With minicamp behind us, let’s break down the Jacksonville Jaguars’ roster through a different lens.
In this series, we will be going position-by-position and placing each player into various categories, determining whether they are a lock to make the team or find themselves on the bubble.
What this exercise can do is help bring into focus how many roster spots are actually available this summer, along with highlighting who may be on the outside and looking in.
Up next are the running backs.
Roster locks (3): Bhayshul Tuten, Chris Rodriguez, LeQuint Allen
It feels like I’m almost being too presumptive to have what is likely the entire position group on the 53-man roster in the lock category, but that seems to be where we stand. Tuten is the favorite to be RB1, while Allen proved to be extremely valuable on passing downs in pass protection. He’s also been a contributor on special teams.
Rodriguez was signed to a two-year, $10 million deal this offseason. Although he’s working his way back from an injury, salary cap-wise, it’s actually cheaper to have him on the team this year than to move on, with his cap number being lower than his dead cap hit.
All three backs will factor into what should be a relatively heavy rotation this season.
On the bubble (3): Ameer Abdullah, J’Mari Taylor, DeeJay Dallas
If Tuten, Rodriguez, and Allen are locks, then there may not be a roster spot available for any of these backs. That said, the Jaguars did roster four running backs on the 53-man for a large portion of last season. If Taylor, as a UDFA, can showcase his potential or Abdullah or Dallas can stand out on special teams, they could make a case for being the fourth back on the roster — although it’s uncommon for teams to keep that many.
This article originally appeared on Jaguars Wire: Jaguars 53-man roster: Locks and bubble players at running back
