Jaguars Moving On From Veteran Defender

In a day of massive change for the Jacksonville Jaguars, new head coach Liam Coen, general manager James Gladstone and EVP of football operations Tony Boselli shed a number of veteran contracts.

Amongst those, according to multiple reports, is cornerback Ronald Darby. The move to release Darby does not come as a shock considering he was acquired by the past regime and had a movable contract.

Darby signed a two-year deal with the Jaguars after spending 2023 with the Baltimore Ravens.

Darby had a clear connection on the Jaguars' staff in former head coach Doug Pederson, who coached Darby from 2017-2019 in Philadelphia. But even his history with Pederson could not keep him from being benched for Montaric Brown last season, which made this a logical move for Jacksonville.

The Jaguars will have a lot of questions that need to be answered about the secondary entering the 2025 offseason. Tyson Campbell has one spot locked down in the secondary, while Darnell Savage and Jarrian Jones are starting level players.

How Coen, Gladstone and Boselli go forth with making those changes remains to be seen. But after getting rid of several contracts on Thursday, it is clear the Jaguars are set to enter Monday's free agency period with the asset's needed to spend.

"Our group has already been off to the races, so I'm onboarding in real time," Gladstone said at his opening press conference last week.

"We're meeting with the coaching staff and scouting staff here this week at the combine and we'll have a lot of deep discussions around how we'll approach pro free agency throughout this week. That's not honestly atypical. That's what a lot of people do. So, we're not behind in any way, shape, or form.”

The Jaguars used last week's NFL Scouting Combine as a chance to get everyone on the same page ahead of free agency. With increased cap space, we will see how well the time was spent.

"Now, with that, I think the fact that we’re a new coaching staff, a new general manager working with our scouting staff, this is a great opportunity for an offsite and just building some of the connective tissue that otherwise wouldn’t necessarily exist because we’d just be in our normal mode of operation in Jacksonville," Gladstone said at the combine.

"So, we’re already meeting today, tomorrow and beyond with our pro scouting staff and our coaching staff working through the initial conversations around our roster as well as the pro-free agent landscape while also working in some of the conversations that are specific to the Draft. So, it’s a great dynamic at this stage and really looking forward to more that comes with the rest of the week."”

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