Marrone on Injured CJ Henderson: ‘That’s Our Intent, to Get Him Back at Some Point’

Jacksonville's top pick from April is out for at least the next three weeks, but the Jaguars hope to get the rookie cornerback back before the season ends.

Jacksonville Jaguars cornerback CJ Henderson will miss at least the next several weeks, but there is hope from the Jaguars that their top draft pick plays again in 2020.

"Yeah, we do have hope. Hopefully—it depends on how he progresses. But that’s our intent, to get him back at some point," Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone said Friday about Henderson, the No. 9 overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft.

Henderson was placed on injured reserve with a groin injury on Thursday. To be eligible for a return from IR, 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. 

Henderson has started eight games this season, recording 36 total tackles on the season, an interception, a forced fumble versus the Green Bay Packers this past weekend, and six pass deflections.

It remains to be seen if Henderson will progress to the point where he can get back onto the field, and the first week he would be eligible to play would be in Week 14 against the Tennessee Titans.

With Henderson out for at least the next three games, and potentially beyond, the Jaguars will have to turn to Chris Claybrooks, Sidney Jones, Tre Herndon and potentially rookies Josiah Scott and Luq Barcoo to fill out the secondary.

“Yeah, they’ll have to be ready to play. So, I guess we’ll see," Marrone said on Friday about Barcoo and Scott, who have gotten little playing time this season.

"We’ll put them out there and this is a great challenge for them—it’s a great challenge for all of us, even if we were 100 percent healthy back there. They’re really playing well in their passing game, schematically they’re doing a good job, and those guys are making plays. So, it’s going to be a challenge for whoever is out there. And if it gets down to that, we’ll see if those guys can play or they can’t play.”

While losing Henderson is a big loss for Jacksonville's already shaky pass defense, the Jaguars can at least take solace in the fact that their young cornerback was making solid progress as a cover man in the weeks leading up to his injury, particularly against the Green Bay Packers.