Take a minute to catch your breath, Duval. Thursday was a whirlwind in terms of news coming out of One EverBank Field. The Jaguars parted ways with six players. QB Cody Kessler, LBs Blair Brown and Donald Payne, FB Dimitri Flowers, RB David Williams, and OL Parker Ehinger are no longer on the Jaguars roster. Cody Kessler's fate was seemingly sealed when Jacksonville selected QB Gardner Minshew with the 178th pick in April's draft. Despite completing 65% of his passes for the Jaguars last year, Kessler did little to help the Jaguars offense put points on the board. Blair Brown and Donald Payne, both of whom were depth linebackers figured to factor into the Jaguars plans at linebacker prior to last week. But the Jaguars signed four linebackers and drafted LB Quincy Williams in the third round of the draft. A fifth-round pick in 2017, Brown seemingly didn't develop much over the last two seasons. Donald Payne was released after not passing a physical. Dimitri Flowers spent some time on the Jaguars practice squad during the 2018 season, but he'll look for new work now. The Jaguars may be moving on from rostering a traditional full back in 2019. Parker Ehinger has struggled to stay healthy during his time in the NFL. There was some hope that he would make the roster as a depth piece, but he'll have to find work elsewhere after being signed by the Jaguars earlier this spring.
David Williams got some meaningful snaps and carries during his rookie year in 2018. Initially drafted by the Broncos, the Jaguars plucked him off their practice squad, and he was thrust into the lineup after injuries ravaged the Jaguars running back room. Then there's the Telvin Smith situation. After not communicating with the team throughout the voluntary portion of the offseason program, Smith announced on Thursday that he wouldn't be playing football in 2019 due to personal reasons. The first bit of business here is that Telvin Smith is clearly going through some issues off the field and getting himself back to where he needs to be in his personal life should be his top priority. I wish the best for Telvin the person. Telvin Smith, the professional athlete, should have — at some point — communicated with his team before going public with this announcement. The good news for the Jaguars football team, however, is that they've been preparing for Telvin not to play by signing a bevy of linebackers and drafting one in the third round. With Myles Jack, Jake Ryan, Josh Allen, Quincy Williams, and Leon Jacobs all in the fold at linebacker, the team has plenty of talent there. More good news: the Jaguars will receive some salary cap relief, regardless of how they move forward. Their best option in the short term, monetarily speaking, would be to place Telvin Smith on the does-not-report list, which would save the team $9.75 million against the cap in 2019. The added money the Jaguars do get from Telvin Smith’s decision not to play could help them re-sign players like Yannick Ngakoue and Myles Jack. What are your thoughts on the Telvin Smith situation? Let us know in the comments below. |
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