Jaguars release veteran wide receiver after drafting Brian Thomas Jr.
Zay Jones.
Zay Jones‘ time with the Jaguars has come to an end. The veteran wideout was released by Jacksonville on Tuesday, per a team announcement.
Jones joined Jacksonville on a three-year, $24M pact in 2022. During the first year of that accord, the 29-year-old posted career highs in receptions (82) and yards (823), scoring five touchdowns.
The 2023 campaign did not go according to plan, however. Jones missed considerable time due to injury, and in December, he was arrested on a misdemeanor domestic battery charge.
While the former Bill and Raider returned in time for the regular season finale, his final statline (34-321-2) reflected his time on the sidelines as well as his reduced role in Jacksonville’s offense.
The team did lose Calvin Ridley in free agency, but Gabe Davis and Devin Duvernay were among the receivers added to help replace him. Jacksonville also used a Day 1 selection on LSU product Brian Thomas Jr. during the 2024 draft.
With those new faces in place, the Jags will move on, and Jones will now join the list of veterans in search of a post-draft agreement. The former second-rounder was due a non-guaranteed base salary of $7M this year, and he was set to carry a cap hit of $10.75M.
This move will generate a larger dead money charge ($6.56M) than cap savings ($4.18M) if processed immediately. Designating Jones a post-June 1 cut, though, would free up more than $7.7M in space against a dead cap charge of only $3M.
Jacksonville also announced the release of veteran kicker Joey Slye. The 28-year-old spent the past two full seasons in Washington, going a combined 44-for-54 (81.4%) on field goal attempts during that stretch.
He signed with the Jaguars early in free agency after Jacksonville lost Brandon McManus to the Commanders. Before even taking part in a training camp competition, however, Slye is once again on the open market.
The Jags were among the teams which selected a kicker in last weekend’s draft, adding Cam Little in the sixth round. The latter is now joined by Riley Patterson as the only two kicking options on the team’s roster.
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