Jaguars want OL Jawaan Taylor to return as negotiations continue, reiterate 'it's a business'

INDIANAPOLIS — The Jaguars are not sure yet whether or not they'll be able to re-sign right tackle Jawaan Taylor, who is set to become an unrestricted free agent at the start of the new league year on March 15.

Both Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson and general manager Trent Baalke indicated on Tuesday at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis that they'd like to see Taylor return.

Keeping the team together has been a priority for Jacksonville this offseason, opting not to address many concerns through outside free agency, and instead retain players that are set to become free.

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Still, the process will need to play out and Jacksonville is currently in negotiations with a variety of impending free agents with the team, including Taylor.

"I think with Jawaan and Evan [Engram], I don’t want to speak for them, they know how we feel about them, and I think we know how they feel about us, and there’s a win-win in there somewhere. We’ve just got to get to that," Baalke said when asked about the impending free agents.

"Negotiations are ongoing, and they’re something that, they’re not going to get finished today, but we’ve got a nice window here before free agency starts, and our goal is to try to close those deals within that window.”

The Jaguars will have until March 15 to get a new deal done for Taylor. Prior to that, though, the team could place the franchise tag on him, essentially giving him a hefty one-year $18,244,000 contract as a placeholder for further negotiations. Baalke indicated that the team "could" franchise tag Taylor or Engram, but it currently doesn't appear likely that the former would be the ideal candidate for the tag.

Still, the Jaguars will continue to negotiate with Taylor's camp, which includes superstar agent Drew Rosenhaus as the clock continues to tick. If the team were to place the franchise tag on Taylor, they'd have to do so by March 7, the league's deadline for franchise tags.

Another part of the process includes determining the team's best course of action while understanding the depth the team has at tackle. The Jaguars drafted offensive lineman Walker Little in the second round of the 2021 NFL Draft. Since then, Little has played sparingly but did start the final three games of the regular season and the team's two postseason matchups for an injured left tackle Cam Robinson.

With Robinson still on the mend, though, it creates an awkward position for Jacksonville. Pederson said that with injuries to the offensive line — including left guard Ben Bartch — it will be part of the discussions in retaining Taylor's services.

"That's everything we're trying to figure out now," Pederson told the local Jaguars media in a scrum on Tuesday. "Hopefully his camp sees it that way because we see it that way and try to work it out. But, with not knowing when Cam [Robinson]'s going to be ready, it does have the flexibility of having Walker Little sitting there, who can obviously fill in if need be."

On the flipside, having Little in the fold gives the team some insurance if Taylor does depart in free agency.

"You’ve got a good young player in Walk[er] [Little] that played at a high level when he got an opportunity, so we’re just going to, again, to assess the roster, talk to the coaches, which we have a lot of collaboration back and forth and just try to make the best decision for us, but bringing Jawaan [Taylor] back is something that we would like to do," said Baalke.

Baalke lafter reiterated that while the team is encouraged by Taylor wanting to return to Jacksonville, but mentioned to the local media that "it's a business."

"It's a business. We understand it and they understand it and it's impossible to re-sign everybody at maybe what they're looking to get from a max standpoint, but I believe that in every deal there's a win-win," said Baalke.

"At some point within the negotiation, you can come to a compromise that both sides feel good and that's what we're shooting to do."

Taylor has started every game he's played in Jacksonville, including 100 percent of the snaps in 2019, 2020 and 2021. He missed just two percent of the snaps in 2022 and started and played in 100 percent of the snaps during the team's postseason run.

Demetrius Harvey is the Jacksonville Jaguars reporter for the Florida Times-Union. You can follow him on Twitter at @Demetrius82.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jaguars want Jawaan Taylor to return as negotiations continue