Doug Marrone Provides Injury Updates on Jarrod Wilson, D.J. Hayden and Others
The Jacksonville Jaguars saw several key players leave Week 4's game against the Cincinnati Bengals with injuries, but head coach Doug Marrone feels as if most of those players have a chance to play in Week 5.
Among the players the Jaguars lost to injury in Week 4 were cornerback CJ Henderson (shoulder), linebacker Myles Jack (ankle), cornerback D.J. Hayden (hamstring), wide receiver Laviska Shenault (hamstring) and Cam Robinson (knee).
Marrone said during a media conference on Wednesday that he thinks almost every one of these players could potentially play on Sunday against the 0-4 Houston Texans. The only exception is Hayden, who left Sunday's game on a cart.
"We will have some guys not practicing today for different reasons. But the only one that I don't feel good about is D.J. Hayden," Marrone said. "Everyone else has a chance. I don't want to say I feel great, but everyone else has a chance to play on Sunday, so I am excited about that."
Considering each of those five players are starters and the fact that Henderson, Jack, Robinson, and Shenault are frankly four of the better players on the roster, this is good news for the Jaguars. Hayden has struggled mightily this season, but his missing time would still hurt a young and slumping secondary.
With Hayden looking like he is not set to play on Sunday, it seems most likely the Jaguars would move Tre Herndon inside to nickel and have Sidney Jones or Chris Claybrooks start outside. The Jaguars could also play rookie cornerback Josiah Scott, a natural slot corner who has been a healthy scratch for the first month of the season.
Marrone also updated the status of second-year running back Devine Ozigbo, who hasn't played this season due to a hamstring injury landing him on injured reserve. Ozigbo was a standout during training camp but the Jaguars' backfield has been the James Robinson show with Ozigbo sidelined.
"I think with Devine, you know, he had a good offseason, we are just making sure he is ready to go from a soft tissue thing," Marrone said. "We don't want to bring him back and then all of a sudden get an injury because we were really excited about him. He was having a really good camp. Two years ago he had a great preseason and camp when he was in New Orleans before we had gotten him. We are just making sure that he is fine and doing our due diligence there. "
Marrone didn't have an update for second-year running back Ryquell Armstead, who has been on the Reserve/COVID-19 list since Sept. 4.
The Jaguars did good news on another part of the injury front when the team announced that free safety Jarrod Wilson had been designated to return from the team's injured reserve. Wilson has missed the last three games with a hamstring injury and the secondary has been burned in every single game without him, so getting him back would clearly be a big boost. Marrone noted on Monday that "there is a good possibility that he might be able to come up this week."
The Jaguars have 21 days to activate Wilson to the 53-man roster.
"In 2020, NFL clubs are permitted to return an unlimited number of players from either the club’s Reserve/Injured List or from its Reserve/Non-Football Injury/Illness List to the club’s 53-player Active/Inactive List. Such players must have suffered a football-related injury after reporting to training camp and passing the club's physical and must have been placed on the reserve list following 4 p.m. ET on Saturday, Sept. 5," the Jaguars said in a release.
"To be eligible for return, a player cannot begin to practice until three weeks have elapsed since the date he was placed on a reserve list, and the player cannot return to the Active/Inactive List until three games have elapsed since the date he was placed on Reserve/Injured."
