Doug Pederson: You don’t want to sign seven guys every year in free agency

USA TODAY Sports

The Jaguars have not been competitive since reaching the AFC Championship Game in 2017. Now with head coach Doug Pederson, the team has made moves to try and become a contender in the AFC South quickly.

Jacksonville quickly committed $175.3 million in guaranteed money out of the gates in free agency, which set a new record. Some of those players — like receiver Christian Kirk and offensive lineman Brandon Scherff — should help the Jaguars right away and constitute significant upgrades.

Still, head coach Doug Pederson said this week at the annual league meeting that this year’s approach to free agency isn’t likely to continue.

“I don’t think you want to go into free agency signing seven guys every year,” Pederson said, via John Reid of the Florida Times-Union. “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.”

Pederson noted that the club targeted free agents based on need and where they also felt they could lose a player. Receiver DJ Chark, who ended up signing with Detroit, was one of those individuals Jacksonville wanted to bring back but didn’t.

“But I’m happy for DJ, he gets a chance to go and compete and really help the Lions win,” Pederson said. “Really the last couple of years he has been sort of nicked up and a little bit injured. I know he had a good relationship with our quarterback [Trevor Lawrence] but again, the nature of the beast is that you’re going to lose some of those guys and I wish them all the best.”