Jacksonville Jaguars Releasing David Garrard Proves Jags Had Worst NFL Offseason

The Jacksonville Jaguars are repeating history as they appear to be releasing starting quarterback David Garrard just five days before the start of the NFL regular season.

So what does this mean? Is it just another blunder to move Jack Del Rio towards the unemployment line?

Apparently, this move wasn't a Del Rio decision, as he last said that Garrard would be the team's starter on opening day.

History is repeating itself as the Jaguars informed Byron Leftwich that he would be released or traded before the start of the 2007 season to allow Garrard to become the team's starter.

This final move just rounds off the Jaguars off-season that is now the worst of any team throughout the whole league. Before today, the New York Giants had the worst off-season, and they had a terrible one, losing several key players to free agency and injury.

Now, however, the knock-on effect makes the Jaguars' other moves even more horrible.

The team basically gave up on the David Garrard era when it traded up to draft rookie quarterback Blaine Gabbert, so the fact that he is not the team's starter on opening day isn't a surprise. However, the fact that Gabbert is not the team's starter is incredible.

Luke McCown will fill in for Garrard while Gabbert continues to sit on the bench and learn from the sidelines. This would be fine, except for the fact that Del Rio's job security isn't anything near safe.

I didn't like the Gabbert selection in the draft because the Jaguars had other needs both defensively and on offense. Garrard is 33, so obviously he needed a replacement, but Gabbert gave the team no help to win this season when Del Rio needs to have a good season to save his job.

The AFC South is a mess, so instead of trading up to draft a stand-out receiver—or as the draft actually went, they could have traded down—or improving the pass rush that is lacking, the franchise looked to the future.

Looking to the future is fine, in fact I encourage it, however, drafting Gabbert should have allowed them to enter into a transition season with low expectations because they were not helping the team win now.

With Garrard at the helm the offense could have been competitive, while the defense could have been playoff worthy. With the AFC South appearing to be up for grabs, Del Rio would never have had a better opportunity to prove his worth as a head coach.

Last season, Garrard completed 65 percent of his passes and threw 23 touchdowns in 14 games. He had 15 interceptions but still registered a 90.8 quarterback rating. The Jaguars weren't an elite passing attack with him at the helm, but their receiving corp wasn't stellar, and they will always be a run-first team with Maurice Jones-Drew in the backfield.

Had the team given Garrard better receiving help, the offense could have been more than competitive this year, but with just Mike Thomas and Jason Hill starting on the outside, he would have had a lot of work to do.

This was as a direct result of the team's reluctance to draft a receiver higher than the fourth round of the draft or bring a notable one in through free agency.

Now the Jaguars are trapped in mediocrity.

The addition of Paul Pozluszny and the return of Aaron Kampman will aid their defense, but there is little point in playing mediocre football in front of a notoriously poor fan base. The only way this team would have sparked any interest in itself was with a quality season of football—that won't come with Luke McCown under center—or a new star to hitch the franchise's name to.

Neither of those things are happening now.

Waiting until this late in the season to release Garrard has taken reps away from Blaine Gabbert in the preseason and training camp that could have allowed him to become the starter on opening day. With Gabbert under center from day one, the Jaguars would have a direction and identity to their franchise.

They would be in rebuilding mode and signify to the rest of the league that they were looking to the future to build around their young star quarterback. This is why Garrard's release makes this team's off-season the worst of any franchise.

Most franchises are either building for the future or doing everything they can to compete right now while keeping one eye on the future.

The Jaguars are now doing neither.

Maybe they are building for the future by waiting for Gabbert to develop? No they are not, because the fact is that this Jaguars team is going to get Del Rio fired with a poor season.

Then a new coach enters the fray and Gabbert is no longer the coaching staff's guy. Look at John Fox and John Elway in Denver. They want nothing to do with Tim Tebow after he was drafted by Josh McDaniels. New coaches tend to mean new quarterbacks; unless the franchise tailors its coach search for someone who likes Gabbert, it will have essentially thrown away a draft pick.

The only positive from this move for the Jaguars is that they save $7.975 from the cap for the coming season. Maybe I'm wrong but, what does that matter?

No NFL franchise owner can't afford to pay that, and Garrard has proven that he would have been worth it for this season at least. It doesn't aid the team cap wise in the future, and it didn't need cap relief right now.

The Jacksonville Jaguars had the worst off-season in the NFL. The franchise lacks direction and an identity without the ability to compete right now. To top it all off, they've got a head coach who is no better than a dead man walking.

Unless Luke McCown is Kurt Warner reincarnated, the Jaguars are in for a terrible time this year and for some time to come after that.