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Last season, Jaguars fans mocked GM Trent Baalke by wearing clown wigs to games. Now, he’s attempting to buy their loyalty with a massive spending spree.
By Tuesday morning, Baalke had reportedly given out three of the five most lucrative contracts in 2022 NFL free agency.
Suddenly, with a franchise QB in Trevor Lawrence and the first pick in the draft, last season’s league-worst 3-14 team can possibly win now — but the new signings’ questionable production and injury histories raise some red flags.
- WR Christian Kirk: 3 YR, $72M — the sixth-most total money among WRs, third-most ($84M) with incentives. He has zero Pro Bowls and was 27th in yards in 2021.
- OG Brandon Scherff: 3 YR, $49.5M — the largest for an interior OL by AAV. He’s a five-time Pro Bowler but averaged 10.8 games over the last four seasons.
- LB Foyesade Oluokun: 3 YR, $45M — the 12th-largest for an LB by AAV. He led the league with 192 combined TKL in 2021 but has 5.0 sacks in four seasons.
The salary cap may not be an issue this season, but it could be soon — the three big signings’ $22 million combined cap hit this season jumps to $60.7 million in 2023.
Jacksonville also signed DT Foley Fatukasi (3 YR, $30M), WR Zay Jones (3 YR, $24M), and TE Evan Engram (1 YR, $9M), and released LB Myles Jack, freeing up an additional $8.4M.
Jacksonville still has $27.1 million in cap space.
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