Jaguars: Former top draft pick receives bad news
The Jacksonville Jaguars reached an unsurprising yet huge decision regarding one of their pass rushers on Monday following the 2023 NFL Draft. According to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, the Jaguars will not be exercising K'Lavon Chaisson's fifth-year option. The 2020 first-round draft pick hasn't had the career many expected him to when he was first […]
The Jacksonville Jaguars reached an unsurprising yet huge decision regarding one of their pass rushers on Monday following the 2023 NFL Draft.
According to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, the Jaguars will not be exercising K'Lavon Chaisson's fifth-year option. The 2020 first-round draft pick hasn't had the career many expected him to when he was first selected as a Jaguar back in the "pandemic draft."
Forty games into his career, the former LSU Tiger has started 11 games in Jacksonville and has only three sacks during his career to go with seven tackles for loss and 15 QB hits. Going into his fourth year in the NFL, Chaisson isn't expected to be a starter as Josh Allen and Travon Walker are the Jaguars' top outside linebackers.
Exercising Chaisson's fifth-year option would've cost Jacksonville $12.1 million for the 2024 season, per Over The Cap. Instead, the former top draft pick will enter this year's campaign on a contract year. Many players around the league break out in those types of situations and it's safe to say that's what Jacksonville would love to see.
And hey, 2023 will present Chaisson with a good opportunity to raise his level of play after playing in just 9% of the team's defensive snaps last year. With Arden Key off to the Tennessee Titans, the Jaguars have a lot of edge rusher snaps left to fill.
The team also didn't address the need for more pass rushers in the Draft, at least not in the first few rounds. Fifth-round draft pick Yasir Abdullah could be involved in the pass rush but many expect him to be an off-ball linebacker in the NFL. He could be a rush/drop-type linebacker in Jacksonville.
If Chaisson wants to change the narrative surrounding him, which is officially approaching "bust" territory following the team's decision to decline the option, he'll get his chance. But for now, it made little sense for the Jaguars to commit to another year following three seasons of not meeting expectations.
