Offensive tackles went with the first two picks of the 2013 draft, but only one of them had the fifth year of their contracts exercised for the 2017 season.
According to multiple reports, the Jaguars will decline to exercise their option on Luke Joeckel. Joeckel, the first draft pick of the General Manager Dave Caldwell/coach Gus Bradley era, went second in the 2013 draft behind Eric Fisher, whose $11.9 million option was exercised by the Chiefs on Monday.
If there’s any surprise about the news, it’s only because Joeckel was drafted at such a lofty position.
His play hasn’t been good enough for the Jaguars to justify keeping him at that salary and the team may not even have him in the starting lineup this season. They signed former Steelers left tackle Kelvin Beachum as a free agent and Joeckel may be shuffled inside to guard if Beachum wins the job this offseason.