The Jacksonville Jaguars have a busy offseason ahead of them after finishing with the NFL’s worst record for a second consecutive time. Of course, the key for their roster will be to acquire more talent with their high draft picks and also add help through free agency (and potentially by trading, too).
However, they also could afford to keep some of their pending free agents, especially on the offensive side of the ball where it was clear that rookie quarterback Trevor Lawrence needed help. With needs on the offensive line and at receiver in terms of protecting him and giving him targets, tackle Cam Robinson and receiver DJ Chark Jr. are clearly the biggest names from the Jags’ group of pending free agents.
Fans would be hard-pressed to find an NFL analyst that won’t put the offensive line and receiver at the top of the Jags’ list of needs this offseason. And while retaining one or both players would help the Jags tremendously, their roster will still need additions at both respective positions regardless.
Of course, both of these players can be extended with new short or long-term deals. The idea of franchise or transition tagging the pair has been floated around, too, which means it’s now time to watch both players closely with the tag window officially starting today. The window will remain open until March 8, which gives all 32 organizations a two-week window to make their respective decisions.
However, if tagging wither player in some way is the route the Jags do choose to go, don’t expect them to jump on the opportunity quickly as we’ve seen these situations go down to the wire at times. But with the NFL Combine set to take place in a week, we’ll start to gather more information on what the Jags’ plans truly are.
If the Jags were to tag Robinson, it wouldn’t be unfamiliar territory as the team used the franchise tag on him last season. As a result, he received a one-year deal of over $13.7 million that was all guaranteed. Tagging him again would give him a 20% raise from his previous deal, which would put his salary at about $16.5 million for 2022.
It’s on general manager Trent Baalke and Doug Pederson to figure out if Robinson’s play will warrant that type of money. Last season, Robinson played in 14 games and took 857 snaps. He only allowed one sack and eight hits and registered a Pro Football Focus pass-blocking grade of 76.6. That alone gives the Jags something to think about, but they also have the luxury to upgrade left tackle through the draft and free agency with an estimated $59.2 million available in cap space.
As for Chark, it’s even more difficult to make a case for the franchise tag as he’s missed 22-of-65 games (33%). He missed a career-high of 13 games last season after suffering a fractured ankle Week 4 after he inadvertently got rolled up from behind. That said, he unfortunately, wasn’t able to give the Jags a season that would warrant a big deal, though he has one Pro Bowl season that took place in 2019.
Due to how his career has been up and down and affected by injuries, it’s clear that Chark has less of a chance of getting the franchise tag than Robinson. That’s especially the case with the receivers franchise tag projected at over $19.1 million, which means the transition tag ($16.7) may be more reasonable.
Time will tell what the Jags do over the next two weeks in terms of retaining these players and others. Keeping at least one certainly wouldn’t hurt a team with a bunch of needs, but at the same time, deciding on what route to go with both after a 3-14 season won’t be easy.
