Jaguars decline fifth-year option for quarterback Mac Jones in cap saving move
The Jacksonville Jaguars will not be picking up quarterback Mac Jones' fifth-year option after the team traded a 2024 sixth-round pick for the QB's services just before the start of the new league year in March.
Jones was slated to make $25,664,000 in 2025 if the team opted to pick up the option. Jones is signed through the 2024 season, becoming an unrestricted free agent in March 2025.
Jacksonville picked up the fifth-year options for first-round picks, QB Trevor Lawrence and running back Travis Etienne. Lawrence is set to make $25,665,000 in 2025 while Etienne is set to make $6,143,000, according to OverTheCap.
All first-round picks have a fifth-year option clause in their contracts as of the 2020 NFL-NFLPA Collective Bargaining Agreement. The options are based on various factors including, playing time, Pro Bowl appearances and position.
Options picked up: Jaguars pick up fifth-year options for QB Trevor Lawrence, RB Travis Etienne
A basic fifth-year option, for example, is calculated from the average of the third to 25th highest salaries at their position over the past five seasons. If a player meets the other incentives (playing time or Pro Bowls), their fifth-year options will increase.
Why the Jaguars declined Mac Jones' fifth-year option
Jacksonville is entering the 2024 campaign with a couple of options at quarterback and neither of them centers around the starting spot.
Lawrence is entrenched as the team's starting QB for the foreseeable future, hence why the team opted to pick up his fifth-year option and is working hard on a long-term extension for the former Clemson Tiger.
The team's backup QB position is a bit more murky.
The Jaguars traded for Jones but were never going to be responsible for paying him over $25 million next year to assume the team's backup role for another season. Still, his presence on the roster now gives him an upper hand against incumbent backup QB C.J. Beathard.
In 2024, Jones is set to make $2,785,410 in guaranteed salary this season. That means, if the Jaguars release Jones before the start of the season, they will not get any savings and instead owe Jones his full salary for 2024 unless he signs elsewhere, then it might get tricky.
Beathard, on the other hand, isn't owed a guaranteed base salary for 2024 and the team could save $1,920,000 by simply releasing him.
The Jaguars opted not to keep three quarterbacks on their 53-man roster last year. Even with Lawrence going down multiple times due to injury in 2023, it doesn't seem likely the Jaguars will carry three QBs again this year.
Earlier this year, the league modified the third, emergency QB rule to allow teams to elevate the emergency QB from the team's practice squad, opening up a new pool of players to be eligible.
The Jaguars' roster construction over the last few seasons points to them carrying just two on the active roster with one on the practice squad for emergency services.
Though the Jaguars did not pick up Jones' fifth-year option, he still appears slated for a big role as the No. 2 behind Lawrence and has far more reason to make the team over Beathard.
Demetrius Harvey is the Jacksonville Jaguars reporter for the Florida Times-Union. You can follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @Demetrius82.
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This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: QB Mac Jones has fifth-year option declined by Jaguars; what it means
