The Jaguars have released 31-year old DT John Henderson.  Henderson played in 15 games for the Jaguars last season and he made 36 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss, he had 3 sacks, forced 2 fumbles and he defensed 3 passes.  He played in 124 games in his 8 years in Jacksonville in which he had 423 tackles, 29 sacks, he forced 8 fumbles and he defensed 38 passes.  With the Jaguars drafting defensive tackles in the first two rounds you could see the handwriting on the wall before this move.  Henderson still has a little bit left in the gas tank and I think he will be able to help someone this year.

The Jaguars have acquired 28-year old inside linebacker Kirk Morrison from the Raiders for a 4th round pick in the NFL Draft.  Morrison played in 16 games for the Raiders last season and he finished up with 133 tackles, 8 tackles for a loss, 2 sacks, 3 forced fumbles and he defensed 1 pass.  In his 5 years with the Raiders he played in 80 games in which he has made 632 tackles, defensed 19 passes, he has 5 sacks and 7 interceptions.  I love this pickup for the Jaguars as Morrison is a tackling machine who will help against the running game in 2010.

The Jaguars have selected DT D’Anthony Smith out of Louisiana Tech was the 74th pick (3rd round) of the NFL Draft.  He certainly looks the part at 6′2″, 300 pounds but he never dominated despite playing against questionable competition at Louisiana Tech.  One has to wonder if he will step up his game or not.  Smith played in 12 games (all starts) for La. Tech and he finished up with 51 tackles, 5.5 tackles for a loss, 3.5 sacks and one fumble recovery.  He played in 49 games (36 starts) in his four years in college and he finished up with 197 tackles, 24 tackles for a loss, 12 sacks, 4 batted down passes, 1 forced fumble and he recovered 1 fumble.  Smith will have to develop a mean streak or the Jags are going to have a tough time getting him playing time any time soon. 

The Jaguars have selected DT Tyson Alualu out of California with the 10th pick of the first round of the NFL Draft.  This is a head scratcher as the Sporting News had Alualu rated as a 4th round pick and Pro Football Weekly had him going in the second or third round.  He is a tad small at 6′2″, 291 pounds so the Jaguars will likely try to get him to add some weight to his frame.  Alualu played in 13 games (all starts) for Cal last season and he finished up with 65 tackles, 11.5 tackles for a loss, he had 7.5 sacks, batted down three passes and he forced 2 fumbles.  He played in 52 games (40 starts) in his four years at Cal and he finished up with 156 tackles, 26 tackles for a loss, he had 16 sacks, batted down 6 passes, had 4 forced fumbles and he recovered 1 fumble.  Alualu might turn out to be a solid NFL player but I think the Jaguars took him way too early.

The Jaguars have signed 29-year old WR Kassim Osgood to a 3-year, $6.675 million dollar deal.  Osgood played in all 16 games for the Chargers last season in which he caught 1 pass for 17 yards and he had 15 tackles.  Osgood has now played in 92 games in his NFL career and he has caught 33 passes for 647 yards (19.6 avg) with 4 TD grabs.  He also has 97 tackles and 4 forced fumbles in his NFL career.  Osgood has been a outstanding special teams player in his NFL career but the Jaguars likely dangled more playing time at WR to seal the deal.