One trade, cut, signing the Jacksonville Jaguars should make

After starting the season 8-3 and looking to be on cruise control to their second straight AFC South title, the Jacksonville Jaguars lost five of their last six games and suffered a late-season collapse that didn’t seem probable at the end of November.

They still have the makings of a playoff roster, but here are three moves the Jaguars should make to load up for another run at the AFC South title:

TRADE: OT Cam Robinson to Washington Commanders for 2024 fourth-round pick

The Jaguars took Anton Harrison in the first round of the 2023 draft, and he appears to be firmly entrenched as the team’s right tackle. Robinson was suspended for the first part of the 2023 season, and Walker Little performed admirably in his place. Little is four years younger and roughly $19M cheaper, and his production (521 snaps, 26 pressures and two sacks allowed) was similar to Robinson’s (525 snaps, 13 pressures and three sacks allowed), making the latter expendable.

Washington allowed the second-most sacks in the NFL this season (65), and acquiring a player like Robinson will go a long way toward protecting whichever quarterback it drafts No. 2 overall in April. The Commanders have the most cap space in the NFL ($82.26M), and they can easily afford Robinson’s $21.16M cap hit.

CUT: WR Zay Jones

The Jags have $25.7M in available cap space, so it’s not like they’re pressed to free up some money. But designating Jones as a post-June 1 cut would give them an extra $7.7M in the bank and give them more ammunition to fill some other needs. 

With Calvin Ridley and Christian Kirk out wide, Jones was a luxury in 2023. But there’s no need for Jacksonville to have a $10M receiver if it re-signs Ridley to a big deal with Kirk already making a little over $24M per season over the next two years. Parting ways with Jones also opens the door for Jamal Agnew and Parker Washington to have larger roles in the offense, and the Jaguars can always use a late-round pick to draft a cheaper WR if they want to carry five on their roster.

SIGNING: Edge-rusher Danielle Hunter

It’s entirely possible that Jacksonville’s top pass rusher Josh Allen tests free agency and signs a lucrative, big-money deal elsewhere. If that were to happen, the Jags would lose 44% of their sack production from this season. Of the free-agent pass-rushers this year, Hunter and Brian Burns may be the only ones who are in the same league as Allen.

The 29-year-old Hunter finished with 80 pressures, 55 hurries and 16.5 sacks — all numbers that aren’t too far off from the year Allen had (90 pressures, 54 hurries, 17.5 sacks). Because he’ll be 30 right at the start of the 2024 season, Hunter likely will be cheaper than Allen, who’s only 26. Spotrac projects Hunter’s market value at $20M per year on a shorter contract while Allen’s is $24M per year on a much longer one. With the $17.27M freed up in trading Robinson and the $7.7M freed up in cutting Jones (both mentioned above), Jacksonville would have more than enough cap space to sign Hunter.