When the Jacksonville Jaguars hit the field on Tuesday for the first of 10 practices in helmets and no pads, defensive tackle Malik Jackson says he intends to show he’s worth every penny owed to him on his existing contract.
″It’s one of those things that as players if you think the front office isn’t trying to get rid of you, then you’re crazy,″ Jackson said. ″It’s their job to get players in here that are cheaper, younger and trying to be better.
″I’m getting older, Calais (Campbell) is getting a little older. We have a lot of money on this D-line.″
The Jaguars have gone from a struggling franchise to one of the projected favorites to reach the Super Bowl. And Jackson, 28, has made a significant contribution in the turnaround.
He is coming off a Pro Bowl season and helped the Jaguars reach the AFC Championship game against New England. He registered a career-high eight sacks in 2017 as Jacksonville finished second in the league with 55.
With three Pro Bowlers (Yannick Ngakoue, Campbell and Jackson), the Jaguars have the second-highest paid defensive line in NFL at $59,269,282 in cap dollars spread among 14 players, according to Sportrac.com.
And after this season, Ngakoue becomes eligible for a contract extension.
Earlier this month, the Jaguars declined to exercise the fifth-year option in backup defensive end Dante Fowler rookie contract. Had the Jaguars picked up the option, they could have been on the hook for $14.2 million that would have been guaranteed for injury only.
He is scheduled to be a free agent next March if a new deal is not reached.
After this season, Jackson will have three years, $40.4 million remaining on the six-year, $85.5 million free agent deal he signed in 2016 to join the Jaguars after playing four seasons in Denver.
He is scheduled to count $15.5 million on this year’s salary cap.
″My goal is to keep my job,″ Jackson said. ″If I’m worried about what’s going on in the front office what they’re thinking and doing, I’ll go crazy. I’ll just worry about becoming an All-Pro and getting 10-plus sacks. Those are my goals.″
Even though the Jaguars’ defensive front was already considered to be a strength, the franchise selected defensive lineman Taven Bryan in the first-round during April’s NFL Draft.
Bryan is expected to provide depth and could play both end and tackle positions.
″The more depth you could have the better off you can be,″ general manager Dave Caldwell said. ″We got Dawuane Smoot coming back who plays in that rotation and obviously our two rush ends in (Ngakoue) and (Fowler), but this is a guy that we hope gets some snaps.”
From top to bottom on the depth chart, competition on the defensive line is expected to strong throughout OTA practices and the upcoming mandatory minicamp on June 12-14.
″We want to create competition right off the bat,″ Coach Doug Marrone said. ″I want players in this room (rookies, undrafted free agents) so we can replace some of the players on our team. If we’re replacing players that means we’re replacing them with better players as we go forward.″