Jaguars Claim DE Jason Babin, Could Become A Free Agent Following The Season

Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk reports that the newly acquired DE Jason Babin could elect to become a free agent after the 2013 season, due a clause that was included in the recent CBA agreement.

Babin, 32, has three years remaining on his contract with base salaries of $4.225 million in 2013 and another $6 million for the 2014 and 2015 seasons. He’ll have every incentive to play great for the Jaguars next season, as a solid year could allow him to secure some guaranteed cash in his next contract.

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ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports that the Jacksonville Jaguars have claimed DE Jason Babin off waivers from the Philadelphia Eagles.

Aaron Wilson reports that the Browns, Chargers, Raiders and Dolphins all put claims in on Babin.

This is somewhat surprising, but they could use some additional help at defensive end, so it’s not as though it’s a terrible decision on their part. Babin will make $5.575 million for the remaining five games this season and Jacksonville has plenty of cap space to work with.

Babin is under contract through the 2015 season, but there’s no guarantee that he’ll see the remaining money on his contract.

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Sean Jensen of the Chicago Sun Times mentions that he believes that the Chicago Bears do have interest in recently released DE Jason Babin, but adds that they may wait until after he clears waivers to approach him.

Despite the fact that Babin is still considered to be a decent enough player, the general consensus is that he’ll pass through waivers unclaimed. Babin is set to make $5.575 million for the remaining 5 five games of the 2012 season, which is enough money to force teams to wait.

Jason La Canfora mentioned that Colts, Ravens, Browns and Falcons do not have plans to claim Babin, despite the fact that he believes all of them do have some amount of interest in signing him.

We’ll more on this topic throughout the day.

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The Philadelphia Eagles released DE Jason Babin Tuesday afternoon following a 30-22 loss to the Carolina Panthers on Monday Night Football, per Marc Sessler.

“This gives us an opportunity to give more playing time to some of younger guys in the defensive line rotation,” said Eagles head coach Andy Reid.

After 30.5 sacks over the last two seasons (including 18 sacks in 2011), Babin’s production dipped in 2012 as the pass rusher only had 5.5 sacks thus far.

Albert Breer of the NFL Network tweets that Babin’s base salary for the year is $5.575 million; any team claiming the defensive end off of waivers would pick up a remaining $1.64 million in salary.

Considering the high price tag to claim Babin, it seems likely that he’ll clear waivers and will then be allowed to sign with a team of his choosing.