What's next for Jaguars' free agents?

Marrone, Caldwell share thoughts on free agency

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Now that the Mar. 1 deadline for assigning the franchise or transition tag to players has passed, NFL teams have a better idea of how to attack free agency. During this week’s NFL scouting combine, Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone and general manager Dave Caldwell shared some of their thoughts on which direction the Jaguars will take with their own free agents.

Half of the Jaguars starting secondary is set to hit the free agent market. Whether or not CB Prince Amukamara or SS Johnathan Cyprien return is largely based on their price tag.  

“I think for both of those guys I think it is important for them to hit the market and see what their value is and then circle back with their representation,” said Caldwell.

Neither Amukamara nor Cyprien recorded an interception in 2016. Creating more big plays on defense is something that the Jaguars are putting a premium on this offseason.

“I think it’s like anything else, we’re looking to better our team,” said Marrone when asked if he’d like to see Amukamara return. “We didn’t win a lot of football games, so whichever way we can better our team, and there’s a lot of different ways, there’s so much improvement in what we need. He’s out there right now, so we’ll just see where this process takes us, who’s looking at him. We’re talking to him and we’ll see where it ends up.”

Although the Jaguars have a pending trade for left tackle Branden Albert, they haven’t completely ruled out having Kelvin Beachum return. Last month the Jaguars didn’t pick up the four-year option on Beachum’s contract. At the moment the Jaguars depth chart is shaping up to have Albert at left tackle and Jeremy Parnell at right tackle. At both offensive guard positions and center things aren’t nearly as clear. That’s why the Jaguars are entertaining the thought of re-signing Beachum to play guard.

“He has shown before that he has played the guard position early in his career in Pittsburgh,” said Marrone. “Obviously, my conversations with Kelvin during the season were obviously with him playing left tackle. I think he did a hell of a job for us playing through an injury during the course of the year. I think it is just a matter of just seeing where the process takes us and where he is.”

According to sportrac.com only the Cleveland Browns, San Francisco 49ers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers will have more cap space than Jacksonville. But Caldwell says just because they have the money doesn’t mean it will be spent aimlessly.

“We I think we have to be disciplined. We’re going to set a limit for our guys that we’re going to target. We’re going to be aggressive for the guys we want. We can’t be careless with the money.”