![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1773168668_630_dirocco_michael.png&h=80&w=80&scale=crop.png\")
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Michael DiRoccoMar 10, 2026, 01:00 PM ET<\/p>\n
Close<\/a>Michael DiRocco is an NFL Nation reporter at ESPN and covers the Jacksonville Jaguars. He previously covered the University of Florida for over a decade for ESPN and the Florida Times-Union. DiRocco graduated from Jacksonville University and is a multiple APSE award winner.<\/p>\n Multiple Authors<\/p>\n NFL free agency<\/a> is off and running, and we’re keeping track of every major signing, trade and release of the 2026 offseason, with analysis from our NFL Nation reporters and grades from our experts.<\/p>\n The new league year begins Wednesday at 4 p.m. ET, which means free agents can be made official after that. The first round of the 2026 NFL draft<\/a> begins April 23 on ESPN.<\/p>\n Here’s a breakdown of every 2026 NFL free agent signing by the Jacksonville Jaguars<\/a> and how each will impact the upcoming season:<\/p>\n Brown will remain in Jacksonville on a three-year, $33 million dollar deal<\/a>, his agents from Milk & Honey Sports told ESPN.<\/p>\n What it means: With Brown’s signing, the Jaguars now have their two starting outside cornerbacks under contract for 2026 (Travis Hunter<\/a>). Brown led the team with 12 PBUs last season and was one of the defense’s most consistent players. Defensive coordinator Anthony Campanile’s system is heavy on zone coverage, which is Brown’s strength. His 69.6 passer rating in coverage was the sixth-best in the NFL among cornerbacks with at least 200 coverage snaps, per NFL Next Gen Stats.<\/p>\n Brown was an afterthought when he was drafted in the seventh round in 2022, but steadily improved, going from mainly a special teams player to a 22-game starter over the past two seasons. Brown likely could have likely landed a bigger contract had he hit free agency but the sides came to an agreement on an extension hours before the negotiating period began.<\/p>\n Jaguars gave Gardeck a two-year deal to return to Jacksonville.<\/p>\n What it means: The Jaguars brought Gardeck in last season to be a key player on special teams, but his role on defense evolved as the season progressed. He ended up being used as an outside rusher at times, which allowed DE Travon Walker<\/a> to move inside to provide some interior rush. Gardeck finished with 2.5 sacks and a forced fumble along with 48 tackles and nine quarterback hits. He’ll have the benefit of a healthy offseason — he was coming off a torn ACL last offseason — and with the likely departure of Devin Lloyd<\/a>, his role on defense may expand even further.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Michael DiRoccoMar 10, 2026, 01:00 PM ET CloseMichael DiRocco is an NFL Nation reporter at ESPN and covers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":186043,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117],"class_list":["post-186042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186042","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=186042"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186042\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/186043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1760712432_732__end_rule.png\")
<\/p>\nThe Jaguars selected Brown, 26, in the seventh round of the 2022 draft.\u00a0David Rosenblum\/Icon Sportswire<\/p>\n