There’s no reason for the Jacksonville Jaguars to be sellers before the NFL’s Oct. 31 trade deadline.
Still, if a team comes calling it never hurts to listen. And while the Jaguars won’t be interested in parting with any players who could play an integral role in the team making a postseason run, there are a few players on the roster who they could do just fine without.
It’s unlikely that Jacksonville will want to part with players from its AFC South-leading roster. But if the team does make a deal that sends someone elsewhere, here are five Jaguars players who are the most likely to get traded ahead of the deadline:
RB D'Ernest Johnson
When the Jaguars kept four running backs on the 53-man roster at the end of preseason, they probably didn’t intend for Travis Etienne Jr. to get 82.9 percent of the touches. Rookie Tank Bigsby hasn’t shown enough to get consistent snaps while veterans D’Ernest Johnson and JaMycal Hasty have hardly seen the field.
Earlier this month, ESPN’s Bill Connelly suggested the Jaguars trade Johnson to the Cleveland Browns — where he spent the last four years — for a swap of late-round selections. Jacksonville would probably jump at that offer to trim a bloated running back room to three.
OLB K'Lavon Chaisson
The Jaguars afforded the 2020 first-round pick a lot of patience in hopes he’d finally turn a corner and become a pass rushing threat. Time’s up. Jacksonville declined to pick up his fifth-year option and, with Chaisson set to become a free agent in 2024, he hasn’t been much of a factor in 2023.
If any team wanted to take a flyer on Chaisson, there’s no reason why the Jaguars wouldn’t take any compensation they could get. Don’t count on that trade partner existing, though.
G Ben Bartch
It seems the Jaguars have given up on Bartch. The 2020 fourth-round pick started 11 games in 2021 and was the team’s Week 1 starter last season before suffering a season-ending knee injury.
Jacksonville put Bartch back in the Week 1 starting lineup this year, but benched him after early season struggles. Since then, the Jaguars have suffered offensive line injuries but have turned to Tyler Shatley and Blake Hance instead of Bartch.
RB JaMycal Hasty
All the reasons to trade Hasty mirror the ones for the aforementioned Johnson. It just doesn’t make much sense for the Jaguars to use four roster spots on running backs if only one is getting used.
Hasty has been a healthy scratch in five of Jacksonville’s seven games and it’d probably be even tougher to find a trade partner than it would be for Johnson.
WR Tim Jones
Yes, this one would be a surprise and, no, I don’t think it happens.
But if you’re looking for overinflated areas on the roster, a wide receiving room with six on the active roster and one (Parker Washington) on injured reserve stands out like a sore thumb. There are a few teams reportedly looking for a receiver and the Jaguars would be just fine if they trimmed a player from the bottom of the group.
Jacksonville won’t part with one of the top three receivers and Jamal Agnew is too valuable as a returner. The Jaguars also have a lot of developmental value in rookies Elijah Cooks and Washington. That leaves Jones, who has five receptions so far this season.
