Jacksonville Jaguars decline fifth-year option for former first-rounder K’Lavon Chaisson

The Jacksonville Jaguars are declining to pick up the fifth-year option on former first-round draft pick K’Lavon Chaisson, according to NFL insider Ian Rapoport. The NFL’s deadline for the decision is on Tuesday.

Chaisson was the No. 20 overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, however, he has started just 11 games over the last three seasons for the Jaguars. Declining his fifth-year option means the Jacksonville front office is taking the risk of seeing the former LSU Tigers star walk after the 2023 season.

His rookie contract will run out next March, making him a free agent for the first time in his career ahead of the 2024 season.

The Carolina Panthers are also declining the fifth-year option on the Jags’ first pick from the 2020 draft – cornerback CJ Henderson. Jacksonville traded Henderson in September of 2021 for a tight end. Henderson went 11 spots ahead of Chaisson at No. 9 overall.

In 30 games over three seasons for the Jaguars, Chaisson has posted a sack a season, as well as 60 tackles with seven tackles for loss.

Jacksonville selected Chaisson after he helped lead the LSU Tigers to a national championship. He had a 60-tackle, 6.5-sack performance in the 2019 season.

Declining Chaisson’s fifth-year option can serve as motivation for the young linebacker. If he performs well, he could be looking at his biggest payday yet after 2023.

More on the 2023 NFL offseason, free agency

The NFL 2023 calendar year began at 4 p.m. ET on March 15. At that time, contracts running through 2022 officially ran out, making those players free agents. Prior to the beginning of free agency, teams had a chance to designate one franchise or transition tag player. That started on Feb. 21 at 4 p.m. ET and ended on March 7.

There were 722 players due to hit free agency in 2023.

The legal negotiation period spanned from March 13 through March 15. The new year marked the beginning of all trades going official per the league office. April 21 marks the deadline to sign restricted free agents to offer sheets. On April 26, the deadline for teams to match restricted free agent offers sheets hits.

More on restricted, exclusive rights free agents

Players with only three years of accredited NFL experience become restricted free agents. Their original team will have the option to apply first-round, second-round, original-round, and right-of-fight-of-first-refusal tenders on players at escalating price tags. The higher the round, the more expensive the tender amount. However, if a separate team does offer a contract and the original team does not match that round pick will be conveyed from the new team to the original team.

The right of first refusal only gives a team the option to match or not. If they don’t match, they get nothing in return. An original-round tender would send a draft pick from whatever round the player was drafted back to the original team if they chose not to match. The original team will have five days to match once a player signs an offer sheet from a new team.