Team news: Jacksonville Jaguars | Page 10

Patriots QB Mac Jones suffered a back injury during Sunday’s loss to the Dolphins.

Jones went for X-rays after the game and the team canceled his media availability after the game but he will meet with the media virtually on Monday. The severity of the injury is not yet known. Jones went 21/30 for 213 yards, one touchdown and an interception in the loss. For now, Jones should probably be considered questionable leading up to next week against the Steelers. If Jones is out, Brian Hoyer would likely take over with Bailey Zappe as his backup.

By Joe Buscaglia's count, Gabriel Davis missed only two snaps in the regular season kickoff, one of which was the kneel down to end the game. "Expect his snap counts to stay around a similar level all season.

Related Players: Isaiah McKenzie, Jamison Crowder

With Stefon Diggs taking a step back in snaps counts —and still performing admirably with his 8-122-1 line— it left more room in the rotation for Davis, Isaiah McKenzie, and Jamison Crowder, who were utilized in that order. McKenzie and Crowder are likely to continue rotating, while Davis looks like he will be on the field as much, or even more than Diggs.

"I think we have to get into the football game." -- Doug Pederson on James Robinson's usage. Says they're going to roll with how he's feeling on Sunday.

"I think he's there ... I'm excited to watch him play."

Related players: Travis Etienne

Etienne is expected to get the bulk of the work but Robinson seems to keep trending up. Still, he's probably a risky Week 1 play until we see how he does and how many touches he gets. Shipley went on to tweet: Pederson says Robinson is a different type of runner than Etienne, and each fits different kinds of things they want to do in the run game. Says Robinson runs lower and more so behind his pads, and having two different types of backs gives them flexibility."

Bills HC Sean McDermott said he thinks Isaiah McKenzie is going to be ready to go Thursday.

Related players: Stefon Diggs, Gabriel Davis, Jamison Crowder

McKenzie has been one of the darlings of the summer and appears to have a nice connection with QB Josh Allen. It looks like McKenzie, as of now, has a chance to play Week 1 and serve as the team's WR3. We list McKenzie as a WR4 in our rankings heading into Thursday night. If he can't go, Crowder would fill in that role.

Doug Pederson ended the suspense on Monday. He was asked at his press conference if James Robinson will be playing this weekend and he said that the veteran is set to be in the lineup.

Assuming nothing happens to either player in the next few days, that will set the Jaguars up to have Robinson and Travis Etienne in the lineup at the same time for the first time. Etienne missed all of last season with a foot injury.

This is been the trend for a while, so now the question is what will be the split. One would think Etienne would be the safe play, especially with his expected work in the passing game. But some who follow the team have suggested, eventually, Robinson will have the RB1 role. This will be something to monitor as the week goes on, but be sure to follow our rankings right up to game time.

The Jaguars have claimed RB JaMycal Hasty.

Related players: James Robinson, Travis Etienne, Snoop Conner

Hasty mostly handled receiving duties when with the 49ers, so the move could make some sense for the Jags. If Robinson isn't ready to go or isn't 100% at Week 1, Etienne could handle a majority of the work with Hasty serving as a change of pace and receiving back. He looks to be more of an insurance policy for the Jags as this point.

After two seasons in Jacksonville, Laviska Shenault has been shipped over to the Panthers. Exact trade details have not been released yet.

Related Players: Zay Jones, Jamal Agnew, Travis Etienne, Robbie Anderson, Terrace Marshall

The 2021 season would prove to be more productive than Shenault's rookie season, but most of his usage came close to the line of scrimmage, as his 5.5 average depth of target will attest to. He may be more of a threat to Christian McCaffrey's pass game usage than a significant threat to any of the wide receivers. If anything, this provides another weapon for Baker Mayfield, who is currently ranked as 4for4's QB24.

Doug Pederson also said he thinks James Robinson will be ready for the opener and Robinson certainly sounds like he feels set to take the next step on his path back to the lineup.

“Yeah, I mean, I’m just — I’m so close. And I know I can do more and they know I can do more, but it just, it is I mean, we’re just [gonna] keep taking it slow like I said before,” Robinson said, via John Shipley of SI.com. “I mean, it’s just, I’m just itching to get out there. I mean, seeing everybody running around and knowing I’m there but not yet. I mean, I’m not allowed to right now, but it is just itching at me a little bit.”

Related players: Travis Etienne

Etienne has been playing in the preseason without any concerns about the foot injury that kept him out last year, but Robinson has not been active in any of the team’s games, the story said. The story added Robinson's still working in a non-contact jersey after tearing his Achilles late last season. Pederson has stressed slowly working Robinson back into the mix. If Robinson can't go, Etienne would likely get the bulk of the work. While a split seems likely when both backs are healthy, other reports have said Robinson would remain the lead beck with Etienne the passing down back. A lot remains to be seen here.

The Eagles did have lead backs under Doug Peterson -- Ryan Mathews, LeGarrette Blount, Josh Adams and Miles Sanders -- but no one carried the ball more than 179 times in a season (Sanders in 2019). Twice Pederson had three backs with 70 or more carries in a season (2016 and 2017) and twice he had running backs finished third on the team in receptions (2016 and 2019).

Sanders is the only back he had that topped 800 yards rushing in a season, which he did in 2019 and 2020.

So if that’s the philosophy Pederson is bringing to Jacksonville, it’s probably safe to assume that James Robinson won’t match the 240 carries he had as a rookie, and Travis Etienne’s potential workload could look something like Darren Sproles’ output in 2016: 94 rushes and 52 catches.

Robinson is still on his way back from injury and the story said until he's 100 % the team won't push him. So it's safe to assume Etienne will see a majority of the workload early on. But once Robinson is fully back, the story believes Peterson will use the backs much like he has in the past when with the Eagles. However, other reports last week said Robinson will take over as the lead back when healthy with Etienne the change of pace. It seems like Etienne's value will come in PPR leagues if he does land the passing down role, which at least seems to be a common assumption.

James Robinson's timeline for recovery has long had him pegged for mid-August and, that's exactly when the team has him back.

Related Players: Travis Etienne, Snoop Conner

The intriguing running back room is becoming more intriguing as both Robinson and Travis Etienne could be back to full health by the time the regular season kicks off in September. It's difficult to believe that Etienne wouldn't handle nearly all of the passing-game work, but beat writers have been reporting for a while now that Robinson is the team's "true" RB1. We'll see how that designation translates into the fantasy world, but as of now, Robinson is a fringe RB3 option, going in the 10th round.