Leonard Fournette recently inked his rookie deal with the Jaguars, and as Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk reports, Fournette is the only 2017 top-10 draft choice under contract to entirely avoid offset language. Executive vice president of football operations Tom Coughlin is apparently unconcerned about being on the hook for the full amount of Fournette’s rookie contract if Fournette should be cut within the first four years of his contract, or maybe he is just confident that Fournette will not fizzle out that quickly. This is in keeping with Jacksonville’s standard operating procedure, as the Jags have not included offset language for former top-5 picks Blake Bortles, Dante Fowler, Luke Joeckel, and Jalen Ramsey.
- The Jaguars recently touched base with left tackle Branden Albert, who continues to stay away from the team as he pushes for a new contract. Albert still has roughly a month before he can be fined for his absence, but Roy Cummings of Florida Football Insiders believes he is only hurting himself. The club drafted Cam Robinson in the second round of this year’s draft and has already stated that he will compete for the starting LT position, and given Robinson’s upside, there’s reason to think that he could win it. As such, Cummings does not believe that Albert will hold out of training camp.
- David Grunfeld of the Times-Picayune believes the Saints should let Kenny Vaccaro play out the 2017 season, his contract year, and then determine whether or not to give him a big-money deal or put the franchise tag on him in advance of free agency next offseason. The club has two former second-rounders, Marcus Williams and Vonn Bell, who could theoretically replace much of Vaccaro’s production at a fraction of the cost.
- We heard several months ago that the Buccaneers could be preparing to move on from Roberto Aguayo, and as Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk (citing PewterReport.com) writes, Aguayo is ready for his competition with newly-signed Nick Folk. Said Aguayo, “It is motivation. When I was in college there would be walk-on kids come in and I didn’t know who they were or if they were good or whatever. But whoever they were, it was always a competition for me. Just seeing someone else out there trying to compete. I like it.”
- We learned yesterday that Falcons GM Thomas Dimitroff is confident the team will reach a long-term pact with RB Devonta Freeman.