Since Gardner is on the third year of a rookie contract, if he is waived, he would go through the waiver claim process, so I don't think he would have a choice of what team he goes to, unless he clears waivers without being claimed, which in my opinion is very unlikely.  A good backup QB on a sixth-round rookie contract is way too good to pass up.  Someone would claim him.  

For that reason, I think it's much more likely he'd get traded rather than waived.  Surely someone would give up a late-round pick for him.  And then he'd still be a low-paid backup.

I would also argue with this statement: "...the Jags have a pattern of trying to keep unhappy players who don't want to be on the team on the roster. So par for the course."  The current regime has only been in place for a few months, so there there can't be any "pattern" of trying to keep unhappy players.

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