The Jacksonville Jaguars' 2024 offseason has been eventful. They have really reshuffled the deck after their collapse during the second half of the year in 2023. A lot of big-name players have left the facility for hefty paydays elsewhere. Jacksonville did well to replace those guys, but the job is not done yet. There is still time for them to improve the team in some capacity. The Jaguars can fortify their roster for the 2024 season by targeting players like Damarri Mathis and Miles Sanders in trades.

Jaguars trade for Damarri Mathis

Jacksonville could really use some added reinforcement in their secondary. Last season after their bye, the Jags ranked 22nd in the NFL in EPA allowed per dropback. That was with Darious Williams and Rayshawn Jenkins in tow too. Williams was waived for financial purposes and wound up re-signing with the Los Angeles Rams later on. Jenkins struck a deal with the Seattle Seahawks.

The Jaguars replaced those two with Ronald Darby and Darnell Savage. Darby had a great season with the Baltimore Ravens last year but is 30 now. That's not the age a team should want their starting corner to be. Savage primarily plays safety but could play there and corner for the Jags. Tyson Campbell is Jacksonville's other projected starting corner but was up and down in 2023.

To improve that position, Jacksonville could try to strike a deal for Denver Bronco Damarri Mathis. Mathis was solid as a rookie but struggled in his second season. That prompted Denver to make some moves. They acquired Levi Wallace in the offseason and used a draft pick on Missouri corner Kris Abrams-Draine.

Sean Payton was not in Denver when the Broncos drafted Mathis. That, along with a poor sophomore season, could put him on the trade block. The Jaguars would be wise to attempt to buy low and see if his rookie-year performance is more indicative of who Mathis is as a player.

Jaguars target Miles Sanders in trade

Maybe the most glaring hole on Jacksonville's roster at the moment is backup running back. Travis Etienne is fantastic but the Jaguars gave him too big of a workload a year ago. He registered 267 carries and added 73 targets on top of that. Only Christian McCaffrey and Rachaad White totaled more combined opportunities than the 340 that Etienne had last season.

That immense workload impacted Etienne's efficiency. He went from averaging 5.7 yards per touch in 2022 all the way down to 4.6 in 2023. Jacksonville thought they addressed this spot last year in the draft when they used a third round on Tank Bigsby out of Auburn. So far, that's been a ginormous swing and miss. Bigsby was awful as a rookie. He averaged just 2.6 yards per carry and caught only one pass for six yards.

The Jaguars haven't done anything yet to upgrade on Bigsby, but they can do so by trading for Miles Sanders. The Panthers just used a second-round pick on Texas' Jonathan Brooks and got solid play from Chuba Hubbard a year ago.

Sanders may be the odd man out of a role there despite a prior track record of excellent play. It was only two seasons ago when the former Penn State back ran for 1,269 yards at a 4.9 yards per carry clip. Prior to his disastrous 2023 season, Sanders averaged just over five yards per rush for his career as well. He's a good and efficient player when he's set up to succeed.

Sanders doesn't contribute much in the passing game but he can siphon carries on the ground to keep Etienne fresh. He also has his familiarity with head coach Doug Pederson dating back to his days in Philadelphia. Jacksonville trading Carolina a late-round pick for Sanders makes a lot of sense for both sides.