Tuesday was not a good day if you’re a Jacksonville Jaguars fan. The organization may lead the NFL in available cap space, but it can’t control the personnel decisions made by other teams. And at the franchise tag deadline, a number of high-profile Jags free agent targets were tagged by their teams, meaning they won’t hit the open market.
Among these players are Chicago Bears receiver Allen Robinson and Giants defensive tackle Leonard Williams. Further, Jacksonville chose to exercise its franchise tag on left tackle Cam Robinson, who some fans were hoping to move on from. While he’s still young, his development has slowed over the last couple of seasons, and fans were higher on veteran Trent Williams with Trevor Lawrence likely coming to town.
It seems that ship has sailed now. For better or worse, Robinson is returning to Jacksonville and the team won’t be changing its offensive line significantly this offseason.
Given all this, it shouldn’t be a surprise that the Jags were among CBS Sports’ tag deadline losers.
We get the idea of securing an incumbent left tackle ahead of presumptive No. 1 pick Trevor Lawrence’s arrival, but guaranteeing $14.5 million to Cam Robinson on the tag after the vet graded among the worst pass protectors of 2020 in a contract year? Don’t love it. Why not use the cash to spend big for, say, Trent Williams or another free agent?
It’s easy to understand where the Jaguars are coming from. There was no guarantee they would land an upgrade, and now they’ve secured a player who is at least capable of starting. But Jacksonville has to spend its money somewhere, and with fewer options now on the table, it’s a bit surprising that it chose to retain a player who is still developing in pass protection.