JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The time to win is now.
That is what Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan said when he made the decision to retain general manager Dave Caldwell and coach Doug Marrone after a second consecutive disappointing season. Khan said that after talking with players, coaches and management, he believed things were in place for the Jaguars to be contenders in 2020.
That could have led Caldwell and Marrone to take a go-for-broke approach to the upcoming season by adding top-tier free agents at key positions and structuring those contracts so the big salary-cap hits come in 2021 and beyond.
Instead, Caldwell stuck to a plan that keeps the long-term health of the franchise in mind. There's been no over-the-top spending and a lot of cost-cutting to clear salary-cap space and adding more picks to gain flexibility in the next two drafts. This is no different than the way he has tried to operate in his previous seven years, but this time he likely won’t be around in 2021 if it doesn’t work.
Even with a must-win mandate, the first thing Caldwell had to do was create some cap space. The team entered February projected to be roughly $4 million over the cap, but declining the options on defensive tackle Marcell Dareus and linebacker Jake Ryan and trading cornerback A.J. Bouye to Denver for a fourth-round pick cleared $37 million.
Trading defensive end Calais Campbell to Baltimore for a fifth-round pick added an additional $15 million and trading quarterback Nick Foles to Chicago for a fourth-round pick saved the Jaguars $3.375 million this year and freed up $26 million in cap space in 2021.
That’s nearly $56 million off the books, which would have been more than enough to pursue tight end Austin Hooper to fix their worst position on offense. Or cornerback Byron Jones, receiver Amari Cooper or any of the available quarterbacks.
Instead, Caldwell signed two mid-tier free agents in linebacker Joe Schobert and tight end Tyler Eifert and added three other free agents to help with depth. Schobert is a good signing because it allows the team to move Myles Jack from middle linebacker to weakside linebacker, his more natural position. If Eifert can stay healthy – he played all 16 games last season after missing 34 from 2016-18 – he gives the offense a player who can not only block, but stretch the field in the seam as well. That’s something they haven’t had in a long time.
Schobert and Eifert cost a combined $24.75 million in guaranteed money. The Jaguars can get out of Schobert’s deal after 2021 and Eifert’s deal was for two years.
The Jaguars have 12 picks in the upcoming draft, and potentially more if Caldwell gets an acceptable trade offer for disgruntled pass-rusher Yannick Ngakoue. Ngakoue has yet to sign his franchise-tag tender, which would pay him $17.8 million in 2020, and has been vocal on social media about his desire to play elsewhere.
Two of the 12 picks are first-rounders (Nos. 9 and 20). The Jaguars also have three picks in the fourth round and two in the fifth and sixth rounds. That gives Caldwell the flexibility to move up into the second and third rounds, where they have just one pick in each round, if there’s a run on a position of need or they’re eyeing a specific player.
That’s where he can afford to be more aggressive and try to add as many impact players as possible to fit into the win-now mandate.
Caldwell, who has been the Jaguars' GM since 2013, has made some good, questionable and bad decisions in the draft and free agency during his tenure, and he certainly deserves criticism for his misses. But not for taking a long-range approach instead of risky moves to save his job.