Punter on Standby: Jaguars HC Doug Marrone Goes Over Week 6 Kicker Situation

Could Logan Cooke kick field goals for the Jaguars? It appears there is at least a small chance that is an option.

Doug Marrone doesn't want to jinx Jon Brown. Not after he has seen four other kickers in the last month. Not after a kicking situation that no coach on the staff has ever seen. 

For now, Marrone simply wants Brown to be dialed in against the Detroit Lions on Sunday. And after the team's recent kicker woes, what more could Marrone really ask for?

“Yeah, I was talking about this. You know, each week with all these guys that we’ve had, they’ve looked good where like you walk off the field and as a coach, you say ‘Gosh, I feel good.’ You watch them kick in practice and they're making all the field goals and everything," Marrone said during a Friday media conference. 

"And that’s how I’ve always looked at it and I don’t know if that’s just jinxed myself, being a person that believes in superstition, but I guess I’ll jinx myself again. Yes, [Jon Brown]'s looked good during the week and I feel like we can put him out there and go."

The Jaguars elevated Brown from the practice squad to the active roster on Monday, the same day veteran kicker Stephen Hauschka was released after missing two field goals (24, 49) in Week 5. Brown, a former undrafted kicker who joined the league in 2016, has yet to attempt a regular season field goal. 

Brown is the latest in a long line of Jaguars kickers since Week 2. Starting kicker Josh Lambo has been on injured reserve with a hip injury since then, creating a lot of stress and inconsistency for Jacksonville's special teams over the last three games.

Since the start of Week 2, the Jaguars have had Lambo, Brandon Wright, Aldrick Rosas and Hauschka kick for the team. All have missed at least one kick in the game they appeared in during that span, though Hasucka is the only one to miss two field goals.

Lambo (hip) has been on injured reserve since the conclusion of Week 2, while Wright and Rosas each kicked for one game before being injured. Hauschka lasted one game before being released, leading to Brown's elevation.

"And I think really, the other day I think I explained it well, you go in there and you look good in warmups and you look good in practice and it’s kind of like what we can all relate to in our younger days and maybe little league baseball. All of a sudden, oh there’s one wild pitch, there’s another wild pitch and all of a sudden, the pitcher can’t throw a strike," Marrone said. 

"There’s a lot that goes on with the pressure of the game, but it’s pressure that I’ve always said you put on yourself—which you can control. So, Jon seems to be real even key or low key. It’ll be interesting to see how he is on game day when he goes out there, if that changes. If it doesn’t, I feel really good. If it does change, then obviously we could have issues.”

If the Jaguars do run into issues again on Sunday, could they make a bold but necessary move to attempt to have punter Logan Cooke kick? 

Cooke has handled the majority of kickoffs for the Jaguars since Lambo was injured, but the third-year punter hasn't kicked once at the NFL or college level. 

But desperate times call for desperate measures. In the case of the Jaguars, this is the definition of a desperate time, and asking Cooke to kick field goals would be that measure.

“Yeah, we’ve worked on him doing PATs and field goals also. So, we’re ready to go that route if it occurs," Marrone said about Cooke on Friday. 

It remains to be seen what it would take for Cooke to be considered as the team's kicker. Brown would clearly have to slip, while the Jaguars will still have to monitor how far Lambo is from being ready to return to the roster. Either way, the Jaguars need to find a way to answer for their kicking problems sooner or later.

"I don’t see him being able to come back this week, but we’re trying to progress as fast as we can to come back for the game against the Chargers. That’s what we’re hopeful of," Marrone said on Monday about Lambo.

"That would be maybe speeding it up a little bit though from the normal prognosis originally.”