The Jacksonville Jaguars are ushering in a new era this season, led by 34-year-old general manager James Gladstone and first-time head coach Liam Coen.
The main objective for Jacksonville’s new regime has been to create opportunities for the young players on the roster to get on the field. That’s meant cutting ties with veteran players like Evan Engram, Christian Kirk and, most recently, Gabe Davis.
The Jaguars made Davis’ release official on Thursday, cutting the 26-year-old wide receiver despite having two years remaining on the $39 million contract he signed with the team in March of 2024.
Mitch Morse, Jacksonville’s starting center last season and a longtime teammate of Davis’ going back to their Buffalo Bills days, disagreed with the decision to cut Davis so quickly, to put it mildly.
“Absolute tone setter in the locker room and on the field,” Morse said via his social accounts. “PERFECT culture guy. Played hurt all last year, didn’t complain about it once… having a tough time wrapping my head around this one.”
With all due respect to Morse, who appears to be an excellent teammate himself, Jaguars fans likely have a different take on Davis, who fell flat in 2024.
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Davis stepped into a starting role under former coach Doug Pederson but never looked comfortable in the system or with quarterback Trevor Lawrence. Drops and injuries impacted a brutal debut season that saw him total just 20 catches for 239 yards and a pair of garbage time touchdowns (both in the same blowout loss to Chicago in London). Davis’ most memorable moment in Duval County was probably his sideline spat with Lawrence against the division rival Colts in Week 5.
If Davis can summon the receiver who tore through the Kansas City Chiefs defense for eight catches, 201 yards and four touchdowns during Buffalo’s heartbreaking Divisional Round playoff loss in 2021, he wouldn’t be looking for a new team for the second time in as many years. He hasn’t come close to that superhuman form since, however, and injuries aside, his effort in the run game especially left plenty to be desired.
The Jaguars ate a $20.3 million accelerated cap hit to clear Davis off their books this season, so that kind of shows where Coen, Gladstone and Co. stood on the veteran receiver. With the arrival superstar receiver Travis Hunter in the 2025 NFL Draft, you don’t exactly have to squint to see the logic here.
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