Over The Cap.<\/a> It\u2019s tough to look at this cap situation and imagine Trent Baalke almost had another go as general manager. There aren\u2019t a lot of clear cost-saving moves with a few players who would save around $2 million each. Jacksonville also doesn\u2019t have a ton of restructure options. OT Walker Little could open just under $8 million, but his status in the lineup is questionable with the recent extension for guard Cole Van Lanen. A trade could also save $7 million.<\/p>\nAdvertisement<\/p>\n
Would Travon Walker be a trade candidate? With the former first overall draft pick set to play on his fifth-year option, the Jaguars could free up $15 million and recoup some draft capital lost in the Travis Hunter trade, which cost Jacksonville its first-round pick this year.<\/p>\n
Key pending free agents<\/p>\n
LB Devin Lloyd
RB Travis Etienne Jr.
CB Montaric Brown
S Andrew Wingard<\/p>\n
Lloyd had his fifth-year option declined, but came through with several big plays throughout the 2025 season. But Lloyd was only 78th in yards allowed per coverage snap and 39th among linebackers in FTN\u2019s defeats. Etienne was another former first-round pick who came alive in his final season. Etienne was 11th in rushing yards, but just 42nd in success rate among 49 running backs with at least 100 carries. Brown was impressive as an outside corner in the Anthony Campanile defense. He ranked 15th among cornerbacks in adjusted yards allowed per coverage snap.<\/p>\n
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Positional needs<\/p>\n
Cornerback
Interior defensive line
Offensive line<\/p>\n
Jacksonville\u2019s need for a cornerback could hinge on the recovery and projected role when Hunter returns. He played well as an outside corner and ranked 36th in adjusted yards allowed per coverage snap at the position. But it\u2019s unclear what the Jags have planned for him going forward. The Tyson Campbell for Greg Newsome trade was a lose-lose and Newsome will be a free agent.<\/p>\n
Arik Armstead was second on the team in pressures and was often the only player on the interior able to create penetration. Against the run, Jacksonville was seventh in success rate, but just 21st in stuff rate for tackles at or behind the line of scrimmage.<\/p>\n
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The Jaguars need to figure out how they want to approach the offensive line. The extension for Cole Van Lanen was the first indication. By EPA per play, the best offensive line combination has been what the Jaguars ran out late in the season, going Van Lanen, Ezra Cleveland, Robert Hainsey, Walker Little and Anton Harrison from left to right. Jacksonville has a decision to make on Harrison\u2019s fifth-year option and Cleveland will go into 2026 on the final year of his contract.<\/p>\n
2026 NFL Draft picks<\/p>\n
2nd round
3rd round (DET)
3rd round
3rd round (DET projected compensatory)
4th round
5th round (SF)
5th round
7th round (DET)
7th round (LAR)<\/p>\n
Good draft fit<\/p>\n
Lee Hunter, DT, Texas Tech<\/p>\n
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Hunter isn’t the dynamite penetrator the Jaguars would prefer, but his combination of size and production might be too good to pass up. Plus, his pass-rushing juice can help him stay on the field all three downs and impact the game.<\/p>\n
Betting nugget<\/p>\n
The Jaguars were one of the NFL\u2019s best teams as a favorite, going 7-1 against the number in the regular season. \u2014 Ben Fawkes<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The NFL offseason has begun, and Yahoo Sports is previewing the coming months for all 32 teams, from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":114788,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[9795,47637,58094,27027,54550,53245,51707,58097,9786,9788,9794,8730,5013,39453,9792,12007,8270,4580,1250,58096,37555,116,118,121,117,1630,23195,9793,58093,5323,49430,58092,119,12006,21421,9470,9671,9791,9787,9789,10871,5016,13170,58095,5011,12103,39476],"class_list":{"0":"post-114787","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-49ers","9":"tag-afc-east","10":"tag-afc-north","11":"tag-afc-south","12":"tag-afc-west","13":"tag-andrew-wingard","14":"tag-anton-harrison","15":"tag-arik-armstead","16":"tag-bengals","17":"tag-broncos","18":"tag-browns","19":"tag-buccaneers","20":"tag-chiefs","21":"tag-cole-van-lanen","22":"tag-colts","23":"tag-commanders","24":"tag-cowboys","25":"tag-devin-lloyd","26":"tag-dolphins","27":"tag-ezra-cleveland","28":"tag-greg-newsome","29":"tag-jacksonville","30":"tag-jacksonville-headlines","31":"tag-jacksonville-jaguars","32":"tag-jacksonville-news","33":"tag-jaguars","34":"tag-jakobi-meyers","35":"tag-jets","36":"tag-lee-hunter","37":"tag-liam-coen","38":"tag-montaric-brown","39":"tag-nfc-east","40":"tag-nfl","41":"tag-packers","42":"tag-panthers","43":"tag-rams","44":"tag-robert-hainsey","45":"tag-seahawks","46":"tag-steelers","47":"tag-texans","48":"tag-travis-etienne","49":"tag-travis-hunter","50":"tag-travon-walker","51":"tag-trent-baalke","52":"tag-trevor-lawrence","53":"tag-tyson-campbell","54":"tag-walker-little"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114787"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114787\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}