The Jacksonville Jaguars could be without several key players for their Thursday Night Football battle with the Miami Dolphins, most of which are on the offensive side.
As expected, the Jags ruled center Brandon Linder out after he sustained a knee injury in Sunday’s game against the Tennessee Titans. With him set to be sidelined, Tyler Shatley, who has seven career starts at center (15 starts overall) will start in his place.
Receiver D.J. Chark Jr. was ruled questionable and didn’t practice Wednesday. He was limited both on Monday and Tuesday so his status could go either way come game time. Luckily, if he can’t go the Jags a pretty strong at receiver with Keelan Cole, Dede Westbrook (who has been inactive all season), and rookies Laviska Shenault Jr. and Collin Johnson behind him.
As mentioned earlier, kicker Josh Lambo was ruled out with a hip injury and will be going on injured reserve. Starting in his place will be practice squad rookie Brandon Wright from Georgia State University.
The only two other players to surface on the injury report for the Jags, Tyler Davis and Brandon Watson, were full participants in practice and were left off the status column.
As for the Dolphins, they ruled their star cornerback Byron Jones out with a hip and Achilles injury, which means rookie Noah Igbinoghene will start in his place. In their last game, the first-rounder struggled mightily so his matchups on the outside will be worth watching Thursday.
The Dolphins also ruled backup safety Clayton Fejedelem out, too, while all of the others on their injury report were full participants.
Listen to the latest from Jags Wire’s own James Johnson and Phil Smith on their podcast “Bleav in the Jags.” Subscribe via Apple Podcasts and check out our archived episodes via Bleav Podcasts.
