With the Jacksonville Jaguars making their first splash signing of the tampering period when they agreed to terms with inside linebacker Joe Schobert, many fans were concerned about the deal’s structure. That’s mostly because of two players who may not be on the roster this regular season in Nick Foles and Yannick Ngakoue, who are set to be cap hits of $22.1 million and $17.7 million (non-exclusive franchise tag), respectively.
However, as we expected, Schobert’s contract won’t hurt the Jags much at all as his cap hit for the upcoming season will be $5.4 million, according to Spotrac. The database also has him down for a base salary of $2.5 million, a $2.4 million signing bonus, a $300K roster bonus, a $200K workout bonus, and a $5.4 million cap hit. After 2020, he’ll also be down for cap hits of $9.9 million and $11.6 million in the years of 2021 and 2022 with a potential out coming in between.
Missed the workout bonus… $200K
— Jay (@SportsGrind_Don) March 18, 2020
When looking at the Jags’ cap hits for 2020, Schobert’s contract is ranked 10th, which isn’t bad at all for a free agent of his status. Additionally, it appears the Jags are being wise with the money recouped from trading veteran Calais Campbell ($15 million), which helped make Schobert’s addition possible.
With the Jags’ other new addition from Tuesday, Darqueze Dennard, not having his numbers confirmed yet, Schobert’s cap hit subtraction put the Jags at $19.1 million in available cap space. The team’s rookie pool (projected to cost $13.2 million) will have to be deducted from that total after April but the team will cross that bridge later and will probably dive into the money for the time being. However, if you took that total away from the Jags today, they would be at $5.9 million, but again, they likely are going to continue as if they have $19.1 million.
Of course, trading Foles and Ngakoue would add over $20 million, but it’s unclear when/if those moves will happen. The Jags could also release veteran receiver Marqise Lee and possibly defensive tackle Abry Jones, which would free up amounts of $5.2 million and four million, respectively.
The bottom line is that the Jags will be under the cap by the time the new league year starts Wednesday at 4 p.m. ET, which is required by all teams. However, the key to getting more wiggle room will be unloading Ngakoue.