Jacksonville Jaguars

At least for now, Travis Etienne has played his last game with the Jaguars.

According to multiple reports, Etienne has agreed to sign with the Saints.

Initial reports indicate Etienne’s contract is for four years and worth $52 million.

Etienne, 27, was the No. 25 overall pick of the 2021 draft, which kept him playing with his Clemson football teammate, Trevor Lawrence. After missing his entire rookie season due to a foot injury, Etienne rushed for 1,125 yards in 2022 and 1,008 yards in 2023. His production dipped in 2024, but was back up in 2025, as he rushed for 1,107 yards with seven touchdowns and caught 36 passes for 292 yards with six TDs.

Hailing from Jennings, La., Etienne will now be back close to home as he joins the Saints.

Etienne’s signing, however, does call into question Alvin Kamara’s role with the team moving forward.

The Jaguars and cornerback Montaric Brown have struck a deal.

According to multiple reports, Brown has agreed to a new three-year contract with the team. The deal is worth $33 million for the 2022 seventh-round pick.

Brown was No. 80 on PFT’s list of this year’s top free agents.

Brown has started 23 games over the last two seasons, including last season’s playoff loss to the Bills, and he’s played in 53 games overall. He has 172 tackles, three interceptions and 24 passes defensed during his time in Jacksonville.

While the Jags will be holding onto Brown, Greg Newsome remains on track to become a free agent with the new league year starting on Wednesday.

Early March is a time for plenty of roster moves, as teams begin to reshape their rosters — often dramatically.

The Rams, who struck a deal this week to trade for cornerback Trent McDuffie, have placed veteran cornerback Darious Williams on the reserve/retired list.

The move likely has occurred in lieu of the Rams releasing Williams, 32, from the final year of his current contract, which would have made him a free agent. He’s instead choosing to end his playing career.

Undrafted out of UAB in 2018, Williams initially signed with the Ravens. He appeared in three games as a rookie with the Ravens before being released in October. The Rams claimed him on waivers.

By 2020, he became a constant contributor on defense, with 10 starts. He participated in 81 percent of the defensive snaps during 16 regular-season games.

After the 2021 season, he signed a three-year deal in free agency with the Jaguars. Released after 2023, he returned to the Rams, on a three-year, $22.5 million deal.

His retirement clears $7.5 million in cap space. He was due to receive a $500,000 roster bonus next weekend.

Williams, a member of the Super Bowl LVI championship team, appeared in 104 regular-season games with 69 starts. His 10 postseason starts included Super Bowl LVI and, most recently, the 2025 NFC Championship.

The Jaguars cleared some cap space ahead of next week’s start to free agency.

They have restructured the contracts of right guard Patrick Mekari and safety Eric Murray. Spotrac reports that the two moves have cleared more than $10 million off the cap in Jacksonville.

Mekari joined the Jaguars last year and started 14 games in his first season with the team. He came as a free agent after starting 53 games across the offensive line in Baltimore.

Murray is also heading into his second season with the Jags. The former Chief, Brown and Texan had 54 tackles, an interception, a sack and a forced fumble in 12 appearances.

The Jaguars will have tight end Quintin Morris back for the 2026 season.

Morris was set for free agency next week, but he has agreed to a new deal with the team. Reporter Jordan Schultz reports it is a one-year pact worth up to $3 million.

Morris signed with the Bills after going undrafted in 2021 and moved on to Jacksonville last year. He appeared in 14 games and had six catches for 55 yards and a touchdown. He had 15 catches for 146 yards and three scores while in Buffalo.

Brenton Strange, Johnny Mundt, and Hunter Long are the other tight ends on the roster for the Jaguars.

Teams making decisions about picking up the fifth-year options on the contracts of their 2023 first-round picks now know how much that will cost.

The NFL revealed the values on Friday afternoon. There are four levels of compensation at each position. Players who have made multiple Pro Bowls as an original selection are at the top followed by players with one Pro Bowl selection and players who have hit playing time milestones before reaching the lowest level.

Panthers quarterback Bryce Young and Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud were the first two picks of that draft and both of them reached the playing time level of compensation. That will leave them with fully guaranteed salaries of $25.904 million if the teams decide to exercise the options, but longer-term extensions are also a possibility now that they have finished their third seasons.

The full list of 2023 first-rounders — there were 31 that year because the Dolphins were stripped of their pick — and their fifth-year option salaries appears below:

1. Panthers QB Bryce Young — $25.904 million (playing time).
2. Texans QB C.J. Stroud — $25.904 million (playing time).
3. Texans DE Will Anderson — $21.512 (Pro Bowl).
4. Colts QB Anthony Richardson — $22.483 million (base).
5. Seahawks CB Devon Witherspoon — $21.161 million (multiple Pro Bowls).
6. Cardinals OT Paris Johnson — $19.072 million (playing time).
7. Raiders DE Tyree Wilson — $14.475 million (base).
8. Falcons RB Bijan Robinson — $11.323 million (Pro Bowl).
9. Eagles DT Jalen Carter — $27.127 million (multiple Pro Bowls).
10. Bears OT Darnell Wright — $19.072 million (playing time).
11. Titans OG Peter Skoronski — $19.072 million (playing time).
12. Lions RB Jahmyr Gibbs — $14.293 million (multiple Pro Bowls).
13. Packers DE Lukas Van Ness — $14.475 million (base).
14. Steelers OT Broderick Jones — $19.072 million (playing time).
15. Jets DE Will McDonald — $14.475 million (base).
16. Rams CB Emmanuel Forbes — $12.633 million (base).
17. Patriots CB Christian Gonzalez — $18.119 million (Pro Bowl).
18. Lions LB Jack Campbell — $21.925 million (Pro Bowl).
19. Buccaneers DT Calijah Kancey — $15.451 (playing time).
20. Seahawks WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba — $23.852 million (Pro Bowl).
21. Chargers WR Quentin Johnston — $18 million (playing time).
22. Ravens WR Zay Flowers — $27.298 million (multiple Pro Bowls).
23. Vikings WR Jordan Addison — $18 million (playing time).
24. Giants CB Deonte Banks — $12.633 million (base).
25. Bills TE Dalton Kincaid — $8.162 million (base).
26. Jets DT Mazi Smith — $13.391 million (base) Smith was traded to the Jets by the Cowboys.
27. Jaguars OT Anton Harrison — $19.072 million (playing time).
28. Bengals DE Myles Murphy — $14.475 million (base).
29. Saints DT Bryan Bresee — $13.391 million (base).
30. Eagles LB Nolan Smith — $13.752 million (base).
31. Chiefs Felix Anudike-Uzomah — $14.475 million (base).

The Jaguars will be spending a little extra time in London during the 2026 season.

The team has made annual visits to the United Kingdom for more than a decade and the NFL announced on Wednesday they will be playing a pair of games on that side of the Atlantic this year. The NFL announced that the Jaguars will be the designated home team for games at both Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and Wembley Stadium. The games will be played in consecutive weeks.

A second game was added to this year’s schedule because of the ongoing renovations at EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville. The team will play with reduced capacity at the stadium during the 2026 season.

The NFL also announced that the Commanders will be the designated home team for a game at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. The Commanders played the Dolphins in Spain last season and last visited London for a 2016 tie against the Bengals.

No dates or opponents for the games have been revealed at this point.

Running back Javonte Williams bet on himself last year, signing a one-year, $3 million deal. He delivered, with a career-high 1,200 rushing yards.

His reward was a three-year, $24 million deal to remain with the Cowboys.

Since the Williams deal was the first significant contract signed by a looming free agent, it’s important to remember a few things as we approach new-contract season. The initial reports routinely overstate the true value of the contract. For example, the reported $16 million in guarantees for Williams surely aren’t fully guaranteed at signing, and there’s little about the structure of the deal. There could be a little fudging at play to make the deal look better than it is, with the reporters who rush to Twitter with the early information rarely if ever insisting on full and accurate details. (If they do, someone else gets the scoop.)

For now, even the potentially inflated initial reporting reinforces an important point: The running back position continues to be undervalued.

The deal, if it’s truly worth $8 million per year, puts Williams at 16th among all current running backs. And while he took the offer before the annual tampering festival in Indianapolis, it’s believed that the offer the took was the best one he was going to get.

It’s also possible the Cowboys tried aggressively to get Williams signed before he could hit the market, perhaps by trotting out their CBA-violating practice of negotiating directly with the player. Or by making it clear that they’ll find another cheap veteran running back in the second or third wave of free agency, when players sign modest one-year deals.

Still, what would Williams have gotten on the open market? The absence of state income taxes in Texas are a factor. (Most players only care about APY, and that’s often a mistake.) Only the superstars at the position get market value. Eagles running back Saquon Barkley leads the way, at $20.6 million per year. 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey’s current deal has a new-money average of $19 million.

It happens for one very simple reason. The supply of capable running backs outweighs demand. Teams can resort to the draft for a younger, cheaper, and usually healthier player in lieu of paying a veteran who may not be able to duplicate his performance in a contract year.

Every year, college football generates plenty of running backs who can play at the NFL level, if they can be trusted to hold onto the ball and if they are able to pick up blitzers in pass protection. Most of them have their best years under slotted rookie contracts. When those expire, teams look for another young player to replace them.

The Williams contract gives other teams a data point that will become relevant to their negotiations with running backs. The other players who’ll be trying to get paid (Kenneth Walker III, Breece Hall, Travis Etienne, Rico Dowdle, Rachaad White, Isiah Pacheco, JK Dobbins) will have to deal with the argument that a guy who rushed for 1,200 yards in 2025 got only $8 million per year. (The counter would include that Williams isn’t much of a factor in the passing game, and that he lacks breakaway speed.)

Then there’s Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs. Currently eligible for a second deal, he has shown the kind of superstar ability that would justify a market-level contract.

And how about Falcons running back Bijan Robinson? Repeatedly called the best player in the entire league by his former head coach, Raheem Morris, Robinson will be in line for a superstar contract, too.

Will the Williams deal hold down what the Lions will offer Gibbs and what the Falcons will offer Robinson? It shouldn’t be a factor, at all. Gibbs and Robinson are far closer to Barkley and McCaffrey than the players who are hitting the market. Still, all running backs who are ready to become free agents will have to deal with the fact — as underscored by the Williams deal — that the running back market continues to be not what it could be, or perhaps what it should be.

The Jaguars are skipping the Scouting Combine.

Well, not everyone. Coach Liam Coen and G.M. James Gladstone won’t be there.

They’re joining the small minority of high-level team officials to skip the annual convention and mass player evaluation session.

The various events of the Underwear Olympics are taped and can be reviewed whenever, wherever. The biggest sacrifice is the direct access to players, primarily through the 15-minute speed-round sessions at night.

As explained by Michael DiRocco of ESPN.com, the Jaguars plan to do no face-to-face visits with players at the Combine or at the team’s facility through the so-called “top 30" visits.

“Well, the Jaguars don’t want to conduct any of those, and they don’t want to conduct any top 30 visits either because they don’t want their opinion of a player to be changed or altered in any way based on a 15-20 minute visit,” DiRocco wrote, via Paul Bretl of USA Today. “This is a system that the Rams use, and they’ve used it quite successfully, as you can see by their success over the last decade or so.”

There’s still value in sitting down with a player. Even if the answers are prepared and rehearsed, there’s a benefit in talking to someone directly.

The decision not to speak with them puts greater emphasis on the research they’ll do about the player’s overall reputation and approach in the college programs where he played. (Nowadays, it seems like it’s more than one for the vast majority of players.) It also ensures that no one will be able to make guesses as to which players the Jaguars may be targeting in the draft.

Which allows them to get the players they want, or to act like they got the players they wanted all along.

Regardless, the fact that some teams make the strategic decision to skip the Scouting Combine shows it’s not the end-all, be-all that it’s painted as. Of course, it’s sold that way because nothing else is going on in the NFL, making it one of the league’s few offseason tentpole events.

Cornerback Keith Taylor made his Jaguars debut in the team’s playoff loss to the Bills last month and he’ll have a chance to make more of a contribution during the 2026 season.

The Jaguars announced that they have re-signed Taylor. The team did not disclose any terms of the deal.

Jacksonville signed Taylor off of the Falcons’ practice squad in late December. He played three special teams snaps against Buffalo.

Taylor had six tackles in two regular season appearances for the Falcons. He had five tackles in 11 games for the Chiefs in 2024. He was a 2021 fifth-round pick in Carolina and had 67 tackles, a forced fumble and two fumble recoveries in 34 games for the Panthers.