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Are the Jaguars planning to spend at cornerback?

Matt Marton-USA TODAY Sports

The Jacksonville Jaguars have been taking care of some of their impending free agents and depth players prior to the start of NFL free agency on March 9. The team brought back Abry Jones, Arrelious Benn, Josh Wells and Tyler Shatley. One name though that there hasn't been a lot of talk about is veteran cornerback Prince Amukamara.

Amukamara was signed by the Jaguars to a one-year deal last offseason as kind of a "prove it" type deal, as Amukamara had been good in the past but dealt with a lot of injuries. He was able to stay relatively healthy last season and played pretty well as CB2, leading a lot of people to think that the Jaguars will bring him back in that same role. As time continues without any talk of Amukamara re-signing however, I tend to lean to something else entirely.

The Jaguars might be planning to spend money at the position and sign a top flight corner to pair with Jalen Ramsey while he's locked in on his rookie contract.

There are players likely to hit the open market like A.J. Bouye, Dre Kirkpatrick, Stephon Gilmore, and Logan Ryan who could be viewed as "CB1" by a lot of teams, including the Jaguars. That doesn't mean they'd be the CB1 in Jacksonville, because that's clearly Ramsey, but why not sign a player of that caliber to pair with Ramsey while he's locked into a rookie deal and cheap?

That's how teams like the Jaguars should operate in free agency. Overlap and layer your costs. The team has cheap deals at the defensive end and cornerback positions because of how the CBA works with rookie contracts, so that's where they should spend in free agency now. That means when those rookie deals come to expire, those free agent deals can be removed from the books if necessary to free up the space.

Back on point; based on how the Jaguars are operating right now, to me it screams preparing to spend at the cornerback position.