Jaguars Release OL Rashaad Coward
Rashaad Coward's time in Jacksonville lasted all of seven whole days, with the team releasing the veteran offensive lineman on Tuesday afternoon, one week after signing him to the active roster.
The Jaguars release of Coward came several hours after the release of kicker Josh Lambo, giving the Jaguars more flexibility on the active roster moving into the bye week. Coward was signed by the team last Tuesday following an ankle/MCL injury to starting center Brandon Linder, an injury that will keep Linder on injured reserve for the next several weeks.
Coward spent the first four weeks of the season on the Pittsburgh Steelers' active roster before signing with the Jaguars following Week 5. From 2017-20, he played with the Bears and appeared in all 16 games in 2020, making three starts at guard and two starts at tackle. He started a career-high 10 games for Chicago in 2019, all at guard.
Coward didn't appear in any game with the Jaguars, spending his lone week with the team missing practice with an ankle injury. The same injury forced Coward to miss the Week 6 23-20 victory over the Miami Dolphins in London, a trip Coward did not make. Coward was one of two injured players to not make the trip.
The move to release Coward comes after the Jaguars have suffered several injuries along the interior offensive line. Linder is joined on IR by starting right guard A.J. Cann, while backup guard Ben Bartch left Sunday's game in London with a concussion in the first half.
To replace the three, the Jaguars have turned to backup center Tyler Shatley and fourth-year offensive lineman Will Richardson. Shatley stepped in for Linder, while Richardson replaced Bartch and Cann at right guard against the Dolphins.
"He was a guy that when we got him back through the whole free agency and all that this year [and] everyone loves the guy. He is not that big of a drop off from Brandon [Linder]. You know obviously Brandon is our starter but Shat [Tyler Shatley] played pretty good," Jaguars head coach Urban Meyer said on Monday.
"The other guy who is arguably the most improved player on the team or one of them is Will Richardson. He is a swing tackle and a swing guard now and to go into that kind of game where they were playing bear defense and blitzing. They pressured. That was the most pressure we had seen all year and it was a little feast or famine where they got us a few times, but also Trevor [Lawrence] did a nice job. That was his best game.”
