At the start of free agency last year, the New England Patriots went crazy. Although the Patriots aren't usually known for throwing around big money in free agency, they ended up handing out more than $160 million in guaranteed contracts, which was an NFL record.
Spending the most money in free agency isn't exactly a record you want to hold and the good news for the Patriots is that they don't have the record anymore because the Jacksonville Jaguars just broke it.
Over the past two weeks, the Jaguars have handed out a total of $175.3 million in guaranteed money, according to ESPN.com. That number, which is now an NFL record, is $12.3 million higher than the $163 million that the Patriots gave out in 2021.
So how did the Jaguars end up using that much money? Let's take a quick look at the players the Jags have signed since the start of free agency:
- Christian Kirk got a four-year, $72 million deal with $37 million guaranteed
- Brandon Scherff agreed to a three-year, $52.5 million deal with $30 million guaranteed
- Foye Oluokun is getting a three-year, $45 million deal with $28 million guaranteed
- Darious Williams is getting a three-year, $39 million deal with $18 million guaranteed
- Foley Fatukasi is getting a three-year, $30 million deal with $20 million guaranteed
- Zay Jones is getting a three-year, $24 million deal with $14 million guaranteed
- Evan Engram is getting a one-year, $9 million deal with $8.25 million guaranteed
Those seven seven players alone account for more than $155 million of the $175.3 million in guarantees. New Jaguars coach Doug Pederson made it clear that he would prefer not to be spending like this in free agency, but he felt that it was something the team needed to do this year.
"I don't think you want to go into free agency signing seven guys every year," Pederson said, via USA Today. "I don't think that's the model. And now we have the draft coming up that can also help with 12 draft picks to bring in more talent, depth and competition. But the guys we signed will be impact players, you know, right away."
The one problem with going on a huge spending spree in free agency is that it almost never works out. The Jaguars are the seventh team in NFL history to hand out more than $100 million in guaranteed money in free agency and here's the ugly part: None of the six prior teams won a playoff game in the year where they spent big.
Of course, the Jags might not care about that stat because they don't have to win a playoff game in 2022 for their season to be considered a success. If Pederson can just double the win total of last year's 3-14 team, then he will instantly become a very popular person in Jacksonville.
Jaguars just smashed the Patriots' NFL record for free agency spending that New England set in 2021 - CBS Sports
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