JACKSONVILLE – Let's get to it …

Kevin from St. Johns

Fandom aside, people keep saying we should have kept Travis or Lloyd — but no one has shown an actual salary cap‑compliant way to do it. With the cap mess this front office inherited, every dollar must be accounted for. If you want to keep those guys, then show the restructures, the cuts and the long‑term consequences. Otherwise, it is just wishful thinking. This isn't Madden where you can turn off the cap. The front office is dealing with real constraints, and nothing they're doing is arbitrary. General Manager James Gladstone and his team are making tough, calculated decisions and I'm choosing to have faith in that process.

There is a lot of truth in this, and this remains the hot Jaguars topic as we move from last week's rocky first-wave free-agent waters into the calmer seas of the second wave. Look: Fans' anger and sadness over losing unrestricted free agents this past week such as running back Travis Etienne Jr. and linebacker Devin Lloyd are understandable. It's easy to look at the plays those two players made last season – and in seasons prior – and think they are irreplaceable. And it's easy to believe the many onlookers who analyze the NFL and say, "The salary cap is fake and teams can re-sign players if they want." Teams often can maneuver around the cap in the short term. They can do this often enough that it seems there never are ramifications for pushing cap issues into the future. But the cap must be managed in the long term to maintain long-term roster sustainability, and that means making decisions on the importance of certain players at certain positions. Sometimes teams see players differently than fans. Fans saw Lloyd and Etienne as core players without whom the Jaguars won't be as good next season. The team saw them as very good players – but absolutely not irreplaceable – and they also play positions at which you're supposed to be able to replace departed players relatively easily. My sense is by next season these moves will look a lot like the team's moves last offseason to part ways with tight end Evan Engram and wide receiver Christian Kirk. Were those players good Jaguars while here? Yes. Did their departures hinder the team moving forward? No, because good teams know when to replace good players, and the Jaguars are getting good in that area.

Mike from St. Augustine, FL

I think it's fair to say that we were tight against the cap this free-agency period, though the front office had a plan to manage it. My question is whether we will expect to be tight again next year or with anticipated signing of defensive end Travon Walker, wide receiver Parker Washington and tight end Brenton Strange? Are we looking at a few years of tight cap space? Is that just the reality of signing your franchise quarterback nowadays?

This usually varies somewhat on a year-to-year basis. I expect the Jaguars to be able to manage the salary cap as necessary moving forward. A common perception is that this Jaguars offseason would have looked a lot different had the Jaguars had more salary-cap room in 2026. That's not necessarily the case.

Michael from Colorado Springs, CO

Who are the Jaguars getting for edge, linebacker and defensive tackle?

Stay tuned.

Chris from Mandarin

Well, the Jaguars got some productive years out of Lloyd and Etienne. It's important to re-sign your first-round picks, but I understand it given the positional value of running back and off-ball linebacker. Was it a mistake to select these players in the first round to begin with? This situation was almost inevitable considering we had other first-round picks that would command big salaries from those same draft classes (quarterback Trevor Lawrence and Walker, among others).

Not all Round 1 selections are the same – and while many people discuss a late-Round 1 selection in the same vein as a Top 10 selection, the reality is they're very different. The Jaguars got four productive seasons from Etienne, who was selected No. 25 overall in the 2021 NFL Draft. They got a lot of really big plays this past season from Lloyd, the No. 27 overall selection in the 2022 NFL Draft. Would it have been better to have perennial All-Pro core-position players at those spots? Sure, such players are the ideal. Was it a waste to select them where they were selected? No, I wouldn't say that. They were good for a while. That was real. You don't always have to keep players for a decade for a player to have been a good selection.

Paul from Jacksonville

Do you have some sort of problem?

Obviously.

Eric from Jacksonville Beach, FL

I didn't want to lose Etienne and Lloyd but think it will be important to keep perspective next season on what they would have done. Etienne had 13 touchdowns, but realistically wouldn't have kept that pace (2023 had 12 but 2022 and 2024 had five and two, respectively). Same thing with Lloyd. His five interceptions were amazing, but highly unlikely to replicate. I can just see fans beating the table if running back Bhayshul Tuten or linebacker Ventrell Miller (or whoever gets plugged in at linebacker) don't match last year, but I think it's important to note Etienne and Lloyd probably wouldn't have put up those numbers, either – and they would have been playing for a significantly higher-price tag that potentially reduced the Jaguars' ability to re-sign Strange, Washington, right tackle Anton Harrison and safety Antonio Johnson.

There's no absolute right-wrong in free-agency decisions. Projected likely future performance indeed plays a role in these decisions. So does whether a player at a certain position can realistically be replaced at a lesser cost for passable production. You can't re-sign everyone when you draft and develop well. You have to make choices and sometimes they are very difficult choices.

Bruce from St. Simons Island, GA

O, I was about to write the O-Zone Mailbag to express my opinion that I was glad the Jags did not get involved in this year's free-agency craziness. Then, I read your comment about the Jags had been interested in Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby. Was I premature??? Of course Crosby would probably help, and Walker would be effective moving inside, but really, could the Jags afford such a move?

I expect the Jaguars will be more prudent and less aggressive in first-wave free agency in future offseasons than many fans might expect or want. I expect the Jaguars to be aggressive when they believe a player can make a significant difference, though this should not be taken as any sort of specific reference to Crosby. Either way, there is a difference between good and Gold Jacket good – and teams behave differently when the latter is involved.

Cliff from Everywhere with helicopter

I was always a Jimmy Connors fan, even going so far as to buy a Wilson T-2000 in 1975. But I have to admit that John McEnroe deserves respect if for no other reason than he has been married to Patty Smyth for 30 years.

Shooting at the walls of heartache.

Josh from Atlanta, GA

Les Snead famously somewhat said "____ the picks". Having been a pupil for some time, do you feel that's going to be part of our continued strategy in the future? We clearly got a taste of it with the Travis Hunter experiment, whom I still love and agree will be an elite corner for years to come. I also like first-round picks. It's very true though, that if year Year 1 is any indication of the future, the "splashy" nature of first-round picks is decidedly less splashy at 29-32 than 1-6.

Los Angeles Rams General Manager Les Snead for much of the past decade has used draft selections as trade "currency" nearly as often as he has used them to select collegiate players. Gladstone, having worked with Snead for nine seasons before joining the Jaguars, absolutely shares many of Snead's beliefs and clearly leans into using draft selections as currency. I expect this belief will shape a lot of the Jaguars' player-acquisition blueprint moving forward.

Sean from Mechanicsburg, PA

For all the fans upset about losing Etienne and Lloyd, I remember not too long ago when everyone was up in arms about the team trading Kirk and letting Engram walk in free agency. I'd say Washington and Strange turned out just fine. Funny how no one seems to miss Kirk and Engram these days...

Good eye.

Joe from Living in St Johns, down by the river

John, as a longtime fan, I do not recall a free agency period that looked like this. We resign core players and don't go out and sign a bunch of players other teams let go. This smells like winning. I love the smell of winning in the morning ... it smells like victory!

Good nose.