The first day of the legal tampering period on Monday was a bit disappointing for Jacksonville. Despite leading the league in salary cap available, the team whiffed on a number of potential targets, including tight ends Hunter Henry and Jonnu Smith, both of whom signed with the New England Patriots. They also missed out on safety John Johnson, who signed with the Cleveland Browns.
The biggest signing of the day for the Jags was former Los Angeles Chargers safety Rayshawn Jenkins, who agreed to a four-year, $35 million deal. Still, the day proved to be a bit of a let-down as the team failed to make headlines with any moves.
Day 2 was much better for Urban Meyer and Co., though. They bolstered the secondary further with the addition of Seattle cornerback Shaquill Griffin, made an aggressive move to trade for Saints defensive tackle Malcolm Brown and struck one of the best value deals in free agency in signing Detroit receiver Marvin Jones to a two-year, $14.5 million deal.
It’s not surprising that with this turnaround, the Jaguars are considered one of the winners of Day 2 by CBS Sports.
Winners: Jacksonville Jaguars
First-year head coach Urban Meyer has begun to shape his roster down in Jacksonville. To start things off on Tuesday, the Jaguars agreed to terms on a three-year, $40 million deal with former Seattle Seahawks cornerback Shaquill Griffin. Despite missing four regular-season games in 2020, Griffin recorded a career-high three interceptions, 12 pass deflections and 63 combined tackles. The Seahawks passed on utilizing the franchise tag on him, and now have paid the price. Hours later, the Jags made a bigger splash by snagging former Detroit Lions wide receiver Marvin Jones — reportedly giving him a two-year deal worth $14.5 million. While he just turned 31, Jones caught a career-high 76 passes for 978 yards and nine touchdowns in 2020. He’s also the only player in the NFL who has caught at least nine touchdown passes in each of the last two seasons. To cap things off, the Jaguars traded with the New Orleans Saints for defensive lineman Malcolm Brown, according to Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network, who was set to be released as a cap casualty. The defensive tackle had been a consistent presence on New Orleans’ defensive line, and should play a role in stuffing the run with Jacksonville immediately.
Free agency doesn’t officially open until Wednesday at 4 p.m. ET, but Jacksonville still has the cap space to make moves. There are a number of potential targets still out there and areas the team needs to improve on and Day 3 of the period could be another one where the team gets better.