Patriots Claim Ex-Jaguars RB JaMycal Hasty Off Waivers
The New England Patriots claimed ex-Jacksonville Jaguars running back JaMycal Hasty off of waivers on Monday afternoon.
Last season Hasty rushed for 194 yards, amassed 20 catches for 126 yards, and returned four kicks for the Jags for 97 total yards, appearing in all 17 games for the first time in his young NFL career.
Hasty then signed a two-year contract with the Jaguars this offseason, bolstering their running back depth. The Jaguars also signed free-agent running D'Ernest Johnson and drafted Tank Bigsby in the third-round, with Johnson and Bigsby each winning spots on the depth chart over Hasty.
Hasty appeared in three games for the Jaguars this year, playing just six offensive snaps and not recording a touch.
The Jaguars appeared to shift to more of a rotation at running back in Week 10's 34-3 loss to the San Francisco 49ers, with Johnson playing a season-high 12 snaps and Bigsby adding 10. Bigsby has been a part of several turnovers at times this season, but the Jaguars haven't lost confidence in the top-100 pick from Auburn.
"I don’t worry about Tank’s confidence at all. He’s been playing football his whole life and I feel like I was in that same situation last year," Jaguars running back Travis Etienne said on Monday.
"I feel like I don’t worry about his confidence because he has me to come and talk to. I could let him know that you just have to weather the storm, in the NFL I learned last year that you can’t get too high and you can’t get too low. It’s a week-to-week thing, all you got to do is go out there and make a play and nobody is even worried about Tank missing the ball. It’s so back and forth in this league and I feel like for him, he’s just got to weather that storm right now and just get out of his head, block out the outside noise and just be who he is. We all know Tank is a talented kid and we all know he’s a great football player. He’s just got to go out there and just show that and be himself.”
