Jaguars Poll OTW: How would you grade the Jags’ moves before the franchise tag deadline?

In this week’s Jaguars Poll of the Week, we want to know what grade you would give to the Jags’ various roster moves around the franchise tag deadline yesterday.

Welcome back, Jags pollsters!

Last week, we asked you what the Jacksonville Jaguars should do with OLB Josh Allen this offseason. Winning by the largest margin of any poll thus far, 81% of you all suggested the Jags should extend Josh Allen to a multi-year contract this offseason. Trailing far behind, 12% of you hoped the Jags would franchise tag him and extend him at some point later. Well congratulations to the 12%, you and Trent Baalke seem to have a similar mindset. The Jaguars applied the franchise tag to Allen yesterday, guaranteeing him $24 million this year. Of note, no move was made with WR Calvin Ridley, who is currently slated to hit free agency in the coming weeks.

The franchise tag was not the only move of the day, however. The Jaguars also announced the release of CB Darious Williams and S Rayshawn Jenkins, saving the team $11.5 million and $5.1 million in cap space, respectively. They also released birthday-boy-DT Foley Fatukasi the day before, saving them $3.5 million in cap space.

All these moves considered, we want to know: what would you grade the Jaguars’ moves yesterday?

In my eyes, I’d give the Jaguars a solid C- with major potential for an F. First things first: Josh Allen should’ve been signed already. He was the Jags’ best player this past season, yet he was pretty open that he didn’t hear from Jags about a contract extension until just a couple of weeks ago. This certainly does not help with the “Jags don’t keep their best players” trope that has plagued us for years.

Foley was an easy cut. Despite his sizable contract a few off-seasons ago, he has struggled to make any substantial impact, often outperformed by players further down the depth chart. While I wish him well (and happy belated birthday), I don’t think he will be missed on Sundays.

Jenkins was not entirely surprising either. Though he gave Jags fans some of the most memorable plays these past couple of years, his penchant for splash plays was accompanied by subpar pass coverage and poor tackling. With the emergence of Antonio Johnson towards the end of last season, Jenkins became more expendable.

While cutting Williams was not surprising, I think it was the wrong move. His departure leaves our current starting lineup as Tyson Campbell, Montaric Brown, and Greg Junior. Oof. While there are certainly excellent corners in this year’s NFL draft class, the Jags desperately need interior OL, another positional strength of this year’s draft class. Not to mention DL and WR, which have also been consistently mocked to the Jags at pick 17. Williams was the Jaguars’ best CB this past season, and though $11.5 million is a hefty chunk of change (assuming no re-structuring, which was certainly not out of the question), I think it would’ve been worth it for another season while the Jags bolster other positions of need.

These moves alone put the Jags at a C-. However, this could easily turn into an F.

By tagging Allen, the Jags are in a trickier spot with WR Calvin Ridley. If Ridley is resigned before free agency, the Jags unnecessarily give up an extremely valuable 2nd round pick in this upcoming draft, and I would be shocked if the contract was not a classic Baalke-style overpay. This would be an F-grade move, particularly considering the previous option of signing Josh Allen earlier and tagging Ridley. Alternatively, the Jags can let Ridley hit FA, in which case they will need a WR1 to help out Trevor Lawrence. Most of the potential WR1s set to hit free agency next week were franchise-tagged, making this year’s class less than exciting. What about drafting Brian Thomas at 17, you may ask? Sure, that would fill the roster vacancy, but it would leave much more glaring holes at C, OG, and now CB, thanks to the Williams cut. Moreover, the Jaguars only have mid-level cap space after dumping so much last offseason into mediocre rotational players.

The only way the Jags could redeem this bungle is to sign one or two solid starters in free agency on back-loaded contracts in positions of need. This would allow them to plug the remaining holes in the draft (assuming, of course, that Baalke is able to overcome his abysmal draft history). My sinking gut feeling is the Jaguars will vastly overestimate their offensive line once again, focusing on CB, WR, and DT in free agency and the draft. Let’s hope I’m wrong.

Jaguars fans, what are your thoughts? Let us know below!