Jaguars Sign CB Stanley Jean-Baptiste
The Jaguars have signed free agent cornerback Stanley Jean-Baptiste, the club announced today.
Jean-Baptiste, 27, was selected by the Saints in the second round (No. 58 overall) in the 2014 draft, but he’s never lived up to that billing. In fact, he’s appeared in only four games throughout the course of his career, and all of those appearances came during his rookie campaign. After being waived prior to the 2015 season, Jean-Baptiste has bounced around the NFL, spending time on the offseason/practice squad rosters of the Lions, Seahawks, and Chiefs.
Jacksonville already boasts one of the league’s best cornerback duos in A.J. Bouye and Jalen Ramsey, while Aaron Colvin is a capable slot defender. Clearly, Jean-Baptiste won’t be competing for anything resembling a starting job, and would likely play on special teams if he makes the Jaguars roster. Jacksonville was apparently set on adding another corner, as they worked out veteran Alterraun Verner in May (but opted not to sign him).
Jaguars, Brandon Linder Agree To Extension
Brandon Linder got paid. The Jaguars and the center have agreed to a five-year extension worth $51.7MM, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter). The deal will make him the highest-paid center in NFL history on a per year basis, besting the average annual value of Cowboys standout Travis Frederick ($9.4MM per year).
Linder started out as a right guard but was moved to center in 2016. He flourished at the new position and the Jaguars wanted to ensure that he was locked up for years to come.
Guard Trai Turner, who was drafted one spot behind Turner in the third round of the 2014 draft, inked a four-year, $45MM extension with the Panthers earlier this month. Despite playing at center, a position that is generally less valued than guard, Linder is set to earn nearly as much on a per year basis. His salary may indicate that the Jags plan on shifting him back to guard at some point down the road.
Last year, Linder graded out as the No. 5 center in the NFL, per the advanced metrics at Pro Football Focus. The former third round pick missed the majority of the 2015 season due to a shoulder injury, but he missed only two games last year and was on the field for over 900 snaps.
Linder is the first draft pick of GM Dave Caldwell to sign a second deal with the team. Wide receivers Allen Robinson and Marqise Lee and linebacker Telvin Smith are also products of that 2014 draft class and are eligible to sign extensions with the team this year.
Will Trai Turner's New Deal Impact Brandon Linder?
- Ryan O’Halloran of the Florida Times-Union wonders what, if anything, Trai Turner‘s recent four-year, $45MM extension could mean for Jaguars center Brandon Linder, who was drafted one spot behind Turner in the 2014 draft. Linder started his career at right guard but was moved to center last season after missing 13 games due to a shoulder injury in 2015. He has missed 15 total games in his career, and it sounds as if Jacksonville will simply allow him to play out his contract because of that injury history. If contract talks do commence this year, it will be interesting to see if Linder gets paid like a center or if he receives a deal that suggests he could return to right guard in the future.
Jaguars Place Marquez Williams On PUP List
- The Jaguars sent fullback Marquez Williams to the PUP list, according to Ryan O’Halloran of the Florida Times-Union (Twitter link). Williams, out of Miami (Ohio), went to Jacksonville in the seventh round of this year’s draft.
Dolphins Audition DT Roy Miller
The Dolphins recently worked out free agent defensive tackle Roy Miller, according to Mike Kaye of First Coast News (on Twitter). Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald (Twitter link) confirms the news, adding that the workout took place on Tuesday. 
Miller is still recovering from Achilles surgery, Salguero says, and he left Miami without a contract. It’s not immediately clear whether the Dolphins are still thinking about adding him to the 90-man roster.
Back in June, Miller indicated that he was starting to get bites from teams.
“There’s a few teams that have shown some interest here and there,” Miller said. “I believe my agent has a few – there’s a couple of trips I have to take – this month. It was always [the plan] to kind of wait until mid-July, so I can go out there with enough time to heal and time to get back in shape and then go out there and compete.”
From the sound of it, Miller might not be as far along in his recovery as he anticipated. His best bet might be to wait a couple more weeks before auditioning for other clubs.
Miller, 30, made 50 starts for the Jags from 2013 through 2016. After an injury-shortened season, the Jaguars didn’t show much interest in retaining him. Still, Miller offers lots of experience and he’s not far removed from a productive 2015 season in which he had 4.0 sacks and 40 total tackles.
Latest On Jaguars’ Dante Fowler
Jaguars defensive end Dante Fowler is facing misdemeanor charges of simple battery and mischief as a result of a Tuesday arrest, but that wasn’t his first run-in with the law during his two-year NFL career. In fact, Fowler has committed 10 traffic violations since December 2015, reports Mike Kaye of First Coast News (Twitter links). What’s more, Fowler was arrested in Miami Beach in March 2016 and charged with misdemeanor counts of assaulting a police offer and resisting arrest without violence, according to Greg Auman of the Tampa Bay Times.
The arrest report states that Fowler hindered police from trying to break up a crowd in front a bar, as Auman details. Fowler “ignored verbal requests to move off the road,” writes Auman, and, when an officer put his arm on Fowler’s, the Jaguar said “Get the [expletive] off me” and swung his arm backward “in an obvious attempt to strike” the officer, the report indicates. “Numerous officers” then had to escort Fowler out. Despite that, the misdemeanor charges against him were dropped in December 2016, after he completed a pretrial intervention program for first-time offenders.
Now that Fowler has multiple off-field blemishes on his resume, it could lead to a harsher punishment from the NFL. Even if the authorities let Fowler off relatively scot-free for his latest arrest, the league may hand the 22-year-old a suspension. That would temporarily deprive the Jaguars a defensive starter and represent another setback in the career of Fowler, the 2015 third overall pick who missed his rookie season with a torn ACL and was involved in an unbecoming incident last year in which he was caught on video watching a fight between his girlfriend and ex-girlfriend. The league was aware of it, calling the images “disturbing,” but it didn’t punish Fowler.
Jaguars To Host Gary Barnidge On Visit
Gary Barnidge could finally be getting closer to finding work for 2017. The Jaguars are bringing the former Pro Bowl tight end in for a Tuesday workout and visit, a league source tells Mike Kaye of First Coast News (on Twitter). 
[RELATED: Jaguars Are One Of Eight Fits For Barnidge]
This offseason, the Jags parted ways with tight end Julius Thomas and their only significant addition at the position has been former Raider Mychal Rivera. When considering that Rivera hasn’t topped 300 receiving yards since 2014 and that Marcedes Lewis hasn’t been setting the world on fire in recent years, Barnidge could make a lot of sense for Jacksonville. This season will be a critical year in the evaluation of quarterback Blake Bortles, and he’ll need a big reliable target if he hopes to establish himself as the answer going forward.
In 16 games last season, the tight end hauled in 55 receptions for 612 yards and two touchdowns. That wasn’t a great stat line, but he’s only two years removed from his breakout 2015 effort. In that campaign, the 6’5″ tight end had 79 receptions, 1,043 receiving yards, and nine touchdowns.
Jaguars DE Dante Fowler Arrested
Jaguars defensive end Dante Fowler was arrested in St. Petersburg on Tuesday night, as Greg Auman of the Tampa Bay Times writes. He is now facing misdemeanor charges of simple battery and mischief. 
According to police records obtained by Matthew Head of First Coast News (Twitter link), cops say that Fowler got out of his car and got into a verbal exchange with a man who commented on his driving. When they came face to face, the defensive end allegedly hit the man, knocked off his glasses, and stepped on them. He then proceeded to take the victim’s grocery bag and throw it in a nearby lake.
The victim was not injured and Fowler was arrested without incident. The 22-year-old is currently free after posting a small bond early Wednesday morning.
Fowler, a first-round pick out of Florida in 2015, missed his entire rookie season due to injury. When he debuted in 2016, he recorded 32 tackles and four sacks. Fowler made just one start last season, but this year he projects as a starting bookend opposite of Calais Campbell. If he misses time as a result of this incident, it will be a serious blow to the Jaguars.
Minor NFL Transactions: 7/17/17
Today’s minor moves:
- The Falcons have placed offensive lineman Trevor Robinson on the reserve/retired list, according to Adam Caplan of ESPN.com (Twitter link). An undrafted free agent in 2012, Robinson has bounced around between the Bengals, Chargers, and Falcons during his NFL tenure. In 2015, he was a full-time starter with the Bolts, but could only land a reserve/futures deal this spring. Expected to compete for a reserve role with Atlanta, Robinson has instead decided to hang up his cleats.
- The Jaguars have waived rookie defensive back Charlie Miller with an injury settlement, the club announced today. Miller went undrafted out of Dartmouth earlier this year. He can return to Jacksonville, but he’ll have to wait three weeks plus the length of the settlement.
DeAngelo Williams Rules Out Four Teams
Earlier this month, DeAngelo Williams told ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter that he wanted to continue playing in 2017. However, he said that there were four mystery teams he refused to play for. The running back has now revealed the identity of those teams (audio link). 
[RELATED: Finding A Fit For RB DeAngelo Williams]
Surprisingly, the Panthers are one of the teams that Williams says he will not sign with. The 34-year-old spent the first nine seasons of his career in Carolina, but he left there with a bad taste in his mouth because of the way his departure played out. He also said that he would not sign with the Cowboys, because he grew up a 49ers fan. The Browns and Jaguars, Williams says, are also not in consideration, because of their losing seasons. Williams was not exactly delicate as he broke down his reasons for crossing off each club.
“They don’t ever show up during the playoffs,” Williams said of the Cowboys. “They always disappear in the playoffs.”
In theory, that leaves 28 teams for Williams to possibly join this summer. However, his age and odometer are clearly working against him as we have heard little chatter around the veteran tailback. They say that beggars can’t be choosers, and Williams is being a chooser in the most unorthodox way by ruling out four teams that he could possibly join.
As of this writing, all four of the teams listed by Williams seem pretty well set at running back. However, if one of those clubs loses an RB to injury this summer, he may regret his words.