![Jacksonville Jaguars defensive end Josh Hines-Allen (41) runs on the field before an NFL football matchup Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024 at EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville, Fla. [Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union]](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,x_0,y_213,w_6000,h_3375/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/ImagnImages/mmsport/55/01k0detf5hdf6mm9q5fs.jpg "Jacksonville Jaguars defensive end Josh Hines-Allen (41) runs on the field before an NFL football matchup Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024 at EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville, Fla. [Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union]")
The Jacksonville Jaguars currently have virtually all their building blocks under contract, but that wasn't the case in 2024. Many of their key players were either entering contract years or set to become free agents. Fortunately, the Jags managed to take care of all of them, and one of the deals they handed retroactively looks much better in light of the latest T.J. Watt news.
The Pittsburgh Steelers announced that they've given Watt a three-year extension worth $123 million just before training camp began. Based on how dominant he's been throughout his career, he deserves every penny he got.
A first-round pick in 2017, Watt has spent his whole career with Pittsburgh. He's led the league in sacks three times and earned the Defensive Player of the Year award in 2021. His annual average of $41 million exceeds the $40 million per year fellow pass rusher Myles Garrett got when he agreed to a new contract with the Cleveland Browns early in 2025. This takes us to Josh Hines-Allen.
The Jaguars paid a premium for Josh Hines-Allen because they had to wait
Back in 2023, Hines-Allen was entering the last year of his rookie deal. Although he was willing to accept a non-premium offer, the team's brass wanted him to play his contract out. This was an understandable stance because the former Kentucky Wildcat had played well at times but hadn't been nearly as dominant as the Jags envisioned when they drafted him in the seventh overall in 2019.
Hines-Allen went on to have to career season, setting a new franchise record for sacks in a season with 17.5. Having proven himself, he rightly wanted a new deal but got the franchise tag instead because then-general manager Trent Baalke didn't have a sense of urgency during contract talks. Ultimately, the Virginia native and the team negotiated a four-year deal worth $141.25 million before the deadline.
At the time of the signing, the deal made Hines-Allen the second-highest paid pass rusher in the NFL but has since tumbled down a few spots because Watt, Garrett, Maxx Crosby, Nick Bosa, and Danielle Hunter have inked more lucrative deals.
While Hines-Allen isn't in the same echelon as either Garrett or Watt, he isn't that far off. Although he doesn't have nearly as many career sacks as his peers, he excels at causing disruption at the line of scrimmage.
The Jaguars will next have to take care of Travon Walker
Sure, Hines-Allen is coming off a somewhat disappointing year, registering "just" eight sacks. However, getting back to his play weight should help him once again join the conversation about the most dominant pass rushers in the NFL.
Josh Hines-Allen is now the sixth highest-paid pass rusher in the league, and he'll soon keep moving down the list. Seeing T.J. Watt getting a new deal may incentivize the Dallas Cowboys and the Cincinnati Bengals to pay Micah Parsons and Trey Hendrickson, respectively, as soon as possible. And it's fair to assume that both of them will want bigger contracts than the one Watt signed.
Once Hendrickson and Parsons get new deals, and it's a matter of time before they do, Hines-Allen will be the eighth-highest-paid edge rusher in the NFL. Sure, $28.5 million a year is far from chump change, but the Jacksonville Jaguars most definitely made the right call when they gave the 2019 first-round selection a new contract instead of letting him play the 2024 season on the franchise tag.
On the other hand, the Jags aren't off the hook just yet. Travon Walker is already eligible for an extension, and while he's yet to live up to his draft billing, his price tag just went up after T.J. Watt got his deal. Now, Jacksonville will need to decide whether it wants to pay the former Georgia Bulldog before salaries at the position continue to increase or wait until 2026.
Sure, the Jaguars may not want to give Walker an extension until they're 100 percent confident that he deserves a new deal, but they run the risk of having to give him top-market compensation if he does have a breakout season in 2025, as he's expected.