Jaguars agree on extension with key linebacker

AAV-wise, this agreement checks in a bit south of Oluokun’s first Jags contract. The Yale alum had signed a three-year, $45M deal to join the Jags; that average salary ranked fourth at the position entering Friday. 

Oluokun received $28M guaranteed at signing two years ago, but the contract did not feature any guarantees for the upcoming season. Oluokun now has additional security.

Oluokun, 28, has rewarded the Jags with their initial investment, starting 17 games in each of the past two seasons. He reached 128 solo stops in 2022 and 111 last season. The former sixth-round pick has made at least 173 tackles in each of the past three seasons, leading the league in total tackles twice in that span.

Oluokun’s 192 stops in his final Falcons slate are the most any NFL player has accumulated in the 21st century. That created a big market for him in 2022, and although the Jags have jettisoned multiple free agents they signed to help on defense that year (Foley Fatukasi, Darious Williams), they are doubling down on their prolific tackler.

This agreement will drop Oluokun’s cap number from its present $21.75M place, providing cap relief for a Jags team that has made multiple big investments in free agency. 

The team signed Gabe Davis and Arik Armstead to eight-figure-per-year deals this month. The Jags have also begun negotiations with QB Trevor Lawrence. 

Although the team will have Lawrence locked up through 2025 due to the soon-to-be-exercised fifth-year option, many first-round quarterbacks since the 2011 CBA changed the rookie salary landscape and have agreed to new deals before Year 4.

No one else this century has even eclipsed Oluokun’s second-best tackle season (184); Pro Football Focus has viewed the former Falcons De’Vondre Campbell successor as a top-30 linebacker in each of his two Jaguars seasons. 

After letting Campbell walk in 2020, the Falcons received tremendous production from Oluokun. The Jaguars have certainly benefited as well; the ex-Ivy Leaguer has tallied 20 tackles for loss over his two Jags slates.

With Deion Jones‘ extension still on the payroll in March 2022, Atlanta let Oluokun walk. But the team soon traded Jones, starting over at linebacker. Oluokun has topped both Jones and Campbell on his third contract, with his guarantees almost definitely set to run through at least the 2025 season.