Jay Gruden Explains What the Jaguars Miss Without Laviska Shenault on the Field

If the Jaguars ever don't have wide receiver Laviska Shenault on the field, things in the offense will look much different, Jay ruden said this week.

It isn't often that a rookie receiver carves out a special place in his team's offensive playbook just eight games into his career, but Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver Laviska Shenault isn't your average rookie receiver. 

As offensive coordinator Jay Gruden puts it: "He is a different cat," 

Shenault has been used in various roles for the Jaguars this season, lining up as a wildcat quarterback, as a running back, as an in-line tight end and, of course, as a receiver on the outside and in the slot. There isn't another player on the roster like Shenault, which means the Jaguars lose a good chunk of their playbook whenever he isn't on the field. 

Shenault left Week 9's loss to the Houston Texans after just 10 plays with a hamstring injury and head coach Doug Marrone said after the game that this did take away some of their plans for the matchup. In many ways, the Jaguars' versatility and multiplicity on offense go as Shenault goes.

“Yeah, they’re scrapped," Gruden said this week when asked if their plays for Shenault go out the window whenever he isn't on the field.

In short, the Jaguars don't ask any other player to do the things he does, and as a result they lose some of their unpredictability whenever he isn't on the field with the rest of the offense. 

In eight games this season, Shenault has caught 30 passes for 323 yards (10.8 yards per reception) and one touchdown. He has also rushed 11 times for 54 yards (4.9 yards per attempt) and four first downs.

"Laviska does some special things. You put him in the backfield, you can do some wildcat things, and you don’t do that with anybody else," Gruden said.

"He’s getting all those reps, the reverses and all that stuff. Some other guys we can get out in space and do somethings, but Laviska’s a different cat and calls for a different type of play. Once he went out, it shortened up our playbook, but we had plenty of other stuff to get to. We were fine.”

The Jaguars plan whenever Shenault isn't on the field is to turn to veteran wide receiver Chris Conley. A starter last season, Conley has been Jacksonville's No. 4 receiver this season and has more or less rotated in when Shenault, DJ Chark or Keelan Cole need a breather. This changed when Shenault left Week 9 with an injury, however.

Conley played 49 snaps in Week 9, the first time he had played more than 24 offensive snaps in a game since Week 3 when Chark was inactive. Conley stepped in for Shenault on Sunday but as Gruden explained, it was far from the role the Jaguars initially had in mind for the receiver position across from Chark.

"That’s one of the things you look at and Chris is such a good pro. What he really did was he filled in for Laviska," Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone said this week. 

"Laviska gets injured, Chris goes in there and really does a good job. We feel like there’s a good snap count for Chris on what he has to do and really feel like he did a good job in the run game, he did a good job in the passing game. It’s just that rotation of guys that we’re trying to get done. I have no problem when Chris is in there."

Shenault has been limited in practice on Wednesday and Thursday with his hamstring injury. Marrone said Monday that the Jaguars had gotten an encouraging update on their rookie receiver's injury, but it still appears as if his status will be up in the air for Week 10 vs. the Green Bay Packers.

If Shenault can't play, look for Conley to take his spot on the field. Don't look for him to do nearly the same things the Jaguars ask Shenault to do, however.

"I have the utmost respect for him and I respect the hell out of not just him but any player that when someone gets injured and you’re ready to go in there and you play at that level," Marrone said. 

"You don’t see that all the time, but for Chris to do that is obviously something he expects of himself and I have a great deal of respect for that. So, I’m very happy with him and if Laviska can’t go at the end of the week and we have Chris up, I feel comfortable with that too.”