As anticipated, the Jacksonville Jaguars are expected to decline the last year of Marcell Dareus’ contract this week. Once they officially do they will save $20 million towards their salary cap in 2020 and get themselves trending in the right direction with free agency coming up.
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As we pointed out last week, the Jags had until Tuesday February 25 to make a decision on if they would accept or decline his option. He still could end up re-signing with the Jags afterward, however, nothing has been reported about both sides working on a new deal, so it appears the Jags may look to get younger and cheaper in his place.
Dareus was traded to the Jags (from the Buffalo Bills) in 2017 for a fifth-round pick. He helped improve their run defense significantly from that point on and managed to accumulate 45 tackles and 2.5 sacks as a Jaguar over the span of three years.
In 2019, Dareus had issues staying healthy, however, and missed 10 games. He suffered a severe core injury Week 7 against the Cincinnati Bengals which resulted in surgery and put him on season-ending injured reserve.
Luckily, the 2020 draft class is strong at defensive tackle so the team could go that route to replace the veteran come April. They also could get a younger proven player out of free agency, which is something we looked into Sunday.