Jaguars release Dekoda Watson

The Jacksonville Jaguars had to make room on their roster to activate cornerback Aaron Colvin and to do so they released veteran linebacker Dekoda Watson, which was a bit of a surprise. The Jaguars signed Watson in free agency in the offseason and he was supposed to star in their new OTTO position, but he missed most of training camp and preseason with injury, then never really delivered on the field when he was healthy.

Watson was active for nine games, starting just a single one, with just 14 tackles on the season. As mentioned, he was talked up after the Jaguars gave him a 3-year, $6 million deal in the offseason as a free agent, but the return just never materialized.

Linebacker has been an issue for the Jaguars defensively all season, but with JT Thomas looking like he's settled into the OTTO position, Watson was never really able to do much to unseat him from the position he was signed to play and was likely going to be cut in the offseason anyway.

Cutting Watson gives the Jaguars just a $1.5 million dead money hit, which was the amount of guaranteed money in his deal.