(03-11-2019, 10:03 PM)TheDuke007 Wrote: Obviously the Jaguars have made their fair share of mistakes.  However, many of the things being said here are unfair, misleading or outright false.  It's false that we would have gotten a third rounder for Fowler as a comp pick.  The determination of comp picks is based at the team level and considers everyone you gained versus lost in free agency.  Keep in mind cutting people (Jackson, Gipson, Parnell, Hyde, etc.) don't count on the "lost" side.  We just signed Foles.  We are going to be on the plus side of free agency.  As such, we would have gotten NOTHING if we had held onto Fowler and let him go in free agency.  A third round pick was great compensation considering he was only under contract for a part of a year and was not in our future plans.

As far as trades, I can ensure you that the Jaguars offered the players up.  They just didn't get any bites.  I know trades sometimes seem strange, but that's the NFL.  Why did the Jaguars get a draft pick for Luke Bowanko but not Malik Jackson?  One of the things you have to remember is salary.  Malik Jackson had a $15 million salary.  If you trade for him, you get him for that salary.  If you wait, like the Eagles did, you can sign him for LESS MONEY and NOT GIVE UP A DRAFT PICK.  Why would a team trade for him!?!?!  Big names don't necessarily generate the biggest trade value.  Caldwell has gotten trade value for some of "scrubs" too (Luke, Bowkanko, D'Anthony Smith, Chris Smith, etc.) as well as some big name guys who we no longer wanted (Blane Gabbert, Julius Thomas, etc.).  On the acquisition side, I think getting Macell Dareus for a 5th rounder was a steal.

As for Foles, time will tell.  You pay top dollar for anyone in free agency.  That being said, we needed a quarterback and he was the best free agent.  The other option would be the draft, but it's a risk.  We likely would have had to trade up (perhaps at a very steep price) to get one of the top quarterbacks.  You can't force teams to trade or they may trade with someone else.  If we didn't have Foles and didn't get a top quarterback in the draft, we would be royally screwed.  Also keep in mind that rookie quarterbacks rarely do much in the NFL.  We would largely be writing off the 2019 season if we went that route.  Also keep in mind that even highly rated college prospects fail roughly 50% of the time when trying to make it in the NFL.  Foles is a gamble, but relying on the draft was likely a bigger gamble.  Only time will tell which path was right.

I agree with you on a good part of this. The dareus trade was great I did forget that one I can’t think of any others though. As for the Fowler thing that comp pick also applies to the obtaining team so the could have received a 3rd as well. Negotiating power was what you would use it as the other way even if you knew you wouldn’t actually get a pick because you sign someone else.

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