffalo Bills in the playoffs.
Montaric Brown may ultimately want to test the market to see what kind of demand he garners. That said, the Jaguars should make an aggressive effort to ensure he doesn't think about leaving.