Jaguars GM James Gladstone faces tough cap decisions. Discover which offensive stars must be re-signed to maintain playoff contention amidst financial challenges.
The Jacksonville Jaguars were the AFC South champions and a playoff team last season, after winning just four games in 2024. In 2026, the Jaguars will watch the free-agent market open next month with an estimated -$9.2 million in cap space throttling the team’s efforts to re-sign or find other talent easily.
General manager James Gladstone has his work cut out for him, trying to figure out who will survive the axe to keep a talented nucleus alive for this playoff-caliber team in 2026.
Below we take a look at offensive free agents for the Jaguars to re-sign, according to priority (the team has already re-signed running back DeeJay Dallas).
Additional coverage in our "Prioritizing Jags' Potential Free-Agent Re-Signing" series, we've taken a closer look at impending free agents in the secondary and those among the ranks of edges and linebackers.
Here, we take a look at the remaining defenders to be re-signed, by priority.
4. TE Quintin Morris
Morris represents zero dollars in dead-cap money, after a 2025 season that saw him catch six passes for 55 yards and a touchdown. He averaged nine yards per catch.
3. WR Tim Patrick
Patrick hauled in 15 passes for 187 yards and two touchdowns for the Jaguars last season, and he is the personification of a $1.25 million hit to the cap space for Jacksonville.
2. WR Dyami Brown
A third-round pick out of North Carolina in 2021 by Washington, Brown caught 20 passes for 227 yards and a touchdown for the Jaguars last season. Brown will represent a cap hit of $481,000, and a dead cap value of $1.9 million, according to Spotrac.com.
1. RB Travis Etienne
Playing out the remainder of his rookie contract in 2025, which included a fifth-year option, Etienne was a top-15 running back in the league last season, with 1,107 yards and seven touchdowns.
He signed a four-year, $12.9 million contract with the Jacksonville Jaguars, including $6,740,440 signing bonus, $12,898,105 guaranteed, and an average annual salary of $3,224,526, according to Spotrac.com.
So how can the Jaguars free up money to re-sign any of these offensive players? Based on their current salary cap situation, it will take some restructuring of big contracts in order to gain some money in cap space.
As part of the sports news cycle on Wednesday, it was announced that Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes would restructure his contract yet again for Kansas City to free up some valuable cap space to re-sign key players.
Can, or will Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence step up and restructure his contract for the greater good of the team? Will Etienne be willing to accept a deal that spreads the risk over longer terms to reduce the immediate impact of a less than desirable salary cap scenario the Jaguars find themselves in? We shall see.
Free agency starts next month, and the draft is set for April.
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