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When meeting with the media on Thursday following the initial free agency frenzy, Jacksonville Jaguars' GM James Gladstone was asked about the decisions to move on from tight end Evan Engram and wide receiver Christian Kirk.
Last week, prior to free agency start, the Jaguars traded Kirk to the Houston Texans for a seventh-round pick and released Engram, who has since signed with the Denver Broncos.
While last season, both Engram and Kirk would miss time due to injuries, for a Jaguars offense that has to improve, they now have a lot of production to replace. Both Engram and Kirk were favorite targets of quarterback Trevor Lawrence.
Kirk totaled 1,108 yards in 2022 and 787 yards in 2023 despite playing in only 12 games. Engram, meanwhile, had 766 yards in 2022 and 963 yards in 2023.
But in order for the Jaguars to get where they want to go, they had to take a step back in this regard.
“Yeah, really have so much respect for the people and the players that both Christian and Evan are, and they meant a lot to the locker room," Gladstone said. "We'll continue to bring those types of people and players into our ecosystem, but we needed a little bit more flexibility to address the larger scale roster after some departures across the OL as well.
"So, that was a big part in that. But we do feel like we're in a better position today than we were a couple of weeks ago to make it so that when we enter each decision at each pick point in April, we can continue to level up where we are from a personnel perspective.”
That flexibility that Gladstone was referring to was in regards to the salary cap. By moving on from Kirk, the team freed up $10.43 million in cap space. By releasing Engram, the Jaguars saved $5.98 million in cap space.
Those two moves, along with three other roster cuts that were made, took the Jaguars from having roughly $40 million in available cap space prior to free agency to just shy of $61 million, according to Over the Cap.
Gladstone then began reshaping the roster with nine free-agent signings, targeted primarily at three specific position groups--the offensive line, tight end, and secondary.
There is still work to be done when it comes to adding to the roster, and the Jaguars do have the salary cap flexibility still to continue adding in free agency if they see fit. The Jaguars also have a league-high 10 draft picks this year as well.
But as Gladstone said on Thursday, he wanted to utilize free agency to raise the floor of this roster--something he believes the team accomplished--and in order to do that, more flexibility was needed.
This article originally appeared on Jaguars Wire: Jaguars free agency: GM on releasing Evan Engram, trading Christian Kirk
Continue reading...
Last week, prior to free agency start, the Jaguars traded Kirk to the Houston Texans for a seventh-round pick and released Engram, who has since signed with the Denver Broncos.
While last season, both Engram and Kirk would miss time due to injuries, for a Jaguars offense that has to improve, they now have a lot of production to replace. Both Engram and Kirk were favorite targets of quarterback Trevor Lawrence.
Kirk totaled 1,108 yards in 2022 and 787 yards in 2023 despite playing in only 12 games. Engram, meanwhile, had 766 yards in 2022 and 963 yards in 2023.
But in order for the Jaguars to get where they want to go, they had to take a step back in this regard.
“Yeah, really have so much respect for the people and the players that both Christian and Evan are, and they meant a lot to the locker room," Gladstone said. "We'll continue to bring those types of people and players into our ecosystem, but we needed a little bit more flexibility to address the larger scale roster after some departures across the OL as well.
"So, that was a big part in that. But we do feel like we're in a better position today than we were a couple of weeks ago to make it so that when we enter each decision at each pick point in April, we can continue to level up where we are from a personnel perspective.”
That flexibility that Gladstone was referring to was in regards to the salary cap. By moving on from Kirk, the team freed up $10.43 million in cap space. By releasing Engram, the Jaguars saved $5.98 million in cap space.
Those two moves, along with three other roster cuts that were made, took the Jaguars from having roughly $40 million in available cap space prior to free agency to just shy of $61 million, according to Over the Cap.
Gladstone then began reshaping the roster with nine free-agent signings, targeted primarily at three specific position groups--the offensive line, tight end, and secondary.
There is still work to be done when it comes to adding to the roster, and the Jaguars do have the salary cap flexibility still to continue adding in free agency if they see fit. The Jaguars also have a league-high 10 draft picks this year as well.
But as Gladstone said on Thursday, he wanted to utilize free agency to raise the floor of this roster--something he believes the team accomplished--and in order to do that, more flexibility was needed.
This article originally appeared on Jaguars Wire: Jaguars free agency: GM on releasing Evan Engram, trading Christian Kirk
Continue reading...
