Jacksonville Jaguars: You get what you spend your salary cap on

Where the Jacksonville Jaguars have invested in players, they have reaped the benefits.

The Jacksonville Jaguars had a wonderful run last season after struggling for so many years. Jacksonville has drafted very well under Dave Caldwell. Most of all, the Jaguars have managed the salary cap well.

The free agent signing class of 2017 was possible due to strategically managing the cap. You witnessed how well those investments paid off. This year’s free agent class will add to the Jaguars success.

Spotrac.com breaks down how and where each team spends its funds. Let’s take a look at where Jacksonville has invested its money

First of all, Jacksonville spends 63.05 percent of the salary cap on the defense. They spend 41.42 percent on the offense. Special teams account for 1.35 percent of the salary cap.

Jacksonville takes that 63 percent defensive spending and splits it three ways. The Jaguars defensive line spending is 31.05 percent. The secondary spending is 24.94 percent. Now you know why those two are so good.

On the offensive side of the ball, Jacksonville spends 15.41 percent on the offensive line. They spend 10.59 percent on wide receivers. Blake Bortles accounts for 4.75 percent of the 2018 salary cap.

The Jaguars have decided to invest 81.89 percent of the cap in four areas. They are the defensive line, defensive backs, offensive line and wide receivers. The key to winning football is in the trenches. While comparing Jacksonville with the rest of the NFL, the Jaguars rank first in spending on defense. They rank 26th on offensive spending. You get what you pay for, right?

As far as the overall NFL salary cap picture, the Jaguars rank 13th with the most cap space. There was a time when Jacksonville had money to burn. Currently, they have $14 million in cap space.

Since analytics are a huge part of the Jaguars operation, expect some movement with respect to some of the higher salaries. Does it make sense to pay an older player based upon past season performances? Sometimes shedding contracts make sense but they are still on the books via dead cap money.

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For example, Jacksonville has $4 million in dead cap money charged to their 2018 salary cap. Chris Ivory accounts for $3 million of that number. As a result, it was cheaper to release him.

Finally, keep an eye on transactions throughout training camp. There might be a trade to take salary off the books due to Jalen Ramsey’s extension coming soon. Let’s see what happens.