Jaguars Release Former Big-Money Free Agent

The Jacksonville Jaguars have released veteran wide receiver Gabe Davis, the team announced on Wednesday.

Davis was one of the team's most expensive free agency signings just a year ago, with former general manager Trent Baalke signing Davis to a three-year, $39 million deal last March.

Davis was expected to step in and provide immediate production for the Jaguars after a successful stint with the Buffalo Bills, but he ended up as one of the worst moves Baalke made as Jaguars general manager.

Appearing in 10 games for the Jaguars last year, Davis caught 20 passes for 239 yards and two touchdowns -- all career lows by significant margins.

Davis struggled to make an impact for the Jaguars when healthy, and his season would end prematurely when he sustained a knee injury in the second half of the year.

With the release, the Jaguars will eat over $20 million in dead cap.

The writing appeared on the wall for Davis earlier this offseason when Jaguars head coach Liam Coen was asked about the receiver room and mentioned Brian Thomas Jr., Dyami Brown and Parker Washington, but not Davis.

“We're going to spread the ball out hopefully equally. That was the nice thing about being last year with Tampa, we had to play a lot of different players in different personnel groupings. I think you look naturally right now at [WR] Parker Washington and [WR] Dyami Brown at the receiver positions. Then saying [TE] Brenton Strange hopefully continues to ascend," Coen said.

"How do we use our two running backs to be able to supplement some of that usage, get more people involved in the game especially early on, so defenses can't just cloud BT [WR Brian Thomas Jr.] and be all over him, that we have other guys that can go win and be explosive with the ball in their hands, ultimately share that wealth, share that play-making ability. Once the ball is snapped for the beginning of the game, within the first quarter, if you haven't touched the ball, it's a hard one to continue to get through. How do we get all of our playmakers a touch early on to get them going and involved in the game? Those guys that I just mentioned right now are guys that we're going to spotlight.”

The Jaguars' starting wide receivers are set to be Thomas, Brown, and No. 2 pick Travis Hunter.