The Jacksonville Jaguars have rarely threatened any of the records set by the New England Patriots. This year, the Jaguars shattered one of them.
Jacksonville’s effort to spend its away out of dysfunction included, via Mike Reiss of ESPN.com, devoting $175.3 million in guaranteed money to free agents signed in the ongoing cycle. That beats the record set by the Patriots in 2021, when they gave out $163 million in guaranteed payments during an unprecedented spending spree sparked by the Patriots having the cap space at a time when most other teams didn’t.
G.M. Trent Baalke has said that he hopes this is a temporary exercise, that the goal is to draft wisely and to give second contracts to those players. For now, with the roster clearly in need of better players and with the franchise hoping to turn the page on the disastrous Urban Meyer experience, it made sense to go out and buy up veteran talent, even if they had to overspend a little. Or possibly a lot.