With injuries reshaping the Jaguars’ Week 5 plan, Liam Coen’s staff showed plenty on the snap sheet in a win over the Philadelphia Eagles. The numbers point to a couple of clear trends: Bhayshul Tuten is becoming the backfield centerpiece, and the rookie pass-catchers are wasting no time making their mark.
At safety, the picture was a little murkier. Rookie Jalen Huskey was active for the first time this season, but that didn’t translate into much work.
He logged zero offensive snaps and only three on special teams, a pretty loud signal that Jacksonville still has him buried on the depth chart at the position. That’s fine if the staff feels good about what it sees in practice, but if Eric Murray stays out any longer, the Jaguars may need to rethink things.
Rayuan Lane was on the field for every snap, while practice squad call-up Kaevon Merriweather handled the No. 3 safety role and played 34% of the defensive snaps. Outside of Antonio Johnson, though, the safety group didn’t exactly shine.
Lane did his job as a depth piece, but starting duties appeared to stretch him some on Sunday. If Murray remains sidelined, Huskey feels like the obvious candidate to at least move into the No. 3 spot.
The clearest development came in the backfield, where Tuten’s workload keeps climbing. He set a new career high with 49 snaps, good for 68.1%, and piled up a career-best 22 carries.
When Jacksonville needed a tough run, that’s where the ball went. His usage has never been higher, and that necessarily squeezes everyone else down the ladder.
Chris Rodriguez Jr. was the main victim. His role has shrunk sharply since Week 1, and Sunday brought a season-low nine snaps, or 12.5%, along with just two carries. He did get the short-yardage and red-zone work, but right now he looks like exactly what the snap count suggests: Tuten’s backup, and not much more.
The way Tuten is being deployed now suggests his role could keep expanding. By the end of the season, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him pushing past 20 carries on a regular basis, especially with Jacksonville’s offense operating in such a balanced way.
The rookie skill players also gave the Jaguars real juice. Josh Cameron and Nate Boerkircher combined for five catches on six targets for 63 yards, with Cameron posting three grabs for 43 yards and Boerkircher adding two receptions for 20.
They were both heavily involved in a 12-personnel-heavy game plan and ended up accounting for 63 yards on 29 routes, which works out to 2.17 yards per route run. That number would land top-25 among all NFL wide receivers.
Boerkircher played 35 snaps, or 49%, while Cameron was on the field for 22 snaps, or 31%. Even without full-time roles, both rookies made a visible impact. For a team coming off a playoff season, getting that kind of instant return from non-first-round picks is exactly the kind of hit rate that matters.
In Other News...
Eagles Loss Sparked A TV Moment Fans Are Still Arguing Over
The Jaguars walk-off win over the Eagles in London gave Jacksonville a showcase moment overseas, but one of the most talked-about parts of the game came after the final whistle. As the ESPN broadcast lingered on a young Eagles fan in tears during the closing seconds, the shot quickly spread across social media and turned into its own postgame debate, with some viewers taking issue with the camera work and others saying it was simply part of live sports coverage.
For Jacksonville fans, the game itself was the point, a dramatic finish capped by a field goal and a rare international win to celebrate. But the reaction to the broadcast has kept the aftermath in view, and ESPN has not commented on the incident, leaving the argument to play out online as the memory of the ending continues to hang around the game. [Read more 🡒]
Jaguars Suddenly Face A Trevor Lawrence Problem They Can't Ignore
Anton Harrisons exit in Week 5 quickly became one of the most important developments of the Jaguars day, because the left tackles injury carries obvious ripple effects for an offense built around Trevor Lawrence. Harrison was carted off the field and did not return, leaving Jacksonville waiting on MRI results while Liam Coen addressed both the uncertainty around the tackle and the way the team will handle the position if it has to move forward without him.
The Jaguars do have options if Harrison is sidelined, with Walker Little, Wyatt Milum, Daniel Faalele and Patrick Mekari all mentioned as possible depth answers at offensive tackle. Even so, this is the kind of injury that can test how much protection Lawrence really has up front, and it puts a premium on how quickly Jacksonville can settle the left side while the diagnosis plays out. [Read more 🡒]
Jaguars Fans Can Finally Laugh At Brenton Strange After That Escape
The Jaguars London trip had a bizarre early-season moment for Brenton Strange, who found himself at the center of a highlight Jaguars fans will probably revisit with a mix of disbelief and amusement. In the middle of the game against the Eagles, the tight end had a live fumble slip away while he was preoccupied with tracking down his dropped mouthguard, a small detail that turned into a very big miss in the moment.
Jacksonville, though, left England with the kind of finish that makes the odd stuff easier to shrug off. Ameer Abdullahs kickoff return helped set up Cam Little for a game-winning 57-yard field goal, and the 19-17 victory gave the Jaguars a result sturdy enough to turn Stranges awkward sequence into little more than a footnote. [Read more 🡒]