Bit by the injury bug: Jaguars doubled the number of players missing games this season

Every NFL team has injuries.

It’s a contact sport and players will hurt each other.

As Jacksonville Jaguars players emptied their lockers and left the Miller Electric Center on Monday, less than 24 hours after being eliminated from playoff contention with a 28-20 loss at Tennessee, they talked in hushed tones about a season that went from 8-3 and a two-game lead in the division to missing a chance to win the AFC South for a second year in a row.

One question was asked the most: Why?

It can partially be explained by the weekly injury list.

None of the Jaguars players made excuses for losing five of their last six games, but they were candid about the reality of injuries in the NFL. And it was a cold, hard reality for the 2023 Jaguars.

“You can only do so much to prevent some injuries but after that, it’s out of your control,” said cornerback Tyson Campbell, who missed six games this season with hamstring and quadriceps injuries.

“It’s football ... it’s a violent sport,” said the apparently indestructible tight end Evan Engram, who hasn’t missed a game with the Jags in two seasons and also never appeared on the final injury report. “We had a lot of key players get hurt at crucial moments this season.”

Defensive end Dawuane Smoot, who missed the last two regular-season games and the playoffs in 2022 because of an Achilles tendon injury, said it was pointless to complain about injuries because there's so much left to chance.

"You never know what the year is going to hold for anyone," he said. "It sucks people are getting injured. There's good years and bad years. I went down last year and stayed healthy this year. It's a toss-up every year."

Coach Doug Pederson was more to the point.

"It all can impact your football team, but we never want to use injury as an excuse to why we win or lose games," Pederson said. "It's our job to make sure that we prepare everybody to play and the players who are elevated, it's their job to get themselves ready to play."

Jaguars' luck changed for the worse

The Jaguars injury situation is nearly the opposite of last year:

• The Jags had 21 players who appeared on the final weekly injury reports in 2022, combining for 24 injuries. Nine players were ruled out, missing a total of 43 games. This season, 28 players were on the injury reports, with 39 injuries and 18 listed as out. They missed a combined 78 games.

• The 2022 Jaguars had two injuries in training camp that put players on the injured reserve list and five during the season, including Cam Robinson and Dawuane Smoot. Five players went on the IR before the 2023 season began, including rookies Cooper Hodges and Ventrell Miller. Eight other players were put on the IR after the season began, including starters Christian Kirk, DaVon Hamilton, Robinson and Jamal Agnew.

• The hardest-hit position groups from strictly a numbers standpoint were the secondary (seven players who missed games) and both lines (four players missed games on the defensive line and five on the offensive line, counting two who went on the IR before the season, tackle Josh Wells and Hodges).

Left side of the O-line a revolving door

Center Luke Fortner, right guard Brandon Scheff and right tackle Anton Harrison played every game. The turmoil was on the left side where three players started at tackle and four at guard.

Robinson had to serve a four-game suspension at the start of the season, then went on a four-game IR later in the season.

The results were predictable. There were eight combinations of starting lineups on the offensive line, where unit communication and cohesion are perhaps more crucial than any other position.

The offensive line starters last season stayed intact for 14 games until Robinson went out for the season. Walker Little replaced him at left tackle for the last three games and in the playoffs and there were no other changes.

Strong safety Rayshawn Jenkins and cornerback Darious Williams were the only defensive backs to start each game. Campbell, the team’s shutdown corner, started the first six games and then was in and out of the lineup before playing the last three.

The defensive line situation was muddled from the start with Smoot missing the first four games because he was still rehabbing his Achilles injury from last season and Hamilton missing the first seven because of a non-football-related back injury.

Kirk, Jones injuries disrupted the offense

Three injuries to wide receivers affected the offense on nearly a season-long basis.

Last year’s starting wide receivers, Kirk, Zay Jones and Marvin Jones Jr., didn’t miss a game.

This season was the opposite: Kirk missed the last five games with a groin injury, Zay Jones was out with three injuries that cost him eight games, Agnew (who was out only two games in 2022) missed six and rookie Parker Washington was out for five games.

The only constant was Calvin Ridley, who started every game.

Then there was quarterback Trevor Lawrence. He had knee, ankle, shoulder and finger injuries, and a concussion. He may have played tough, but his inaccuracy over the last month of the season might have been the combination of all of those ailments affecting his practice time and delivery.

“It could be,” was Pederson’s brief comment on the practice issue following the Titans loss.

Jaguars were hamstrung

The most frequent injury this season was to hamstring muscles (the back of the thigh), with eight players listed.

It was a recurring problem for Campbell, rookie cornerback Christian Braswell (who missed 11 games), rookie safety Antonio Johnson (who missed his first four games) and it put safety and special-teams gunner Daniel Thomas on injured reserve for the final two games of the season.

Campbell, who missed only two games in his first two seasons as a pro, said a hamstring injury can be complicated.

"This was my first experience with a soft-tissue injury like this and they definitely are tricky," Campbell said. "You rehab and think you're ready to go, but the hamstring tells you it's not ready yet."

There also were seven knee injuries and six ankle injuries.

Ankle injuries were the most prevalent in 2022 with six, followed by three hamstring injuries and three shoulder injuries.

Injured reserve players hampered progress

Pederson said the most difficult situations were players on the IR missed four games in a row.

Five starters missed four games at a time: Kirk, Hamilton, Smoot, Robinson and Agnew. Backups Washington, Gregory Junior and Braswell also went on the four-game IR.

"It was the ones with guys missing four games, the IR missing four games," Pederson said. "It disrupts a lot of things, disrupts them individually, it could disrupt a unit ...particularly the offensive line with the amount of injuries there, especially on the left side guys, Cam's situation. It can all impact your football team."

Next men up: results mixed

The football saying about injuries is "next man up."

In other words, behind every starter is a backup who ideally has been practicing and preparing just as much. The Jaguars had to depend on the next man up numerous times but that player often didn't deliver:

• Washington scored two touchdowns at wide receiver but ran the wrong route against Cincinnati, turning his head too late. When Lawrence hesitated, Little was backed into him and stepped on his ankle.

• Backup wide receivers Tim Jones and Elijah Cooks combined for 39 targets but caught just 14 passes, for 118 yards.

• Veteran guard Ezra Cleveland was obtained during the bye week in hopes that he would improve the team's interior offensive line in short-yardage situations. The Jags never got better, and their season may be symbolized by failing to score on two plays from the Tennessee 1-yard line last week.

• On the other hand, C.J. Beathard was turnover-free in winning his first start at quarterback since the end of the 2020 season when he stepped in for Lawrence to beat Carolina 26-0; rookie safety Antonio Johnson made several big plays late in the season; and Brown knocked down two passes in the victory over New Orleans, his first game taking over for Campbell at cornerback.

Safety Andrew Wingard said the number and severity of injuries come down to simple luck.

“You look at where we didn’t have all our starters, but we still had guys,” he said. “Buster [Brown, cornerback] is out there balling. I’m going to ball when I go in. Things happen fast in this league. It’s Christian Kirk turning in a funky way to catch a ball and it catches his groin at the perfect time. This was a hard year for all of us, mentally and physically.”

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Games lost because of injuries nearly doubled for Jaguars over 2022