The NFLPA Advises Players To ‘Consider’ Numerous Grievances Against The Jaguars When In Free Agency

It wasn’t that long ago that the Jaguars were in the fourth quarter of the 2018 AFC Championship game with a 10 point lead. Led by one of the best pass rushes in the NFL, a grind it out ground game, and two shutdown corners, Jacksonville was so close to tasting a Super Bowl appearance. Then, Tom Brady did what he does and the Patriots managed to overcome that deficit to defeat the Jags. Still, there was a lot to be optimistic about in Jacksonville. The defense was led by young stars like Jalen Ramsey and Yannick Ngakoue on defense, Leonard Fournette was a monster force on offense, and the future for the Jags appeared bright.

Almost two seasons later, and the Jags have taken a complete 180. Their victory over the Raiders on Sunday was their first since October. The defense? A shell of itself. The offense? Struggling. The players? Extremely unhappy.

It turns out that a potential reason the Jags have struggled has to do with player morale. A grievance was recently filed by the National Football League Players Association against the Jaguars, and the NFLPA announced that they had recently won an arbitration dispute with the team in what has become a growing list of concerns that players have with the franchise. According to the NFLPA, 25 percent of all of the union’s grievances that players have filed have been against the Jaguars. It’s so bad in Jacksonville that the NFLPA actively suggested players “consider” these issues when deciding where to sign in free agency in their statement on Sunday.

There is a lot to dig in here, but the highlights are something. Such as fining players a total $700,000 for not arriving to offseason rehab, even though it’s against league rules to do so, but the note about 25 percent of players filing grievances against a single team says a lot about the state of the Jags as a franchise. They don’t win football games and the players that are there hate it. Remember those names that were listed as key parts of the Jags AFC Championship run in 2017? All of them have feuded with management at one point or another.

Leonard Fournette was in trade rumors over the summer because team executive vice president Tom Coughlin didn’t like the way he sat on the bench in the Jaguars loss to end the 2018 season. Ngakoue held out most of the spring/summer while he demanded a new contract from Jaguars management. He never got one and eventually returned but there is a growing feeling that he won’t return. Ramsey lasted a whole two games with the team before a conflict with Coughlin led to a trade demand.

There is one constant in all of this: Tom Coughlin. He was named executive vice president in January of 2017, and during his time at the helm of the franchise he has managed to feud with every single key player on the team and is largely considered responsible for the NFLPA complaints against the team. As long as he’s in charge, it seems likely that little will change in Jacksonville, no matter what other parts get changed out in the process.