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The biggest headline of the NFL’s first weekend took a Jaguars-related turn on Saturday, albeit not in the way most Jags fans would probably have thought.
According to NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo, following the surprising release of receiver Antonio Brown on Saturday morning, the Raiders attempted to persuade recently signed practice squad receiver and HBO’s Hard Knocks star Keelan Doss to re-join them in Oakland. The Jaguars, however, decided to sweeten the deal in order to keep Doss from leaving, by upping his 2019 salary to the rookie minimum of $495,000. The move appears to have worked, as Doss turned down the Raiders’ offer to continue his rookie season in Jacksonville.
From @nflnetwork: Keelan Doss had a good day today. The Antonio Brown saga resulted in a nice raise for the current #Jaguars WR and former #Raiders undrafted free agent. I explained... pic.twitter.com/ww4BlQsYC7
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) September 7, 2019
Doss is still currently remaining on the Jaguars practice squad, but it’s quite clear that the team believes very strongly they have a promising developmental player by essentially guaranteeing the salary of a practice squad player while also giving him a significant raise, a rare move of sorts.
It will be interesting to see if and when Doss gets promoted to the 53 man roster, which seems inevitable as some point this season judging by the team’s move today.