Tag: A.J. Bouye

A.J. Bouye plans to be a play-making cornerback for Broncos

“I know I can make plays in the right situations,” new Broncos cornerback A.J. Bouye said.

Broncos coach Vic Fangio demands that his defenders are good tacklers so it’s no surprise that new cornerback A.J. Bouye excels in that area.

During his time with the Texans and Jaguars, Bouye totaled 315 tackles and 14 interceptions. He is projected to be one of Denver’s starting outside cornerbacks this season and plans to make a big impact.

“I’m a physical corner,” Boyue said during a conference call with reporters on March 18. “You know I’ll come up and tackle. I’m always good in the run game. I feel like what makes me my best is just my instincts.

“I study the game. I study all the time. It’s just a lot of concepts that fascinate me. I know I can make plays in the right situations. That’s one thing I feel like, especially on the outside, I can do.”

Bouye flys around the secondary and has broken up 66 passes in his career. He should be an excellent fit in the Broncos’ defense.

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Broncos share ‘Madden’ video of A.J. Bouye in a Denver uniform

Here’s what A.J. Bouye will look like in a Broncos uniform!

After agreeing to trade a fourth-round pick to the Jaguars in exchange for cornerback A.J. Bouye, the Broncos teamed up with Madden to give fans a look at what the cornerback will look like in an orange and blue uniform:

Bouye, 28, has totaled 14 interceptions in his career so far.

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Jags free agency tracker: Signings, tenders, trades and more

Here’s the latest in Jags news as we’re in Day 3 of free agency

The NFL’s new league year began Wednesday and the Jacksonville Jaguars have been pretty busy rebuilding their roster (mostly with transactions made prior). With more moves to come in the coming weeks, here is a free agent tracker for the team:

Free agents signed by Jaguars:

* Indicates a re-signed player

Players traded:

Players tendered or tagged:

Jags free agents:

  • The Jags have 20 free agents at the moment, per Over the Cap

The Jags have an estimated amount of: $19,364,739, estimated per Spotrac. However, Over the Cap has them at $16,640,780

Broncos GM John Elway comments on trading for A.J. Bouye

“He’s a complete cornerback who gives us what we need in both pass coverage and against the run,” Elway said of Bouye.

The Denver Broncos completed a trade with the Jacksonville Jaguars to acquire cornerback A.J. Bouye on Wednesday. Denver sent a fourth-round draft pick to Jacksonville in exchange for the veteran defensive back.

After the trade became official, Broncos president of football operations/general manager John Elway released a statement on the arrival of the new cornerback.

“We’re excited to be able to announce a trade with Jacksonville for A.J. Bouye,” Elway said. “He’s a great fit in Vic’s system with his instincts, ball skills, toughness and ability to play in a defense that mixes coverages.

“In addition to having the size on the outside to match up against larger receivers, A.J. is an excellent tackler. He’s a complete cornerback who gives us what we need in both pass coverage and against the run.”

Bouye, 28, will be one of the cornerbacks tasked with helping replace Chris Harris, who has agreed to sign with the Los Angeles Chargers.

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Jags, Broncos transaction for A.J. Bouye becomes official

The Jags and Broncos made their transaction for A.J. Bouye official upon the new league year.

After being traded over two weeks ago, cornerback A.J. Bouye is officially a Denver Bronco. Both organizations announced that the transaction was completed once the new league year began Wednesday at 4 p.m. ET.

With the nation currently dealing with COVID-19, the NFL has informed the league that each team isn’t allowed to have players travel or visit their facilities. However, per Nicki Jhabvala of The Athletic, Bouye traveled to Denver and took his physical before the travel ban was enforced.

In return for Bouye the Jags received a 2020 fourth-rounder (No. 137 overall) from the Broncos. The pick was given to them by the San Francisco 49ers for wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders.

Bouye originally joined the Jags in 2017 and he was able to land a Pro Bowl and a second team All-Pro nod in his first season with them. He ended his Jags career with 175 tackles, 34 pass breakups. and eight picks.

Broncos officially trade 4th-round pick to Jaguars for A.J. Bouye

The Broncos completed a trade for Jaguars cornerback A.J. Bouye on Wednesday.

Two weeks ago, the Broncos agreed to terms with the Jacksonville Jaguars on a trade that would send cornerback A.J. Bouye to Denver in exchange for a fourth-round 2020 NFL draft pick.

The deal could not become official until the start of the NFL’s new league year on Wednesday. With the league year now officially underway, Denver has completed the trade for Bouye.

In response to COVID-19, the NFL has told teams they are not allowed to travel to players or have players visit their facilities for physical examinations. That will result in many free agency signings remaining unofficial until the league allows travel again.

Before the NFL announced a travel ban, Bouye traveled to Denver and completed his physical, according to The Athletic’s Nicki Jhabvala. So his arrival is official but the team’s other moves are still pending physicals.

The Broncos used the fourth-round selection they acquired from the 49ers in exchange for wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders in the Bouye trade. Denver now has 10 draft picks remaining, including their own fourth-round selection.

Bouye (6-0, 191 pounds) is a 28-year-old cornerback who has totaled 315 tackles, one sack and 14 interceptions in seven seasons. He has two years remaining on his contract and will have a salary cap hit of $13.5 million this season.

Bouye made the Pro Bowl in 2017 after totaling 56 tackles and six interceptions. He will presumably serve as Denver’s No. 1 CB in 2020.

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Broncos were wise to pick A.J. Bouye over Byron Jones

Broncos GM John Elway made a shrewd financial decision to trade for A.J. Bouye instead of singing a free agent cornerback like Byron Jones.

Broncos general manager John Elway has been using trades to maximize Denver’s salary cap space for the 2020 season.

Last year, Elway traded wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders and a fifth-round draft pick to the 49ers in exchange for fourth- and third-round picks. Earlier this month, Elway agreed to trade the fourth-round pick he acquired from San Francisco to the Jaguars in exchange for cornerback A.J. Bouye.

That was a shrewd financial decision.

By trading for Bouye, the Broncos inherited the cornerback’s reasonable salary cap charges, about $13.5 million in each of the next two seasons. Jacksonville is eating the contract’s dead money so if Denver cut Bouye tomorrow, the Broncos wouldn’t have to take a cap hit to do so.

Elway essentially traded Sanders and a fifth-round pick in exchange for Bouye’s team-friendly contract and he got an extra third-round pick out of the deal as well. It’s a low-risk move because Bouye’s contract does not have any guaranteed money coming from Denver.

Compare that to the massive contract coveted free agent cornerback Byron Jones received from the Dolphins: five years, $82.5 million with $54.375 million guaranteed. Jones will earn an average of $16.5 million per season and Miami would take a massive dead money cap hit if they have to cut him.

Sure, Jones might have a higher ceiling, but he costs an average of $3 million per year and the Dolphins can’t easily get out of his contract if they need to. The Broncos got a cheaper cornerback and if it doesn’t work out, they can cut Bouye with no dead money and be left with an extra third-round draft pick.

That’s pretty good roster management by Elway.

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Leonard Fournette says he’s the ‘Tim Duncan’ of the Jags after surviving recent veteran trades

Leonard Fournette is one of the Jags’ few remaining players from their 2017 run, which is why he feels like a certain NBA legend.

The Jacksonville Jaguars have been moving towards a rebuild this offseason, and while some aren’t shocked, others are baffled by it. Count running back Leonard Fournette amongst those puzzled by the Jags’ decisions.

Sunday, the young tailback took to Instagram for a live session where he interacted with the fans while playing “Call of Duty.” A fan asked about the team’s decision to trade Calais Campbell and Fournette simply had no answers. However, he did counter with a bit of comedy by proclaiming that he’s the Tim Duncan of the Jags after surviving a big-time purge over the years.

“I don’t know why they [the Jaguars] are trading everybody,” said Fournette. “I’m here though. Listen, I’m Tim Duncan of the Jags! Believe that! Call me Timmy from now on!”

While Fournette remains one of the few players from the Jags’ 2017 roster which went to the AFC playoffs, it feels like almost no player is off-limits to be traded aside from Josh Allen, D.J. Chark, Jawaan Taylor, and maybe Gardner Minshew II. That said, there haven’t been any reports stating the Jags have shopped him or have been asked about him but that doesn’t mean he’s necessarily off-limits, especially if they were willing to trade a veteran like Calais Campbell, who they probably wanted to keep.

The Jags are also coming up on a decision on rather or not they will pick up Fournette’s fifth-year option. If they did, that would indicate they probably want his services for 2020 at least. They could very well pass on picking up the option, too, and simply observe how well he plays this upcoming season. If he impresses them, they could extend him down the road. If they aren’t impressed, they wouldn’t be invested in him past January and could simply let him hit the open market.

Fournette had a career-year in yards and yards per carry this past season accumulating totals of 1,152 and 4.3 in each category, respectively. Maybe If he can match those stats in 2020 and get in the end zone more, the Jags may elect to stick with the former first-round pick.

The Calais Campbell trade proves the Jaguars are botching their rebuild

The Jaguars have a plan. (But it’s a bad plan.)

The Jacksonville Jaguars have a plan. You could see the makings of it when they traded cornerback A.J. Bouye for a fourth-round pick on March 4. The plan grew clearer when the Jaguars decided to ditch Calais Campbell on Sunday in exchange for a fifth-round pick. (Both trades won’t be official until the league year opens on March 18.)

The Jaguars are rebuilding. Bouye’s extended through 2022 and Campbell’s deal extended through 2021, but Jacksonville would rather get draft compensation this offseason. Instead of waiting for Bouye and Campbell to leave in free agency, which would result in compensatory draft picks, the Jaguars traded the stars in an effort to dump salaries and get new talent in free agency.

So this is, roughly, their plan. They’re going to dump past free agent signings while accruing draft compensation. Eventually, they’ll have space to add more talent in free agency. Quarterback Nick Foles, by the way, should be extremely concerned about his standing with the team. He seems like the next casualty in the Jaguars’ sell-off. And perhaps a team will want him at the end of the quarterback carousel. Foles is due just $15 million in salary in 2020, which isn’t bad if a team needs a one-year rental.

The free-agency reinforcements aren’t likely to come in 2020, considering the Jags have just $28 million in cap space. No, they’re more likely to be active in 2021 and 2022. And that’s, in part, why the Jaguars took draft picks now, rather than compensatory picks later. They anticipate spending big money in free agency in the coming offseason, which would nullify their return in the compensatory formula (which weighs free agency losses with acquisitions).

So that’s their vision for the next few years: free up cap space and acquire as much draft capital in the process. The problem is that they’ve tried this plan before. And it doesn’t work. Free agency spending doesn’t always produce results in the regular season. And though the Jaguars got picks for veterans — a typically effective tactic for rebuilding teams — their impatience netted them an unimpressive return. Campbell is an elite player at one of the NFL’s most important positions. Bouye is just the same. Did both their play decline? Certainly. But the Jaguars are a worse team without them. And their fifth-round picks are unlikely to fill those holes in the defense. A fifth-round pick isn’t even a lock to make the 53-man roster.

Instead, the Jaguars will carry the guaranteed money for Bouye and Campbell on the cap for the next few years. They’ll draft rookies in the crap-shoot rounds of the draft. And they’ll hope that they can somehow build a coherent offense around their rent-controlled quarterback, Gardner Minshew. The Jaguars clearly have a plan. It’s just not one that’s proven to work, especially when it’s executed like this.

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Broncos’ updated cornerback depth chart after A.J. Bouye trade

After the Broncos agreed to trade for A.J. Bouye, Denver’s cornerback depth chart is starting to shape up.

The Broncos have agreed to trade a fourth-round pick to the Jaguars in exchange for cornerback A.J. Bouye. The deal won’t become official until March 18 but we can already start imagining what Denver’s secondary will look like after Bouye officially joins the roster.

The Broncos are not going to tender De’Vante Bausby but that doesn’t necessarily mean they won’t bring him back. Denver should be able to re-sign Bausby for less than what a tender would cost. So with that in mind, we have Bausby as part of the depth chart even though he’s not under contract.

Chris Harris is not included on the depth chart, though. It’s possible that the Broncos could re-sign Harris but it appears unlikely to happen. Cyrus Jones and Davontae Harris seem to be candidates to be re-signed but they’re not on the current depth chart.

CB1: A.J. Bouye (6-0, 191 pounds) is entering his eighth season in the NFL and he seems to be a perfect fit for Vic Fangio’s defense. Bouye earned a Pro Bowl nod in 2017 after recording six interceptions and fans in Denver can only hope that he returns to top form under Fangio.

CB2: Bryce Callahan (5-9, 188 pounds) missed all of last season with a foot injury but Broncos fans shouldn’t overlook him. Callahan is doing better now than he was at this point last spring and he has experience playing under Fangio. In 2018, Callahan totaled two sacks and two interceptions.

CB3: De’Vante Bausby (6-2, 190 pounds) played in the AAF last spring before reuniting with Fangio in Denver (sensing a trend?). He emerged as a quality cornerback last season before suffering a scary injury. Bausby is now healthy again and could be a good CB3 or excellent CB4 in 2020.

CB4: Duke Dawson (5-10, 198 pounds) was selected by the Patriots in the second round of the 2018 draft and later traded to the Broncos for a late-round pick. He was a serviceable nickelback last season and should have no problem winning a rotational spot in the secondary this offseason.

CB5: Isaac Yiadom (6-1, 190 pounds) was selected by Denver in the third round of the 2018 draft and has failed to live up to his draft status since then. He can’t be relied on to be one of the team’s top cornerbacks but he could provide depth in 2020.

CB6: Shakial Taylor (6-0, 181 pounds) was claimed off waivers by the Broncos last November and didn’t dress for any games. Denver clearly saw something in him and wanted to stash him for the future. This offseason, Taylor will get a shot to prove he deserves some playing time.

CB7: Alijah Holder (6-2, 188 pounds) signed with the Broncos as a college free agent last spring and spent his rookie season on the practice squad. With Will Parks not expected to return, Holder might have a better chance to make the roster if he switches to safety.

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