Cincinnati Bengals Playoff Team Free Agency Targets: Jacksonville Jaguars

As we continue to look at Cincinnati Bengals free agency targets from 2017 playoff teams, a look at who could be worth targeting from the Jacksonville Jaguars.

The Cincinnati Bengals are entering an important 2018 offseason for the franchise. Most importantly, they need to attack free agency. And one of the best ways to do that is to look at this past season’s playoff teams and try to target players that could be of value to the Bengals. That’s what we’ve been doing with this series.

We’ve already covered a player on each of the following teams: the Buffalo Bills, Kansas City Chiefs, Carolina Panthers, Los Angeles Rams, Atlanta Falcons, Tennessee Titans, New Orleans Saints and Pittsburgh Steelers.

Now, we look at one from the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Paul Posluszny, LB

Entering the 2017 season it had appeared that the linebacking corps could be the best position group on the entire Cincinnati Bengals roster. It didn’t take long for that to change, however.

Vontaze Burfict got himself suspended to start the year because of a preseason hit. Vincent Rey surprisingly started the year as a backup but was still second among the unit in snaps; that wasn’t exactly a great thing though, as he ended up with a pretty poor season. Nick Vigil was the surprise starter from the jump, but who knows what the team saw in him for that role, because he was a special level of awful while leading the group in snaps.

Kevin Minter was supposed to be the free agent bargain that made a difference; instead, he fought injuries all season and performed poorly even when he could get out there. Jordan Evans, Hardy Nickerson, and Brandon Bell each got snaps as injuries piled up, but none of them proved ready or able for them.

All in all, the group needs new life; even better would be a dynamic veteran brought in to help Burfict carry the load. Posluszny could be that guy, for multiple reasons.

Let’s begin with his play. While his Jacksonville tenure is littered with underwhelming seasons, much of that can be attributed to an overall lack of talent around him. Even the best players need help, and Posluszny got just about nothing from his fellow defenders for years.

Outside of an injury-shortened 2014, the veteran has had at least 119 tackles in every season in black and teal prior to 2017. Last year, his role was reduced; not due to ability, but because so much more talent was added into the fold in recent years. When he was on the field, he played about as well as ever (Pro Football Focus Edge grade for 2017: 84.0), with him doing a solid job against both the pass and the run.

So why would Jacksonville even think about letting him leave? Just follow the money. The Jaguars are currently about $16 million under the cap for 2018. That leaves some room to work with, but not much. Consider some of the places this team still has to focus on with their money as well, and it dries up even quicker.

Wideouts Allen Robinson and Marquis Lee are up for free agency; at least one must be re-signed (if not both), but they also already have Allen Hurns for the next three seasons at a high cap hit ($7 million in 2018; rises up to $9.65 million in 2020). Starting guard Patrick Omemah is set to leave, with no replacement in tow.

Cutting Blake Bortles could’ve helped, but an apparent wrist injury makes his fifth-year option guaranteed. With it, over $19 million is stuck on the books, and the team will be hard-pressed to even consider looking for a replacement until next offseason (also: with Chad Henne up for free agency, they will need to spend some money on either him or his replacement already). All of that is before we even get to the team fixing the holes they have (offensive line, overall defensive depth).

They can’t keep everyone, and Posluszny appears to be a prime candidate to be the odd man out in their plans. His role has already been reduced, he’s the oldest and least athletic of a group which thrives on their speed, and his cost would likely stand directly in the way of grabbing a quality player to fill other holes.

With Cincinnati, none of this should be a problem. They have a need for someone at Posluszny’s position. They have plenty of cap room to work with, and few free agents to even consider bringing back (much less actually re-signing). His contract may end up being in the range we normally haven’t seen Cincinnati pay for outsiders, but if the rumors are true about what helped bring Marvin Lewis back (one piece of the equation was supposedly more utilization of free agency) then giving a multi-year deal (2-3 seasons) to a player still producing in multiple facets could help get this team to where they should have been at the position entering last season.

Next: 2018 NFL Mock Draft: Post-Super Bowl edition

Putting Posluszny with Burfict would immediately give Cincinnati a foundational duo for the next couple seasons; filling the third spot wouldn’t be simple, but they have numerous young options to choose between and could add in another cheap veteran or draft pick for maximum competition.

It all starts with getting the second quality starting option though, and that’s Posluszny.