The Jacksonville Jaguars are quickly beginning to trim down their roster ahead of cutdown day. After trading offensive tackle Fred Johnson to the Philadephia Ealgles, they have cut ties with one of the last players former general manager Trent Baalke drafted.
One day after trading Johnson, Jeremy Fowler of ESPN reported that the Jags have released second-year cornerback DeAntre Prince. And with that, they kept scrubbing the remains of the Baalke era.
The Jaguars no longer had room for DeAntre Prince
When the Jaguars hired Liam Coen and James Gladstone as their head coach and general manager, respectively, the duo made it a point of emphasis to bring in intangible players. At the time, there weren't many such players on the roster, so they proceeded to bolster nearly every position group in the offseason.
And with all the additions the new regime made, there wasn't going to be room for many of the players it inherited. One of them was 2024 fifth-round pick DeAntre Prince, who hardly saw any playing time as a rookie.
Still, the former Ole Miss Rebel got a clean slate in the offseason. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to make the most out of his opportunities and failed to stand out despite the fact that the Jags were dealing with injuries at cornerback.
Montaric Brown and Tyson Campbell missed time in training camp and the preseason, while Zech McPhearson and Levi Wallance ended up on the Injured Reserve List. But despite the opportunity, Prince wasn't able to stand out, which is why it wasn't particularly surprising to find out that Jacksonville gave him the boot ahead of cutdown day.
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The Jaguars continue to remove further traces of the Trent Baalke era by releasing DeAntre Prince
Back in 2024, the Jaguars needed depth at cornerback. That's why the DeAntre Prince pick made sense. That said, he was one of many Trent Baalke draft selections that failed to pan out.
Granted, Baalke hit it out of the ballpark with budding star Brian Thomas Jr., and kicker Cam Little in 2024. Similarly, running back Tank Bigsby and tight end Brenton Strange have turned out to be productive players after a slow start to their respective NFL careers. However, the former Jaguars general manager didn't have enough hits to overcome his misses.
If that wasn't enough, Baalke's track record in free agency was even worse. And just now, the Jaguars reminded everyone how underwhelming he was at acquiring talent by cutting DeAntre Prince.