Just one year after signing a five year, $53.75 million contract with the Jaguars, LB Joe Schobert has been traded to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The #Jaguars have agreed to trade veteran LB Joe Schobert to the #Steelers, source said.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) August 12, 2021
First on the story: @meganschobert, who probably has pretty good sources herself.
Schobert was one of the Jaguars prized free agent signings just one year ago, but after cleaning house in the front office and coaching staff the team has a new look this year and may have been happy to simply move the contract to another team. The Jaguars will save $7.3 million in salary by trading Schobert. Schobert started 16 games for the Jaguars last season and recorded 84 solo tackles and had 6 tackles for loss to go along with 3 interceptions.
As far as contract’s go this was a big loss for the Jaguars. The team paid Schobert $15 million, about 28% of the entire contract value, last season. The key to finding value in the contract was to have him a member of the team for the 2020 through 2022 seasons since his salary in 21 and 22 were much more affordable.
The Steelers have been searching for more help at this position and likely saw this as a good cost for the position. Schobert will cost the team up to $7.3 million this season and this is the last year his contract has guaranteed salary. His salary next year is a non-guaranteed $9.25 million bringing the two year average to $8.28 million. The 2023 salary increases to $10.75 million, which is still an affordable figure if he is still on the team at that point.
The Steelers had about $12.2 million in cap room prior to the trade. Schobert’s contract does not really fit the model for the Steelers as it contains workout and per game bonuses so it would not be surprising if they approach him about renegotiating the contract by converting his salary and per game bonus this year into a signing bonus while putting all the future workouts and per gamers into his paragraph 5 salary.
Once the trade becomes official the Jaguars will have a salary cap charge this year of $2.6 million for Schobert. He will also leave the team with $7.2 million in dead money next year. The Jaguars lead the NFL in available cap space this year and should have over $65 million next year including their carryover from this year.