Jaguars WR DJ Chark Closing in on 1,000-Yard Season

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver DJ Chark has already had a storybook sophomore season in the NFL. Now, he just needs 44 more yards to make it the perfect ending.

Chark has 956 receiving yards in 13 games this season and has two games left to have a chance to eclipse 1,000 yards on the season. Chark may have been able to do it last week vs. Oakland but missed the game with an ankle injury. But this weekend, he should have a crack at reaching the milestone.

"It would be really big for me, just because that is something I never really had the opportunity to do," Chark said in the TIAA Bank Field locker room Friday.

After being picked in the second round of the 2018 NFL Draft, Chark didn't sniff the 1k club. In a year of rookie adjustments and struggles, he totaled only 174 yards. And dating back to his LSU days, Chark's season-high in receiving yards in college was only 874 yards.

"I have never really been in a pass-heavy offense like that, so this year is pretty special," Chark said.

"So to get to this point where I am at now, I am happy, ecstatic. That would just be the cherry on top. But whether I get it or not, it definitely doesn't take away, in my eyes, the season."

If, and likely when, Chark gets to 1,000 yards before the 2019 season ends, he will join former Jaguars wide receiver Allen Robinson as the only players 23-or-younger in Jaguars history to post at least 1,000 receiving yards in a single season.

Chark getting to 1,000 would also be the perfect symbol for how much the LSU pipeline has meant to Jacksonville. Chark's former LSU teammate Leonard Fournette recently reached 1,000 rushing yards on the season for Jacksonville, and if Chark joins him in the 1k club it would be the fourth time in franchise history that the Jaguars have had a 1,000-yard rusher and a 1,000-yard receiver in the same season and the first time since running back Fred Taylor and wide receiver Jimmy Smith accomplished the feat in 2004.

Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone has been adamant all season that Chark is one of the team's hardest workers. To see him turn that work into a big milestone like 1,000 yards would show that hard work pays off.

"But I think for everyone, especially when the overall of the season has been obviously a disappointment that you do like to see those individuals that have worked extremely hard get to a goal or what they want to do," Marrone said Friday.

"So he’s worked extremely hard to be in the position he’s in. We obviously know he’s talented, and he’s a player that I believe is just going to continue to get better, so if that was one of goals, and probably it is, then hey listen, that would be great.”