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The Jacksonville Jaguars will be looking for help all along their defense in the upcoming free agency period and NFL Draft, but who they could target is up in the air. The easy connection to make is to find the players than new general manager David Caldwell and head coach Gus Bradley are familiar with, which leads us to pending Atlanta Falcons free agent defensive end Lawrence Sidbury.
Career At A Glimpse
- Last Contract: 4-years, $2.19 million
- Drafted: 4th round, 2009
- Games Started: 0 (47)
- 2012 PFF Grade: -0.6
- 2011 PFF Grade: 1.4
It appears Sidbury is prepared to move on from the Falcons in the offseason as his agent, Alan Herman, told The Atlanta Journal Constitution.
"No, it's not a place you would stick around considering what took place the previous year in your fourth year. That would not be an option for us. That's not something he would want to do," Herman told the AJC. "The bottom line is I thought he played well the year before and showed signs of being able to get to the quarterback and then not getting the opportunity this year was exceptionally frustrating."
Sidbury played just 34 total snaps on the season in 2012, down from 220 snaps in 2011 when he had 12 hurries and three sacks on the season and looked like he might be poised to make an impact the following season. Unless the Falcons are going to make it worth coming back, salary wise, it appears that Sidbury is going to be looking for a team who will allow him to compete for playing time and he doesn't think he'll get it in Atlanta.
It's possible the 27-year old defensive end could get a call from the man who at one point scouted him and should be familiar with him. Sidbury shouldn't be an "expensive" free agent signing either and should be available after the first couple weeks, fitting in with what the Jaguars have mentioned they're going to be doing this offseason.