Jaguars' Head Coach, Teammates React to Josh Oliver's Foot Injury
The Jacksonville Jaguars have gotten plenty of bad news over the last several days, but one of the most disheartening situations has been that of second-year tight end Josh Oliver.
A third-round pick in 2019, Oliver struggled to stay on the field as a rookie due to a hamstring injury that kept him on the sideline for nearly the entire first half of the season. Then after four games, and just three catches for 15 yards, Oliver sustained a season-ending back injury.
Thus, the primary talking point with Oliver all season was his attempt to rehab his body and remain healthy in 2020. He has loads of potential, but he was unable to demonstrate it as a rookie. The hope was 2020 would be a better year in terms of injury luck, but that has already changed with Monday's news of Oliver sustaining a broken bone in his foot.
"Josh Oliver was running [Sunday], non-contact, and he broke a bone in his foot. So he’ll have surgery [Tuesday] and, you know, it’s just an unfortunate thing," head coach Doug Marrone said on Monday.
"It’s something that can happen to any of us, sometimes you understand the contact part of it, but the non-contact stuff just happens, and I guess you just chalk it up to be a bad break. I mean, he was in shape, he was doing really well, we were really excited. He’s devastated, obviously, because it showed that he put a lot of work in, coming in."
Among those who offered words of support toward Oliver on Monday was fellow 2019 draftee Josh Allen. The Jaguars' 2019 draft class is a close-knit group, so it is far from surprising to see Allen feel for the unfortunate luck of a teammate he entered the NFL with.
“I didn’t see when Josh [Oliver] got hurt but I came and talked to him after practice. It just sucks for him because I feel like he’s never had that opportunity to play," Allen said. "I was really excited for him this year and just to see he got hurt again really, really hurt me. I really wanted to see him be a great football player because I know he is. That really hurt."
The news of Oliver's injury is especially dismaying considering how much the Jaguars' staff seemed genuinely excited for him during the early portions of training camp. Oliver came into camp with noticeably improved strength, explosion and size, and through a few days of practice he looked like he was developing a solid rapport with quarterback Gardner Minshew II.
But now, Oliver will have to go back to the drawing board, and the Jaguars have lost one of their most athletic pass-catchers for an undetermined period of time before the season even begins.
"Sure, he looked good. I mean, those first couple days, it was exciting," Marrone said.
"I think that’s what the business element of it—okay here’s the injury, he’s not going to be able to go, so put it to the side and move on. You know what I’m saying? Next man up, this and that. I think that when we write that or I talk about that and people read it or they hear it, they tend to kind of go with that program. Because they’re not next to that player, they haven’t been able to see what that player has done, or the amount of time we’ve put in, or even if someone like Josh who was injured last year, wanted to come out and prove something, you know, I’m sure within himself, to a level of excitement from, not only his teammates but the coaches –‘Hey this guy’s really going to be able to contribute and we’re really going to get a lot out of him.’ So there’s a lot of emotion that goes into it or a lot of empathy that goes into the player, you know, what he’s done."
Oliver will almost assuredly still get his chances to prove himself once he is able to return to the field, but losing him to injury so early in training camp was presumably a development the Jaguars and Oliver were hoping to not have to endure. Oliver's potential is still unmatched among Jacksonville's tight end room, but things have to eventually go his way in terms of luck for the Jaguars to get some production from him.
