On Wednesday, the Jaguars announced the signing of Arden Key. The defensive end will receive a one-year deal that could be worth up to $7MM (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Mike Garafolo). 
Key has always been viewed as an elite talent, dating back to his college days. Once considered a first-round prospect, Key fell to the Raiders in the third round of the 2018 draft. He didn’t shine with his original team, but he seemed to put it all together with the 49ers in his platform year. After notching 6.5 sacks and 17 quarterback hits, his career year led to a strong free agent market.
The Lions, Ravens, and Chiefs all looked into Key, but the Jaguars seem to have come away with the winning bid. The Niners, meanwhile, will be leaning more on Kerry Hyder for quarterback pressure.
The Jaguars could still look to add more pass rushers in the draft, but Key figures to be an important part of the edge rotation no matter what. It’s a huge step up for Key, who looked to be trending in the wrong direction as recently as 2020. In that year with the Raiders, Key played on roughly 40% of the defensive snaps but couldn’t manage a single sack.
It’s worth noting that another strong season could position Key for a much larger payday next year, especially since he won’t turn 26 until May.
No way they draft Hutchinson at #1 now, D-line is fixed
I think Hutch would still be a solid choice w/ Key on a 1-year deal. Who would you suggest in his stead?
Ikem Ekwonu and/or Evan Neal ?
Lol I hope this is sarcasm
^oh, yea that makes more sense lol
I have always said it was a smoke screen. Draft one of three outstanding T prospects and let your QB rest a little easier.
Jags still overpaying and screwing up the markets. Nice.
They have to overpay. They suck ass and no one wants to go there other than for money. Get real.
A bit aggressive of a response to basically agree with the premise of my comment.
First good deal they’ve made this offseason. I like some of their other signings but they were all overpays. Where as this feels like good value for how young and productive Key was last year
Agreed.
They also better not just assume Key had a breakout year solely playing the Edge, and just use Key on the outside if they want to get the most out of him.
Key actually started to come alive for the 39ers when they started using him on the inside during pass rushing downs
^THIS!
The Jags finally signed a role player to a role player contract. Huzzah!
In signing Arden, the Jaguars have made a
KEY addition !!
Ugh… *facepalm* That was brutal.
“Key has always been viewed as an elite talent.” Except for draft analysts having him below the second round on their big boards and actual NFL teams not taking him in the first two rounds.
Will this be the KEY to a winning season?
As a Raider fan, I wish you luck, Jags fans. Key has some talent, but he commits some of the worst penalties sometimes. I was so glad when LV dumped him.
I remember watching him in Oakland, just waiting for him to break out. Obviously he never did. I think a lot of that was his relative lack of strength when he came into the league, versus his college days when he could finesse tackles much easier. The 9ers seem to have taught him something, or maybe he taught himself, but we’ll see how much of it stuck.
He does seem to have turned a bit of a corner in SF, and I’m curious to see if that was scheme, or if he developed some himself. You raise a good point about the lack of strength. I was really hoping he’d breakout, too. The Raiders nailed those 2nd and 3rd day choices for awhile, and I had high hopes for Key. He just ended up frustrating to watch in the end.
Don’t be surprised when they trade #1 pick.
You heard it here first.