The Jacksonville Jaguars have been far from active in free agency this offseason.<\/p>\n
They re-signed a few players<\/a> and nabbed a good runner<\/a>, but for a fanbase that\u2019d grown used to \u201cwinning the offseason,\u201d the start of the 2026 league year has been a bit of a bore for Jaguars faithful<\/a>.<\/p>\n Here are a few ideas for the team to bolster its pass rush and energize the city in one fell swoop.<\/p>\n Minnesota Vikings OLB Jonathan Greenard<\/p>\n Expected Trade Value: Early Day 2 Pick<\/p>\n The former Louisville Cardinal\/Florida Gator has blossomed into a premier pass rusher at the pro level. After tallying 23 sacks over four seasons with the Texans, Greenard was traded to the Vikings, and he\u2019s spent the past two seasons leading the charge for Brian Flores\u2019 vaunted defense. Greenard finished third in pressures and sixth in PFF pass rush grade against true pass sets in 2024, his most recent 17-game season.<\/p>\n His career stats entering 2026: 38 sacks, 60 tackles for loss, 8 forced fumbles, 14 passes defensed. The only NFL players with better numbers in each of those categories are T.J. Watt, Khalil Mack, Brian Burns, and Montez Sweat. Guys like Greenard don\u2019t come around very often.<\/p>\n By all accounts, Minnesota thinks the world of Greenard as a player and a person. They have no desire to move their No. 1 pass rusher \u2014 but Johnny Boy wants a new deal. (Given that his current contract has always been considered to be team-friendly, it\u2019s understandable.)<\/p>\n Since the Vikings would have to move around money to meet the request for a raise, Greenard is suddenly available on the trade market.<\/p>\n A team would really have to love Greenard to make a swing for him. You\u2019d have to trade valuable draft assets to Minnesota just for the right to give him a big new contract. Plus, the soon-to-be-29-year-old had season-ending shoulder surgery in December.<\/p>\n Does it really make sense for the Jaguars to get involved here?<\/p>\n Perhaps not. All I\u2019m saying is that Jacksonville won\u2019t get many better opportunities to add a top-20 edge defender to its rotation. Their Super Bowl window is starting to creak open; the acquisition of Greenard, while expensive, would burst that window wide open.<\/p>\n Philadelphia Eagles DT Jalen Carter<\/p>\n Expected Trade Value: Multiple Day 1 Picks<\/p>\n Carter is among the NFL\u2019s most valuable non-quarterbacks as a nearly unstoppable force along the interior of the line of scrimmage. The highly touted Georgia product is one of the few players at his position who can wreck opposing offenses on his own. He is also young, on a cost-controlled rookie contract, and carries minimal injury risk.<\/p>\n Philadelphia would likely point to the Micah Parsons deal (two 1sts and a starting player) for an initial asking price.<\/p>\n Would the Eagles even trade Carter? Well, I\u2019m not sure it makes sense for them to pay both Carter and nose tackle Jordan Davis, who signed a mammoth three-year, $78 million extension earlier this month. And we all know that Howie Roseman loves to wheel and deal.<\/p>\n Would the Jaguars even want Carter? Well, there\u2019s obviously the whole conversation of cost, and beyond that, there are certainly some character concerns to consider.<\/p>\n But hey. Carter would immediately become the best player on Jacksonville\u2019s roster since Jalen Ramsey \u2014 a true Hall of Fame-caliber talent who\u2019d be the face of the franchise, so long as both parties kept their heads on straight.<\/p>\n It\u2019d be a pretty bold move by James Gladstone, to say the least. And it\u2019d sure be fun as hell to watch him spin his \u201cintangibly rich\u201d motto during Carter\u2019s introductory press conference.<\/p>\n Pittsburgh Steelers OLB Nick Herbig<\/p>\n Expected Trade Value: Day 2 Pick, Day 3 Pick<\/p>\n Herbig, a tenacious yet slippery pass rusher who always seems to show up in big-time moments, is entering his contract season in the league\u2019s most expensive defense.<\/p>\n To my surprise, I haven\u2019t noticed his name in any \u201ctrade candidate\u201d articles this offseason \u2014 but I\u2019d bet every NFL team will be monitoring his availability until his future in Pittsburgh becomes clearer.<\/p>\n The Steelers have underutilized their 2023 fourth-round pick. Sure, T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith deserve to play the majority of snaps and start at outside linebacker, but Herbig is too talented to keep off the field in high-leverage situations.<\/p>\n It\u2019s probably safe to assume that new defensive coordinator Patrick Graham will have a better plan for Herbig; the latter ought to be considered a building block asset who could develop into a blue-chip player.<\/p>\n If Pittsburgh\u2019s front office doesn\u2019t see him that way, Jacksonville would be wise to make a strong trade offer now before a potential bidding war at November\u2019s trade deadline.<\/p>\n Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Jacksonville Jaguars have been far from active in free agency this offseason. They re-signed a few players…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":833205,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2060],"tags":[7,212,125,84131,2409,4244,2407,5846,4869,2401,213,6],"class_list":["post-833204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville-jaguars","tag-football","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-jaguars","tag-jacksonville-jaguars-analysis","tag-jacksonville-jaguars-depth-chart","tag-jacksonville-jaguars-free-agency","tag-jacksonville-jaguars-roster","tag-jacksonville-jaguars-rumors","tag-jacksonville-jaguars-salary-cap","tag-jacksonvillejaguars","tag-jaguars","tag-nfl"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116290762444713981","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/833204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=833204"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/833204\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/833205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=833204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=833204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=833204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}