Will Josh Allen be back with the Jaguars in 2024?
JACKSONVILLE — Over the past couple of months, Jaguars linebacker Josh Allen has made it clear that he wants to stay in Jacksonville. Allen wants to continue being a part of turning the franchise that drafted him No. 7 overall in 2019 from a team that consistently lost into a consistent contender.
“I’m a legacy guy,” Allen said. “I have a great opportunity to continue to leave a legacy here and I’m going to continue that as much as I can and stand on that.
“At the end of the day, I play the game because I love it. Some people don’t play the game. They make decisions and so the decisions being made, they’re final. So, I let God be God and let it sort out. I did as much as I can. I did what I can to do on my part and my agent guy is going to [do his part].”
After a career season in which he broke the Jaguars’ franchise record for sacks in a single season (17.5), Allen is regarded as one of the top looming free agents this offseason. How important is it that the Jaguars bring him back? And does the way they do it — by franchise tag or extension — matter?
Every NFL executive talks about the importance of building through the draft. Constructing a roster by relying on free agency can produce pockets of success — that’s what propelled Jaguars to the AFC Championship Game in 2017 — but it isn’t sustainable. Consistent success in the NFL depends on drafting and developing players.
That’s the way good franchises operate. Those teams have a core of players they drafted and developed, including key players on their second or third contracts with the team. Kansas City’s core of Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and Chris Jones has been complemented with young draftees like Creed Humphrey, Trent McDuffie and Isiah Pacheco, for example.
But the Jaguars? In 2023, they had just four drafted players on their second contract: offensive tackle Cam Robinson, defensive end Dawuane Smoot, defensive tackle DaVon Hamilton and punter Logan Cooke.
That’s an indictment of the franchise’s struggles in the draft, especially in the first round from 2008-2020. Of the 14 first-round draft picks in that span, only defensive tackle Tyson Alualu (2010) and quarterback Blake Bortles (2014) signed extensions. The rest were either traded, cut or suspended before either their rookie contracts expired or they were not re-signed.
Considering that 12 of those 14 players were drafted in the top 10 — including six in the top five — it’s not hard to figure out why the Jaguars have had just three winning seasons and two playoff appearances in that span. Here’s a breakdown of how poor the Jaguars have drafted:
Three players — offensive tackle Luke Joeckel (2013), defensive tackle Taven Bryan (2018) and linebacker K’Lavon Chaisson (2020) — did not have their fifth-year option picked up and played out their four-year rookie contract.Five players — offensive tackle Eugene Monroe (2009), quarterback Blaine Gabbert (2011), defensive end Dante Fowler Jr. (2015), cornerback Jalen Ramsey (2016), and cornerback CJ Henderson (2020) — were traded before their rookie contracts expired. Henderson was traded before his second season.
