Jacksonville Jaguars cornerback A.J. Bouye is heading to the Denver Broncos in exchange for a fourth round pick in the upcoming 2020 NFL Draft, league sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
Much like Denver’s trade for quarterback Joe Flacco last offseason, this trade cannot be processed until the start of the new league year on March 18.
With the Jacksonville Jaguars, Bouye recorded 8 interceptions in three years, with six of those picks coming in 2017. Bouye is scheduled to have a cap hit of $15,437,500 in 2020, according to Spotrac. That would have been the third highest on the Jaguars.
According to Schefter, the Jaguars will clear $13 million in cash and over $11.4M in cap space off of their books.
This move comes on the heels of reports that four time Pro Bowler Chris Harris Jr. is receiving serious interest from multiple teams on the free agent market. This trade essentially put a final nail in the coffin for any hope that Harris and General Manager John Elway will reach an agreement.
With the likelihood of Harris being out in Denver, the new Broncos secondary is beginning to take shape. Safety Justin Simmons ranked 17th on Pro Football Focus’s Top 101 players from the 2019 season. The safety was a cornerstone in the secondary, leading the team in interceptions (4), and finishing second to linebacker Todd Davis in tackles (93).
John Elway told reporters at the Combine February 25 that Simmons will remain a Bronco.
“I’d like to get a deal done with him before that, but we’ll see. Yeah, if we don’t get something done, we’ll use the tag,” Elway told reporters at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis on Thursday.”
Simmons will be joined by fellow safety Kareem Jackson and cornerback Bryce Callahan, who missed all of 2019 with an injury.
A.J. Bouye struggled with consistency in the past two seasons, but was dominant during his All-Pro season in 2017.
Bouye was targeted 92 times last season with 52.3% of those attempts being completed. To compare, Detroit’s Darius Slay allowed 55.9% of his 93 targets to be completed in 2019.
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