JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The Jaguars made one roster move on Monday, adding rookie fullback Lonnie Pryor to the practice squad.
That was a pretty quiet day compared to Sunday, when the Jaguars were awarded seven players off waivers, cut seven players and signed seven more players to the practice squad, the Jaguars front office was pretty quiet. And while things won't be as busy as they were Sunday, GM Dave Caldwell and coach Gus Bradley have said they will be aggressive in terms of trying to improve the bottom part of the roster and special-teams play, which means the team will be signing and cutting players on a somewhat regular basis.
So while things are (relatively) quiet for now, here’s a quick breakdown of the 54-man roster (we’re including WR Justin Blackmon, who is suspended for the first four games):
According to data collected by The Philadelphia Inquirer and posted on its website, the Jaguars have the league’s fifth-youngest roster in the NFL. The numbers may not be 100 percent accurate now because the website used the rosters as of 9 p.m. Saturday and teams continued to add and cut players on Sunday, but it shouldn’t make too much of a difference in the final results.
Here’s how the Jaguars roster breaks down in terms of age:
The Jaguars have 38 players 26 years old or younger, including 12 projected starters: WR Cecil Shorts (25), LT Eugene Monroe (26), LG Will Rackley (23), RT Luke Joeckel (21), WR Justin Blackmon (23), QB Blaine Gabbert (23), DT Tyson Alualu (26), DT Roy Miller (26), DT Sen’Derrick Marks (26), LB Geno Hayes (26), CB Dwayne Gratz (23), S Johnathan Cyprien (23).
They have 12 players between 27 and 30 years old, including six starters: RG Uche Nwaneri (29), TE Marcedes Lewis (29), FB Will Ta’ufo’ou (27), RB Maurice Jones-Drew (28), LB Paul Posluszny (28) and S Dwight Lowery (27).
There are only three players older than 30, all of which are starters: DE Jason Babin (33), C Brad Meester (36) and K Josh Scobee (31).
Sixteen players are either rookies or first-year players.
The Jaguars have four players on the roster who were drafted under GM Shack Harris (2003-08) and 10 players who were drafted under GM Gene Smith (2009-12).
If you eliminate the 2012 draft class because those players are only in their second year and should still be on the roster (four of the six picks are), the number remaining from Smith’s tenure drops to six. The 2009 and 2010 drafts should have produced the core group of players that should be the strength of this year’s team since they would be entering their fourth and fifth seasons, which is when most players enter their prime. But only two of the 15 players taken in those two drafts remain: Monroe and Alualu.