The Jacksonville Jaguars have signed 10 players: three of whom were on the team's practice squad at the end of last season, one who spent the 2002 training camp with the team, and six others who are first-year or veteran free agents.
The new players are: RB David Allen, DE Lionel Barnes, TE Matt Cercone, WR Henry Douglas, QB Quinn Gray, WR Kerry Hood, S Abdual Howard, DT Reggie McGrew, CB Jason Olford and WR Francis St. Paul.
Allen, Douglas and Olford were on the Jaguars' practice squad at the end of last season, and Gray spent the preseason with the team, playing in three games. Barnes, 26, was a sixth-round draft choice of the St. Louis Rams in 1999. He played in three games that season and one in 2000 before being waived and claimed by the Indianapolis Colts. He played in six games in 2001 and was out of football in 2002. The 6-5, 274-pound Barnes played collegiately at Louisiana-Monroe.
Cercone, 27, is a first-year player out of Arizona State who has been with the Minnesota Vikings the last four years, spending parts of two seasons on the team's practice squad and having three short stints on the 53-man roster. Cercone is 6-5, 252 pounds.
Hood, 26, spent the 2000 season on the Carolina Panthers' practice squad and 53-man roster, then was waived in training camp by the Panthers in 2001 and by the Green Bay Packers in 2002. He is a 6-1, 192-pounder out of South Carolina.
Howard, 24, was signed as an undrafted rookie by the Detroit Lions in 2002 out of Florida State, where he was a member of the Seminoles' 1999 national championship team. He spent most of the season on the Lions' practice squad. Howard is 6-0, 210 pounds.
McGrew, 26, was a first-round draft choice of the San Francisco 49ers in 1999 out of Florida, spending his entire rookie season on injured reserve. He played in 22 games in 2000 and 2001 but was waived in the final cuts in 2002. He was signed by Atlanta, spending two months with the Falcons before being waived. The 6-1, 312-pound McGrew was first-team All-SEC in 1998 and a member of the Gators' 1996 national championship team.
St. Paul, 23, was a sixth-round draft choice of the St. Louis Rams in 2001 out of Northern Arizona. He was on the Rams' practice squad for part of the '01 season and then split the '02 season between practice squads in St. Louis and Pittsburgh. He is 5-10, 185 pounds.
The Jaguars currently have 71 players on their roster.
