JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jaguars are bringing back their trade deadline acquisition. No, not Calvin Ridley.
Jacksonville re-signed guard Ezra Cleveland on Thursday, according to multiple news reports. The Jaguars made a trade deadline deal with the Vikings for Cleveland last year to help fortify an injury-ravaged offensive line. According to the reports, Cleveland’s deal is a three-year, $28.5 million contract with $14.5 million guaranteed. He allowed three sacks all season (a mark that tied for 30th) in playing both left tackle and left guard.
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The Jaguars clearly believe in an offensive line that was racked by injuries and led to quarterback Trevor Lawrence’s slippage in his third season. Lawrence was sacked a career-high 35 times and missed a game due to a shoulder injury as the Jaguars imploded from an 8-3 start to a 9-8 finish and missed the playoffs.
The 6-6, 312-pound Cleveland graded out at 59.5 by Pro Football Focus, better than right tackle Anton Harrison (53), Tyler Shatley (47.5) and center Luke Fortner (44.3). Right guard Brandon Scherff (67.3) and left tackle Cam Robinson (65.4) were the highest graded Jaguars offensive linemen.
Despite those struggles of the offensive line, the team all five of its starters from 2023 under contract. Scherff’s contract is onerous so it would take some creativity to move on from him. A release would mean a dead cap charge of $14.868 million, according to Spotrac. Scherff’s cap hit this year is nearly $24 million.
It was the second notable trade deadline deal by general manager Trent Baalke. In 2022, he sent a fifth-round and a conditional pick to the Falcons for receiver Ridley.
Ridley, of course, was suspended by the NFL at the time. The Jaguars have indicated that they’d like to bring Ridley back and have until the start of the new league year to re-sign him. If Jacksonville does re-sign Ridley before the start of the new league year (March 13, 4 p.m.) the third-round pick that they owe the Falcons would then become a second-round pick.