Tag: Reserve/Futures

Jaguars sign 14 players to Reserve/Future contracts

The Jaguars got the 2023 offseason started with 14 Reserve/Future deals announced Monday morning.

The Jacksonville Jaguars wasted no time kicking off their offseason. On the Monday after Super Bowl LVII, the team announced 14 players have been signed to Reserve/Future contracts.

A Reserve/Future deal, which is typically a minimum-salary contract, doesn’t count against the team’s salary cap or roster limit until the beginning of the next league year. The 2023 season officially begins on March 15, at which point the following 14 players will be fully added to the Jaguars’ roster:

Wide receiver – Kevin Austin Jr.
Offensive lineman – Coy Cronk
Safety – Tyree Gillespie
Kicker – James McCourt
Wide receiver – Jaylon Moore
Offensive lineman – James Murray
Safety – Ayo Oyelola
Quarterback – E.J. Perry
Tight end – Gerrit Prince
Running back – Mekhi Sargent
Safety – Deionte Thompson
Defensive lineman – Nick Thurman
Offensive lineman – Darryl Williams
Wide receiver – Seth Williams

All 14 players locked down by the Jaguars on Monday were part of the team at the conclusion of the 2022 season.

Among the notable players retained by Jacksonville are Perry and Oyelola. With C.J. Beathard’s contract set to expire, the Jaguars may be setting up for a competition for the backup quarterback role behind starter Trevor Lawrence. The team recently signed Canadian Football League quarterback Nathan Rourke, who will be in camp alongside Perry and likely another passer or two in August.

Oyelola was signed by the Jaguars last May as part of the International Pathway Program. The English-born defensive back graduated with a law degree from the University of Nottingham and briefly played for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the CFL before joining the Jaguars last offseason.

Jaguars sign LB Elijah Sullivan to Reserve/Futures contract

The Jags added some depth at linebacker by signing Elijah Sullivan to a Reserve/Futures contract.

Jacksonville is shoring up its roster heading into the offseason, as the team has signed linebacker Elijah Sullivan to a Reserve/Futures contract.

Sullivan, who was undrafted in 2021 out of Kansas State, landed with the San Francisco 49ers last offseason. He spent training camp with the team and began the season on the practice squad, but he was released on Sept. 7.

He ended up signing with Kansas City’s practice squad, where he spent the entirety of the 2021 season. However, he was released on Jan. 18, and he’ll be spending at least the beginning of this offseason in Jacksonville.

A native of Tucker, Ga., Sullivan earned back-to-back Honorable Mention All-Big 12 accolades in 2019 and 2020. He appeared in 48 games (starting 24) and totaled 144 tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss, six passes defensed, two sacks, two picks and two forced fumbles (with one recovery).

He’ll compete for a roster spot at a position where the team already has a good bit of depth with players like Shaquille Quarterman, Chapelle Russell and Dakota Allen.

Jacksonville signs 8 players to Reserve/Futures contracts

Four of the eight players signed saw playing time during the 2021 season.

With the Jacksonville Jaguars’ season in the books, the team will now focus on a crucial offseason in which it clearly needs to improve a lot after finishing with the league’s worst record for the second year in a row. While the focus from a roster management perspective will mostly be on adding new players through the draft and free agency, the team will also be keeping around a few developmental players from the practice squad.

On Monday, the Jaguars signed eight players to Reserve/Futures contracts heading into the 2022 season. Several of those players got to see action in the final weeks of the season as the team battled injuries and COVID-19 cases. Here are the eight players.

  • WR Jeff Cotton Jr.
  • RB Nathan Cottrell
  • OL Coy Cronk
  • WR Josh Hammond
  • OL Jared Hocker
  • WR Tim Jones
  • DL Jeremiah Ledbetter
  • OL Badara Traore

Cotton, Cottrell, Hammond and Traore all saw some playing time this season despite spending most of the year on the practice squad, and they will look to make the final roster next preseason.

For a refresher on how Reserve/Futures contracts work, teams are permitted to sign players to futures contracts if they were not a part of the team’s active roster following the season. These deals don’t count against the salary cap or toward the 53-man roster, rather counting against the 90-man roster allowed during camp.

These players can no longer be signed by another team like they could if they remained on the practice squad, and they will have a chance to earn their spots during camp this offseason.