My thoughts ion this situation...

I hope that as a person, Telvin Smith is okay. Based upon everything we've publicly known about Telvin Smith as a Jaguar, he's been a solid citizen for us and a good player. Hopefully whatever issue(s) has/have turned his world asunder can be overcome by him and make him a better person. As fans, we all have our wants for the team and our expectations for players on the team, and when someone doesn't meet those expectations, it can be easy for us to get angry at the player. But as I always say, players are public figures, not public property. They are more than their jersey number. They are human beings with human weaknesses and problems. Sadly, the contracts that so many of us seem to begrudge do not insulate them from those weaknesses or problems. Whatever it is he's facing, I'm rooting for Telvin Smith the person to beat it, whether he actually plays another down of football for us or not.

While it's possible this is a substance abuse/dependence related issue, part of me thinks this is something else. Even if his positive marijuana test at the combine back in '14 put him in the NFL's substance abuse program, if substance abuse were the issue, his suspension (assuming he was facing one) would only last 4 games since he hasn't been suspended since then. If that were the case, why would he choose to sit out the whole year and lose all of that money and risk his roster spot in the future? Furthermore, were he facing suspension from the league, the team would have known about it before yesterday. But based upon the press release, they were caught off guard by his announcement. On the other hand, Smith had never done anything like this before, and Caldwell's ominous "we'll see" approach to Telvin being on the roster this year seemed to come out of nowhere. If it is substance abuse/dependence and he is being proactive about getting treatment, then that speaks well to his character, in my estimation. But the feeling I'm getting is this is something more. While part of me thinks it unseemly to speculate the way I am, the circumstances make the speculation a very difficult temptation to resist.

On the subject of advance notice, even assuming the Jaguars had some suspicions something was wrong before the draft, I don't think they approach the draft any differently. I have no idea how their board was arranged, but I could not imagine the team taking any LB above Allen (who is listed in part as a LB). Telvin's absence would not or should not have moved, say Devin Bush, above Allen. The need at RT plus the apparent value that Taylor represented at 35 precluded a LB being taken there. Telvin Smith's issues would not have changed those first two picks. Smith's absence would not mitigate the need at TE either. While ideally, Smith would have been in communication with the team and given them advance notice something was amiss with him, I can't definitively state that any pick before round five would have been any different. Perhaps the most that would have changed is the Jaguars don't trade up from 38 to 35 and keep the 4th round pick, but again, given the need at RT and the value, I don't think anything changes.

While I am not a capologist, I believe the Jaguars will take steps to obtain some cap relief from Smith's absence. Of course the temptation is to as quickly as humanly possible, to allocate the cap savings to re-signing Yannick Ngakoue. But unless it (Yannick's new deal) is structured very creatively, I'm not sure how Telvin's cap figure would be high enough to induce Ngakoue to sign another deal. It seems too small to be a signing bonus. Maybe shifting the money to him would be a show of good faith by the team, but then it sets a dangerous precedent of sorts. Certainly every other player who needs a new contract would want the same good faith shown to them, with no guarantee they ever agree to terms with the team.

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