Jaguars rookie is the biggest beneficiary of the Roy Robertson-Harris trade

The Jacksonville Jaguars made the first trade of the 2024 NFL season when they sent defensive end Roy Robertson-Harris to the Seattle Seahawks in exchange for a sixth-round pick one day after the loss to the Chicago Bears. The moves don't offer cap relief right away but it comes with a set of pros and cons for the Jags. One of the benefits is that a rookie defensive lineman will see an increased role.

Tom Pelissero of NFL Media broke the news that Jacksonville was trading Robertson-Harris to the Hawks. Not long after, the team announced the move.

Robertson-Harris signed with the Chicago Bears after going undrafted in 2017 and joined the Jags in 2021. He quickly became an important piece of their defensive line rotation and was rewarded with a three-year extension last year. The former UTEP Miner appeared in 54 games with 39 starts for the Jags, registering 11.5 sacks and 123 total tackles. In Seattle, he'll be joining a defensive front that is in need of much-needed depth while Byron Murphy II recovers from a hamstring injury that's forced him to miss three consecutive contests.

While trading RRH accelerated a cap charge of $6.9 million from next year and left $11.7 million in dead money for 2024, his departure paves the way for rookie Maason Smith to get a bigger workload the remainder of the season.

A second-round pick in this year's draft, Smith has gotten minimal playing time so far this season. In fact, he was inactive for Week 2. At the time, head coach Doug Pederson explained that the former LSU had a good week of practice but veterans Jeremiah Ledbetter and Esezi Otomew had even better weeks of preparation.

For the season, Smith has played 39 percent of the team's total snaps on defense, registering one sack and five total tackles.

The Jaguars will see what Maason Smith can do with Roy Robertson-Harris out of the picture

Having signed veteran Arik Armstead in free agency, defensive tackle wasn't a pressing need for the Jaguars heading into the draft. For that reason, the Maason Smith pick raised eyebrows. Sure, he had lots of upside but cornerback was a bigger priority. Still, the top brass felt that the Louisiana native was too good to pass up.

Unfortunately, Jacksonville got minimal production from Smith in the offseason and early in the regular season. In his defense, he was stuck behind Armstead, Roy Robertson-Harris, and DaVon Hamilton.

With RRH out of the way, Smith should get an increased role in the rotation. In fact, he could start next to Hamilton if Armstead keeps lining up on the edge.

In retrospect, the decision to give Robertsanon-Harris an extension doesn't look great. But instead of doubling down, the Jacksonville Jaguars cut their losses and moved on. Sure, you could make the case that they felt like they were getting enough bang for their buck at the time, and you would be right. However, they could no longer give him playing time at the expense of Maason Smith. Add the sixth-round pick that they acquired in the trade, and the move doesn't look that bad.

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