| Scobee hasn't signed his franchise talk and is waiting for a long-term deal. (US Presswire) |
As CBSSports.com’s Jason La Canfora wrote about on Monday, Jaguars owner Shahid Khan enters what could be the most important month of his short reign in charge of Jacksonville.
The team still hasn’t come to a potential contract extension for running back Maurice Jones-Drew -- made more precarious by the thought that perhaps no running back in the league means more to his team -- and kicker Josh Scobee still hasn’t signed his $2.88 million franchise tag.
While there hasn’t been much movement on a new deal for Jones-Drew -- who, along with Scobee, did not attend the team’s minicamp, even though Jones-Drew has two years left on his current contract that will pay him a combined $9.4 million -- Scobee’s agent said he hasn’t talked to the Jaguars in months.
“Josh has asked me not to discuss specifics of negotiations other than what has already been said,” his agent, Ken Harris, told the Florida Times Union. “That is, we had some talks early on involving proposals from both sides, but haven’t heard back from them in months. We know our last proposal is very fair.”
While the casual fan might not think much of Scobee’s attempt to win a big-time contract (the prevailing thought might be, hey, the dude is just a kicker!?!?), the fact is Scobee, as La Canfora points out, accounted for about 40 percent of Jacksonville’s scoring last season and “is a vitally important part of the organization, especially given the overall offensive decline and the well-documented struggles of quarterback Blaine Gabbert.”
And while the desires of players like Drew Brees, Matt Forte and Cliff Avril to sign long-term extensions with their respective teams in lieu of signing their respective one-year franchise tags have made headlines this offseason, it’s clear the Jaguars shouldn’t take Scobee for granted.
General manager Gene Smith claims he isn’t, saying he’s made a fair offer to Scobee. But Scobee and his agent also can look at the Buccaneers recent agreement with Connor Barth in which they’ll pay him $3.3 million a year for four years with $4 million in guarantees and point to that as a fair price for Scobee.
"There's been a couple recent deals done this out of season, and we're hopeful we'll get his done," Smith told the Times Union recently. "Certainly the team and the player and the agent, when you're in negotiation, you look at deals that are done recently. … I anticipate him kicking for us this season and hopefully that's the case in the future."
For more NFL news, rumors and analysis, follow @EyeOnNFL on Twitter, and subscribe to our Pick-6 Podcast and NFL newsletter. You can follow Josh Katzowitz on Twitter here: @joshkatzowitz.