The Jacksonville Jaguars reshape contracts, freeing cap space for 2026, while also adding RB Chris Rodriguez to the roster.
The Jacksonville Jaguars continue to restructure player contracts to free up cap space for 2026 amid free agency and heading toward NFL draft season.
On Friday, the Jaguars revamped Logan Cooke's contract, converting $3.2 million of the ninth-year punter's guaranteed salary into a signing bonus, according to Spotrac's calculations. The move included adding one void year, as Jacksonville was able to clear $2.56 million in cap space for 2026.
Thursday saw Spotrac news of Jacksonville's reengineering of the three-year, $60 million extension receiver Jakobi Meyers signed in mid-December.
An estimated $4.7 million of Meyers' salary was turned into a fully guaranteed roster bonus in a move that made available nearly $3.8 in cap space.
General manager James Gladstone on Thursday answered questions from reporters about what the Jaguars planned to do with their growing cap room, and whether the team was looking to make a splash in free agency.
"I think FOMO [fear of missing out] sets in a little bit -- we're all human," Gladstone acknowledged. "At the same time, it's not uncharted territory for me. It's not uncharted territory for Liam. He was with us at the Rams and this was an approach that we took in multiple cycles. And it’s really one that I know well and feel confident we can navigate and really be able to use all the different intervals that lie in front of us to continue to shape what will be the 2026 Jacksonville Jaguars."
On Wednesday, the team announced running back Chris Rodriguez of the Washington Commanders was coming aboard as a restricted free agent.
The fourth-year pro signed a two-year, $10 million contract that includes a guaranteed $6.2 million, Spotrac reported Wednesday. A sixth-round draft pick in 2023, Rodriguez will be an unrestricted free agent in 2028.
The Jaguars on Tuesday tweaked Robert Hainsey's contract, freeing up $4 million in cap space by converting $5 million of the veteran center's salary into signing-bonus money, Spotrac reported. (Hainsey is set to earn $6.75 million in 2026.)
An All-Pro (second team) and Pro-Bowler in 2024, Cooke, 30, was drafted by the Jaguars in the seventh round in 2018 out of Mississippi State.
The Columbia, Mississippi, native was named the AFC's Player of the Week for special teams this past season following the Jaguars' 36-20 upset win over the Broncos in Denver.
Jacksonville was roughly between $9 million and $11.5 million above 2025's NFL-mandated salary cap. While the salary-cap ceiling increased by $22 million or so to an estimated $303 million for 2026, that wiggle room didn't mean Jacksonville was free of its cap overages.
The Jaguars restructured the contract of cornerback Jourdan Lewis on March 6, creating enough cap space ($6 million) to make the team salary-cap compliant heading into the new league year. Jacksonville had already chipped away at some of its cap overage by re-signing and reworking contracts for offensive lineman Patrick Mekari and safety Eric Murray.
On Monday, the start of free-agency's "legal tampering" period, the Jags re-signed cornerback Montaric Brown for three years and $33 million as well as linebacker Dennis Gardeck, who agreed to two-year deal worth $12 million, according to Spotrac.
Brown told reporters on Monday that his camp had been working with the Jags' front office for weeks ahead of his re-signing. The first person he told when the deal was done, he said, was his mom.
"It feels great. It feels unbelievable to get things done and to stay here," Brown said. "Man, we’ve got something special here and just to continue that, it feels great."
Gardeck, whose one-year deal for 2025 expired, said he was pleased to re-sign for two more years.
"I'm just excited to be back in Jacksonville," he said. "It's about being back with a good group of guys both in the locker room and the coaching staff."
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