One Jaguars rookie’s first NFL season is already done before it ever got rolling.
Jacksonville officially moved seventh-round linebacker Parker Hughes to injured reserve on Monday morning, ending his rookie year and keeping him on the sideline for the rest of the season.
That leaves the Jaguars with a very different outlook on Hughes than they had a short time ago. Before the injuries started piling up at linebacker in recent weeks, the Day 3 pick out of Middle Tennessee State was looking like a player who would have to claw his way onto the roster and fight for every practice rep he could get. The opportunities were limited, and there was a real chance he could have been waived during the 53-man roster cutdown, with Jacksonville then hoping he cleared waivers and could be kept on the practice squad.
Now, that route is off the table. With Hughes on injured reserve, the Jaguars can effectively treat this as a redshirt year and keep him around.
He could stay with the team, return for next offseason, and then try again to win a spot. For a late-round pick, it’s not an unusual path, and it has worked out before for players who eventually stuck.
The timing also matters because Jacksonville’s linebacker room is already stretched thin. Second-year linebacker Jack Kiser has been out since the first day of training camp after a knee injury, and he remains week-to-week. Since then, the Jaguars have had to bring in multiple linebackers, and the depth chart has been shuffled behind the top three of Foyesade Oluokun, Ventrell Miller and Branson Combs.
Hughes was not going to be the guy who suddenly solved everything in that group, but the Jaguars are clearly short on off-ball linebackers right now. Several players are getting reps who weren’t even on the roster when camp opened in late July, and the unit is looking thin.
There is, however, one obvious beneficiary from Hughes’ move to injured reserve: Jahlani Tavai. The veteran linebacker signed with Jacksonville a few weeks ago after beginning camp without a team, and head coach Liam Coen praised him Monday for being a pro’s pro since arriving. Right now, Tavai looks like the clear “winner” from this linebacker shakeup.
The bigger question is Kiser’s return. Until that becomes clearer, the Jaguars may be just one more injury away from needing Tavai to play a major role in the depth chart.
A few weeks ago, that would have sounded unlikely. Now it’s where the linebacker room stands.
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