Jaguars K Josh Lambo Designated to Return From IR
The long national nightmare that is the Jacksonville Jaguars kicking situation is nearly over, with the Jaguars announcing Monday that kicker Josh Lambo has been designated to return from injured reserve.
Lambo has been on the reserve/injured list since Sept. 23 with a hip injury. He has appeared in just two games this season, converting 3/3 field goals and 6/7 extra points. The Jaguars have 21 days to activate him to the active roster.
“He’s going to kick during the week, so we’re going to see where he is then. I’ll have a better update idea once he goes out there," Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone said about Lambo on Monday. "We’re talking about either Wednesday or Thursday of putting him out there and seeing how he feels.”
Since Lambo has been on the mend, the Jaguars have used four different kickers in four weeks: Brandon Wright (injured/waived), Aldrick Rosas (injured), Stephen Hauschka (released) and Jon Brown, who made 1/2 field goals last week against the Lions.
The Jaguars have missed at least one field goal or extra point in every game this season but Week 1, with Hauschka missing two field goals in his lone appearance in Week 5. Getting back Lambo, who has made 94.9% of his field goals since signing with the Jaguars, would obviously be a big boon for a team whose special teams have struggled all season long.
How close does it appear to Lambo playing on Sunday against his former team, the Los Angeles Chargers? It is likely too early in the week to say since the Jaguars staff still has to see him kick in practice, as Marrone alluded to on Wednesday.
"I think it’s probably too early for me to say that because I haven’t seen him [Josh Lambo] out there yet. Today he’ll be out there, we’ll see how he feels. I think there’ll be a lot of communication in that to see where he is and make sure he’s comfortable with it and then if he feels that he can do it, then yes, he’ll be out there," Marrone said on Wednesday.
"If he feels that, ‘Well, I’m really not sure’, [if] there’s any type of doubt in it, then I wouldn’t put him out there. That’s what I’ve done with pretty much every player no matter who it is from when it comes down to coming back from injury."
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.
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.
