Is It Possible for the Jaguars to Trade Cam Robinson This Offseason?

Trading Cam Robinson Could Be Seen As An Executive Failure, But It Should At Least Be Explored

Very rarely would you expect to be talking about trading a player just a year after signing a big extension, but this has been a topic of discussion in Jacksonville. It's mainly been floated around by fans and considered to be near impossible, but that won't stop us from exploring the details that would be involved. While I don't expect the Jaguars to move on from Robinson this offseason, I do think there's a very strong argument to look for another solution on the offensive line at tackle.

When Cam Robinson went down to injury, the Jaguars were forced to start second-year player Walker Little who excelled as a starter. Quite frankly, there's a strong argument to be made that he was an upgrade from Robinson as this team transitioned into a playoff run. When you factor in that Cam Robinson costs $22M this upcoming season compared to Walker Little's $2M cap hit, that has to be a serious discussion.

Out of all the configurations the Jaguars ran this year, they were at their best when Walker Little and Jawaan Taylor were on the field. Little is a natural fit on the left side, and Jawaan Taylor more than proved he's a starting tackle on the right side instead of a guard. With Taylor facing free agency unless he's resigned, the Jaguars have to ask themselves whether he should be a part of their future plans.

If the Jaguars decide to retain Jawaan Taylor, which they would undoubtedly choose if money wasn't an issue, that would force Walker Little to stick around as a swing tackle or move inside. Trading Cam Robinson away solves both of these issues. Not only would it allow Walker Little to continue playing at left tackle, but it would free up plenty of cap space to retain Jawaan Taylor and other pending free agents.

What Are The Details That Come With A Cam Robinson Trade?

Here's the first thing you have to understand. When an NFL team trades away a player, they are often still obliged to cover a portion of that contract. While that would limit the amount of money the Jaguars would save from trading Cam Robinson, it makes a trade more enticing for another team. The point of saying that is to make it clear that the Jaguars could absolutely garner interest for Cam Robinson on the trade market.

In 2022, Cam Robinson signed a contract with the Jaguars worth $52.5M/3 years. This contract was backloaded, meaning that the Jaguars pushed a lot of cap space down the road. In his first year, Robinson earned just north of $7.5M and still has $10M left in bonus money, which is what the Jaguars would still owe him in the event of a trade. If they were able to offload him this season, they would essentially have paid him $17.5M to play for one season with that cap hit being spread across multiple years.

The Jaguars would have the option to either designate this trade as pre-6/1, which creates a $10M dead cap hit to pay out Robinson's bonus, or as post-6/1, which splits the $10M dead cap hit across the next two seasons instead($5M per year). As of now, Cam Robinson is still owed roughly $45M over the next two seasons. With Jacksonville taking the signing bonus portion, a potential trade partner would only have to pay $35M/2 years. When comparing that to other starting left tackles, it's not a big disparity.

Finding a quality left tackle is one of the hardest tasks that NFL teams face today, so there should absolutely be a market for a young player that would be inherited under an average contract. I could imagine teams like Chicago, Cincinnati, and New England being potential trade partners since they could be desperate for a quality tackle. Each of these teams has plenty of cap space to make this trade, so that shouldn't be an issue.

If the Jaguars can agree to terms on a trade, they would likely receive a late second rounder or early third rounder. Tackles carry an immense amount of value, so a reliable starter should be able to net something worthwhile. If they're struggling to finalize a deal, the Jaguars could agree to carry some more of the cap hit to process the trade.

Does It Really Make Sense To Make This Move?

Yes, there's plenty of logic to making this move. As long as Walker Little doesn't take a surprising downturn in performance, this is arguably a win on every front. Trading Cam Robinson frees up $35M over the next two seasons and at least $12M during the first season depending on when the trade is designated. Jawaan Taylor could be brought back on an affordable deal around $41M/3 years.

Just for example, if they included $12M in signing bonus and took a cap hit of $5M for Jawaan Taylor the first season, they would still save an additional $7M against the cap. That factors in trading Cam Robinson, taking the full dead cap hit from the signing bonus this year, and the new contract for Taylor. The following year would also provide some additional cap relief since Taylor would be $5M cheaper than Robinson's cap hit. Walker Little will continue to be cheap until the 2025 season, so you won't be concerned with his cap hit.

Where this trade continues to be a huge win is when you factor the draft capital the Jaguars would recover. Having another Day 2 pick could be used to fill the new need for a swing-tackle or for a more pressing issue. Baalke has consistently hit with his selections on this day, those players being Tyson Campbell, Walker Little, Andre Cisco, Luke Fortner, and Chad Muma. Quite frankly, there isn't a player on that list(maybe Chad Muma) that you wouldn't consider at least a plus starter.

While it may make sense to trade Cam Robinson, I wouldn't necessarily bet on the front office doing it. Making this trade could be seen as this franchise admitting a big mistake last offseason, but it's really not. The only way they could've blown it was if Cam Robinson played at a lower level than in 2021. Consider this for a moment. Robinson was originally slated to make $16.7M on the franchise tag, so if the Jaguars traded him this offseason they would essentially owe him just $1M more than the franchise tag. Honestly, I don't think the contract was a blunder at all, it just comes down to finding the right team to make a deal with Trent Baalke and the Jaguars.

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