{"id":268474,"date":"2026-03-10T14:08:44","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T18:08:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=268474"},"modified":"2026-03-10T14:08:44","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T18:08:44","slug":"jaguars-re-sign-defensive-back-montaric-brown-and-linebacker-dennis-gardeck","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2026\/03\/10\/jaguars-re-sign-defensive-back-montaric-brown-and-linebacker-dennis-gardeck\/","title":{"rendered":"Jaguars Re-Sign Defensive Back Montaric Brown and Linebacker Dennis Gardeck"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Over the last few days, the <a  href=\"\/\/www.jaguars.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jaguars<\/a> restructured the contracts of <a  href=\"\/\/overthecap.com\/player\/patrick-mekari\/8098\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Patrick Mekari<\/a>, <a  href=\"\/\/overthecap.com\/player\/eric-murray\/4819\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Eric Murray<\/a>, and <a  href=\"\/\/overthecap.com\/player\/jourdan-lewis\/5678\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jourdan Lewis<\/a>. The goal was to create more cap space before free agency was set to begin. Just hours before the legal tampering period for NFL free agency is set to begin, the Jaguars have made their first moves, re-signing defensive back <a  href=\"\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/B\/BrowMo00.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Montaric Brown<\/a> to a three-year, $33 million deal and linebacker <a  href=\"\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/G\/GardDe01.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dennis Gardeck<\/a> to a two-year, $12 million deal.<\/p>\n<h2>Jaguars Re-Sign Defensive Back Montaric Brown and Linebacker Dennis Gardeck<\/h2>\n<h3>Montaric Brown<\/h3>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"zxx\" dir=\"ltr\"><a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Ob84qUoSps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/Ob84qUoSps<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Daniel Griffis (@DanDGriffis) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DanDGriffis\/status\/2031049537985347661?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 9, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Lowest NFL Rating Allowed by CB in Zone<\/p>\n<p>45.8- Montaric Brown<br \/>48.7- Derek Stingley Jr<br \/>48.7- Joey Porter Jr<br \/>53.5- Cooper DeJean<br \/>56.5- Jack Jones<\/p>\n<p>(Data: <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PFF?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@PFF<\/a>)<br \/> <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/15DijLg30Y\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/15DijLg30Y<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Daniel Griffis (@DanDGriffis) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DanDGriffis\/status\/2031012434647912885?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 9, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Brown had a career season in 2025, defending 12 passes and allowing a career best in passer rating, yards, and completion percentage when targeted. In his first three seasons, Brown had shown flashes but was inconsistent. Due to the consistent shift in defensive coordinators and personnel, he was never able to find his footing. But in his final season under contract, the Jaguars hired first-time defensive coordinator <a  href=\"\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/coaches\/CampAn0.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Anthony Campanile<\/a>. Campanile&#8217;s scheme and coaching prowess instantly improved the defense, with multiple players on the defense having career seasons.<\/p>\n<p>While linebacker <a  href=\"\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/L\/LloyDe00.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Devin Lloyd<\/a> and safety <a  href=\"\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/J\/JohnAn07.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Antonio Johnson<\/a> drew more attention for their eye-popping statistics, Brown was quietly one of the best players on the defense and fits Campanile&#8217;s scheme perfectly as a primarily zone-based defensive back. The Jaguars&#8217; starting defensive backfield is now finalized for the 2026 season. Brown and Travis Hunter will handle the boundaries along the outside, and Jourdan Lewis and Jarrian Jones will man the slot positions.<\/p>\n<h3>Dennis Gardeck<\/h3>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Most Pressures among LBs (<a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PFF?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@PFF<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>37- Eric Wilson<br \/>30- Kaden Elliss<br \/>25- Devin Lloyd (\ud83d\udc06)<br \/>25- Nick Bolton<br \/>25- Frankie Luvu<br \/>23- Dennis Gardeck (\ud83d\udc06)<br \/> <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/gKbQxmA2iM\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/gKbQxmA2iM<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Daniel Griffis (@DanDGriffis) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DanDGriffis\/status\/2031041456866025666?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 9, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Linebacker Dennis Gardeck thrived as a rotational player for the Jaguars&#8217; defense in 2025. Gardeck recorded 2.5 sacks, two passes defended, six tackles for loss, and 25 pressures, which was sixth among all linebackers. He played 39% of all defensive snaps and was used largely as a pass rusher. So far, the Jaguars have re-signed two key pieces of their defense, and could continue adding in free agency.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At the beginning of the legal negotiating window, the Jaguars were able to bring back to of their own before they tested free agency.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5773,"featured_media":194767,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6431,13,36],"tags":[33253,7335,34155],"class_list":["post-268474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl-teams","category-jaguars","category-nfl-news","tag-dennis-gardeck","tag-jacksonville-jaguars-news","tag-montaric-brown"],"modified_by":"Drew Crabtree","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5773"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268474"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268474\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":268720,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268474\/revisions\/268720"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/194767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}