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Why did Jacksonville Jaguars get ride of Evan Engram, Christian Kirk? Other holes on roster
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- Why did Jacksonville Jaguars get ride of Evan Engram, Christian Kirk? Other holes on roster
The Jacksonville Jaguars made bold moves ahead of free agency, trading wide receiver Christian Kirk to the Houston Texans , and releasing tight end Evan Engram , both moves met with mixed emotions.
Engram ultimately decided to join the Denver Broncos .
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Kirk and Engram had been the team's top pass-catchers since joining the franchise during free agency in 2022. Both players, though, dealt with injuries last season costing them nine and seven games, respectively.
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Their exorbitant cap hits entering the final season of their respective contracts also likely played a role. The Jaguars saved $16.417 million against their salary cap this year .
While OverTheCap has not inputted a couple of the team's free agency contracts, they currently have the Jaguars at $45,267,656 of available cap space , giving the team plenty of future flexibility.
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In all, the Jaguars lost productive players but saved money in addition to opening up spots for other players to come in and be reliable targets for quarterback Trevor Lawrence .
On Thursday, Jaguars general manager James Gladstone was asked about releasing two of the team's best offensive players. He explained it simply: the team needed to address other aspects of the roster, making moving on from two previously valuable players expendable.
"Yeah, really have so much respect for the people and the players that both Christian and Evan are, and they meant a lot to the locker room. We'll continue to bring those types of people and players into our ecosystem, but we needed a little bit more flexibility to address the larger scale roster after some departures across the OL as well," said Gladstone.
The team signed three offensive linemen. Two, Patrick Mekari and Robert Hainsey , are expected to be starters at right guard and center, respectively. Offensive tackle Chuma Edoga is expected to help the team as a swing tackle. The Jaguars allowed tackle/guard Blake Hance to enter free agency and lost Brandon Scherff and center Mitch Morse to free agency and the draft, respectively.
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The team signed six other players, including receiver Dyami Brown . Brown isn't expected to replace Kirk by himself but demonstrates the types of receivers Jacksonville could look to utilize under head coach Liam Coen and offensive coordinator Grant Udinski moving forward.
"So, that was a big part in that. But we do feel like we're in a better position today than we were a couple of weeks ago to make it so that when we enter each decision at each pick point in April we can continue to level up where we are from a personnel perspective," Gladstone added.
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Ultimately, Kirk and Engram contributed a combined 570 targets, 402 catches, 4,368 yards and 21 touchdowns through three seasons with the team.
What's next is the NFL Draft and don't be surprised to see the team further invest in pass-catchers as Engram and Kirk move on to continue their careers.
Demetrius Harvey is the Jacksonville Jaguars reporter for the Florida Times-Union. You can follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @Demetrius82 or on Bluesky @ Demetrius .
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This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville Jaguars roster: Why ditch Christian Kirk, Evan Engram?
