Jaguars Activate Two Players From Reserve/COVID-19 List

Second-year running back Ryquell Armstead is back on the active roster and off of the Reserve/COVD-19 list.

A key second-year player is returning as Jacksonville Jaguars have activated two more players off of the team's Reserve/COVID-19 list, the team announced Thursday. 

2019 fifth-round running back Ryquell Armstead and undrafted rookie free agent offensive lineman Tre'Vour Wallace-Simms were each activated from the team’s Reserve/COVID-19 list and are now on the Jaguars active roster.

The Jaguars currently have one just player left on the Reserve/COVID-19 list: second-year offensive lineman Ryan Pope. Armstead had been on the list since Aug. 2, when he was one of five second-year players added to the list. Wallace-Simms had been on the list since July 28.

Armstead was Jacksonville's No. 2 running back in 2019, though he still played sparingly as a rookie due to the massive volume of snaps Leonard Fournette played. In 16 appearances, Armstead started just one game (Week 17 when Fournette was ruled out) and played 150 offensive snaps, 14% of the unit's plays on the field.

As a rookie, Armstead recorded 35 carries for 108 yards (3.1 yards per attempt), but he was supremely effective as a receiver. He caught 14 passes for 144 yards (10.3 yards per reception) on 24 targets, which included two touchdowns. 

Jacksonville didn't select any running backs in the 2020 NFL Draft to compete with Armstead and Ozigbo, with general manager Dave Caldwell giving support to each of the second-year backs. 

"I think maybe it's misunderstood of how we feel about the other guys we have in our room besides Leonard and Roc(quell Armstead) and Devine (Ozigbo). And those are two guys that as you look down, you start to get into the fourth, fifth round, and you're like, ‘Do we like these guys better than Rock and Devine?’ And the answer is really no," Caldwell said after the draft.

"So we felt like we had some guys that can make the team at other positions and come in and help right away and knowing that we have those two guys that we really like.”

It was expected entering training camp that Armstead would battle with Chris Thompson and fellow second-year back Devine Ozigbo for snaps. Both Thompson and Ozigbo have impressed in Jaguars' camp in his absence, so it will be interesting to see how the snaps are now divided among the crowded backfield behind Fournette.