To the surprise of nobody, the Jacksonville Jaguars' locker room is pushing for a Josh Allen payday.
After Allen had legitimately one of the best seasons of any defender in the NFL, his fellow Jaguars Pro Bowler pointed out what most inside and outside of Jacksonville already know.
"He has to be back. He has to be," Jaguars tight end Evan Engram said this week at the Pro Bowl.
"He's been in a staple in Jax since he got there. The year he just had, you can't let that go. You can't let that go. I think he's in a good spot. I know we want him back, I know upstairs wants him back. I told him just be patient."
"But obviously, you know, for me and my career man, I don't want to be, you know, a guy from team to team, like I always wanted to be stationary, you know, but, you know, throughout the years of playing you have to grow as well," Allen said this week at the Pro Bowl.
"And what I've grown to understand that the NFL is, seeing it firsthand, the NFL is a business at the end of the day. So you know, if I do what you do on the field because I love it and I play it and I respect it and I love my guys, I love the competitive nature, but at the end of the day, outside of that is business. If you handle it or think about any type of way, you will get tossed out of there. So for me, it's let's talk business. Let's do it.
In 17 games this year, Allen recorded 17.5 sacks, a career-high 33 quarterback hits, a career-high 17 tackles for loss, two forced fumbles, and an interception. Allen also finished No. 5 among all EDGE players in pressures and No. 7 in win-rate.
"Haven’t started. Those negotiations will start," Baalke said last week.
"I know Josh wants to be here, I know we want him here. Can we come to a number that works for everybody? That’s the key. I respect that. Like I said last year with Evan’s (Engram) situation, you got to respect these guys that put themselves in this position. They work hard, they deserve to make good money. What that good means to them could be different than what it means to us. We just got to come together, sit down at the table and work things out.”
The last two years, the Jaguars have used the franchise tag as a mechanism to continue negotiations. It happened with Engram last year before he signed a new deal ahead of training camp, and it happened with Cam Robinson in 2022 before he signed a new deal around the draft.
“I’m not going to commit to anything right now relative to the franchise tag. But at the same token, Josh Allen is going to be a Jaguar next year," Baalke said.
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