Jacksonville Jaguars

After a quiet start to the season for the entire Jacksonville Jaguars offense, several players showed life in Thursday's loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. James Robinson and Laviska Shenault Jr. especially proved they could be factors in fantasy football going forward.

Robinson was the most impressive player on the field at times, rushing for 78 yards with two touchdowns after scoring just once total in his first three games.

He highlighted his full skill set as a runner on the two TD runs, showing good patience, vision, agility and toughness to finish off plays. It was enough to earn the trust of the coaching staff as he earned a season-high 18 carries.

Though the workload came with a positive game script and Carlos Hyde inactive, it's difficult to imagine the Jaguars going back to a split backfield.

Robinson won't score two touchdowns every game, but he should continue to get the type of touches that made him an RB1 last season. It will make him a must-start in fantasy lineups and a reward for those who stuck with him early in the year.

Shenault also had a disappointing start to the season, dropping his ownership to just 64 percent of leagues on Yahoo.

He will likely be a hot waiver claim this week after totaling six catches for 99 yards, including a 52-yard grab:

He also added one rush for 11 yards.

Shenault had just 95 receiving yards in his first three games combined, but he was heavily involved with 21 targets and an offensive snap percentage of 71.2, per Pro Football Reference.

The second-year player had even more opportunities in Week 4 when DJ Chark Jr. was carted off with an ankle injury, which Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported to be a fractured ankle.

If Chark remains out, Shenault could get double-digit targets weekly in an offense that will often be playing from behind. Even if Marvin Jones Jr. remains the No. 1 option despite a quiet game (three catches for 24 yards), Shenault will clearly have a major role.

The 22-year-old should be rostered in all leagues and could be a WR3 with even more upside depending on the matchup.  

Thursday's game did not get off to an ideal start for the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Wide receiver DJ Chark Jr. was carted off the field because of an ankle injury suffered during the team's first drive. He incurred the setback when he was blocking during a running play and got rolled up on as the action went his direction.

The Jaguars announced he was ruled out for the remainder of the game. 

Chark had seven catches for 154 yards and two touchdowns in the first three games, which were all Jacksonville losses.

The LSU product was a Pro Bowler in 2019 with 73 catches for 1,008 yards and eight touchdowns in a breakout effort after the Jaguars selected him with a second-round pick in 2018.

He was solid again in 2020 with 706 receiving yards and five touchdowns and figured to be a key piece in the team's offense this year as rookie quarterback Trevor Lawrence adjusted to the NFL.

However, look for the combination of Marvin Jones Jr. and Laviska Shenault Jr. to see more targets while Chark is sidelined. 

The Carolina Panthers are reportedly "closing in" on a trade for second-year cornerback C.J. Henderson, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network.

The Jacksonville Jaguars would reportedly receive tight end Dan Arnold and a third-round draft pick in exchange for Henderson and a fifth-round pick.  

Henderson started the first two games for the Jaguars this season, totaling eight tackles, but was inactive for Sunday's loss to the Arizona Cardinals due to a groin injury.

The 22-year-old was limited to eight games as a rookie and finished with 36 tackles, six pass breakups and one interception. While it wasn't a great return for a player the Jags selected ninth overall, he provided something on which to build.

That's why it came as a bit of a shock when ESPN's Jeremy Fowler reported Aug. 8 that teams outside Jacksonville were under the belief Henderson was available through trade.

The former Florida Gator had missed time during training camp while on the NFL's reserve/COVID-19 list and was out of a non-contact scrimmage on Aug. 8 for personal reasons. 

Mark Long of the Associated Press explained how the front office and coaching staff may have been prepping for his possible departure or demotion well before that:

"The only thing clear about Henderson's situation is the Jaguars had concerns months ago despite what [head coach Urban] Meyer said publicly. Jacksonville gave cornerback Shaquill Griffin a three-year, $40 million deal in free agency, re-signed former starters Tre Herndon and Sidney Jones and then drafted Georgia cornerback Tyson Campbell with the first pick in the second round.

"The Jags had more pressing needs (safety, pass rusher, offensive line, tight end) but instead grabbed an insurance policy for Henderson."

Urban Meyer wasn't the head coach when the Jaguars selected Henderson in the draft, and Trent Baalke, who had been with the team at the time, wasn't serving in his current role as general manager. Together, they may not have felt that invested in developing the young defensive back and working through whatever issues preceded his trade.

Still, trading away a first-round pick shortly into his second season is bound to raise questions of both the team and player.

Henderson's contract alone provided the Jags with one incentive to figure things out. He's signed for three more seasons with a combined salary-cap hit of $16.8 million. That's less money than Jalen Ramsey, Marlon Humphrey and Tre'Davious White average per season.

And there was little reason to think Jacksonville would be able to fully recoup its investment in Henderson, so trading him at a loss was inevitable.

Those two factors make pulling the trigger on this move an obvious choice for Carolina. There's obviously a risk that whatever precipitated his exit from Jacksonville will come to the fore for the Panthers, but that's far outweighed by the upside of potentially getting a starting-caliber cornerback on a bargain contract.

The Jaguars will get more assets for a rebuild after their 0-3 start, while Arnold gives rookie quarterback Trevor Lawrence another reliable weapon in the passing attack. The tight end has seven catches for 84 yards through three games this season.

Trevor Lawrence entered the NFL with enormous expectations, but he has struggled through his first three games with the Jacksonville Jaguars, and his situation could be difficult to escape.

"You've gotta overcome Jacksonville," one NFL executive told Mike Sando of The Athletic. "There are a lot of things wrong down there. When you give the keys to a coach who has never coached at the pro level and he is also dictating personnel with a rookie quarterback, that is very dangerous."

Urban Meyer is in his first year as head coach after a successful NCAA career, winning championships with Florida and Ohio State. This hasn't translated to the NFL level just yet with an 0-3 start to the 2021 season.

Lawrence, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 draft, has thrown seven interceptions in his first three games. His 60.3 quarterback rating is second-worst in the NFL among players with at least 10 pass attempts, only ahead of No. 2 pick Zach Wilson.

Even with the quarterback's struggles, succeeding this season in Jacksonville was always going to be an uphill battle.

The squad went 1-15 last season with a defense that ranked 31st in both points and yards allowed. Without many changes on that side of the ball, the unit continues to struggle and currently ranks 28th in points allowed.

The offense does have some exciting weapons, including James Robinson, D.J. Chark, Marvin Jones and Laviska Shenault, but the offensive line remains a concern. Lawrence was sacked three times in Sunday's loss to the Arizona Cardinals and suffered six quarterback hits.

Meyer still remains the franchise's biggest question mark as he continues his transition to this level.

Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports reported after Week 1 that Meyer has been "rubbing the Jacksonville Jaguars staff and players the wrong way." The coach reportedly lost his temper during even preseason losses.

There is plenty of time for the Jaguars to turn things around, but there are a lot of unknowns surrounding a rookie quarterback early in his career.    

Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Urban Meyer is still getting used to coaching in the NFL.

After a successful run as a college football coach, Meyer decided to jump to the pros for the first time in his coaching career this year. The Jaguars are 0-2, and Meyer is still adjusting, as he told Denver Broncos coach Vic Fangio after their Week 2 matchup.

"I don’t know Urban Meyer at all, really," Fangio told reporters Wednesday. "I met him the other day, shook his hand before the game and after the game. And his comment to me was, ‘Every week is like playing Alabama in the NFL.’"

Meyer had successful head coaching runs at Florida and Ohio State, winning three National Championships. He also had stints as head coach at Bowling Green and Utah.

Meyer put together a 186-32 record as a college head coach for an .853 winning percentage, the best of any Division I head coach who began their career after 1964. In his seven-year run at Ohio State, he never lost more than two games in a season.

The Jaguars will face the 2-0 Arizona Cardinals at home on Sunday. Arizona ranks second in the NFL with an average of 445.0 yards of total offense, while Jacksonville ranks 29th in the league in total defense (423.5 yards per game). The Jaguars will need a drastic turnaround to avoid falling to 0-3 on Sunday.

"Everybody’s capable of beating everybody in this league," Fangio continued.

Jaguars rookie quarterback Trevor Lawrence, who was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 draft, has had a rough start to his career. Lawrence is tied for the league lead with five interceptions in two games. He's averaging just 225.0 passing yards, which ranks him 26th in the NFL.

Jacksonville has done little to relieve some of the pressure on Lawrence, averaging just 75.5 rushing yards. Second-year running back James Robinson, who ran for over 1,000 yards as a rookie, has carried the ball 16 times for 72 yards and no scores. The Jaguars total just 32 rushing attempts through two games, while Lawrence has attempted 84 passes.      

Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Urban Meyer told reporters Monday that wide receiver Laviska Shenault Jr. is expected to be able to play in Week 3's home game against the Arizona Cardinals.

Shenault had to be evaluated for a shoulder injury after Sunday's 23-13 loss to the Denver Broncos.

The shoulder injury might explain Shenault's dismal performance against Denver, where he had just two catches for minus-three yards. Shenault was second on the team with seven targets, trailing only Marvin Jones Jr., who had 11. Shenault reportedly underwent an MRI on Monday.

Coming into this season, Shenault was expected to make a jump in his production. The second-year speedster totaled 58 receptions for 600 yards and five touchdowns as a rookie. He also had 91 rushing yards on 18 attempts.

Shenault was viewed as a trendy sleeper pick in fantasy drafts coming into this season due to his versatility, which made him a perfect fit for first-year coach Meyer's offense. But Shenault has not lived up to those expectations so far as he only has nine catches on 17 targets for 47 yards. He's also yet to make a big play this season, averaging just 5.2 yards per catch and 2.8 yards per target, per Pro Football Reference.

Jacksonville's entire offense struggled against the Broncos. Rookie quarterback Trevor Lawrence, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 draft, threw two interceptions and completed just 14 of 33 passes for 118 yards with a touchdown to Jones. The Jaguars were also held to just 75 rushing yards.

Through two games, the Jaguars have not been able to improve on last year's production. Jacksonville currently ranks 27th in the NFL in total offense with an average of 292 yards. Lawrence has thrown more interceptions (five) than touchdowns (four). Jones leads the team with 132 receiving yards, and DJ Chark Jr. ranks second with 105. No other player has more than 75 receiving yards.

Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Urban Meyer shot down speculation linking him to USC's head coaching vacancy after the Trojans fired Clay Helton on Monday.

"There's no chance. I'm here and committed to building the organization," Meyer told reporters Wednesday.

Meyer was hired by the Jags in January after two years away from coaching. He posted a terrific 187-32 record across 17 years at the college level with Ohio State, Florida, Utah and Bowling Green. He won three national championships, two with the Gators (2006 and 2008) and one with the Buckeyes (2014).

His first NFL tenure started with a lopsided 37-21 loss to the Houston Texans on Sunday, which made the USC rumors almost inevitable once Helton was let go.

It doesn't appear there's any real momentum toward him leaving for the storied Pac-12 program, though. Along with Meyer's comments, those behind the scenes delivered a similar message, per Fox Sports' Colin Cowherd:

ESPN's Jeremy Fowler reported Meyer was "turned off" by recent changes to the college game, including the transfer portal, alterations to the recruiting calendar and the name, image and likeness (NIL) deals available to student-athletes.

Yet, the 57-year-old Ohio native explained after he was hired that it also wouldn't be easy to replicate his high-end college success at the NFL level.

"You're in a league that is designed to be .500," Meyer said in January. "You're talking about coach [Bill] Belichick, one of my great friends and a person I've always admired. He's the best of all time. You're talking about a 60-something percent winning percentage. You're talking about this league is built to be .500."

He continued to preach patience after the Jaguars' lackluster showing in their season opener.

"I've been warned for a long time this is a marathon, not a sprint, so calm down, relax—not relax but onward, soldier, move on," Meyer told reporters. "Let's go Monday and get back to work."

While it wouldn't be a surprise if he eventually ends up back at the college level, it sounds like he's willing to take his time helping the Jags through their rebuild in the short term.

Jacksonville hosts the Denver Broncos in its home opener Sunday as it seeks the first win of the Meyer era.

Meanwhile, USC announced associate head coach Donte Williams would serve as interim head coach while it conducts a nationwide search for Helton's replacement. The coaching change came after a 42-28 home loss to Pac-12 rival Stanford on Saturday.

The Trojans haven't provided a timetable for hiring a new head coach. They'll try to get back on track Saturday when they visit Washington State.

Even after drafting Trevor Lawrence No. 1 overall last spring, the Jacksonville Jaguars still have plenty of work to do before they're contending for a Super Bowl again. That much was immediately clear as they fell 37-21 to the Houston Texans on Sunday—a club many analysts believe will end up with the No. 1 pick this year.

Lawrence finished 28-of-51 passing with 332 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions for a 14.3 QBR. He wasn't thrilled with his performance, either.

"It obviously sucks," Lawrence told reporters. "Losing's always hard, especially when you feel like you're prepared and had a great week and really think we were ready. Just obviously didn't play well. It starts with me. I played really bad tonight. Disappointing for sure."

Considering Lawrence threw all of five interceptions during his 2020 season at Clemson, it's understandable he'd be down on his play after one NFL game.

That doesn't mean he can't clean up those mistakes. He will, however, have to do so against much stiffer competition than Houston. Over the next four games, the Jaguars will face the Denver Broncos, Arizona Cardinals, Cincinnati Bengals and Tennessee Titans.

It's not just Lawrence who needs to be better, either. Jacksonville committed 10 penalties for 82 yards Sunday. Through the first 14 games of Week 1, only the Philadelphia Eagles (14), Atlanta Falcons (12), Minnesota Vikings (12) and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (11) had more penalties.

Said Lawrence: 

I still believe in this team. I still know what we're capable of. We did some good things. We started off with some penalties, three-and-out, but then after that we had a couple good drives, we're hitting some big plays. There's a lot of good things there and we've got to keep doing those and learn from the bad. We've got to watch it and learn from it for sure, but then flip the page. It's a long season. We can't let this snowball. We've got to move on and go win next week.

The rookie believes he'll respond well heading into Week 2, but it's hard to say. This is all a new experience for Lawrence, who had never lost a game in high school or college as a starting quarterback.

His three inceptions Sunday were a big reason the Texans were able to control the game. Lawrence knows he needs to be better there, too.

"It's either a bad throw or a bad decision when you throw a pick," Lawrence said. "Bad decisions, those are the ones that'll get you for sure. Turnovers, it's all me. You're not going to win many games with three turnovers, especially when the margin was minus-three for us. Just not good."

Even before Urban Meyer makes his regular-season debut as head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars, there are question marks about his transition to the NFL.

The longtime college coach is reportedly "rubbing the Jacksonville Jaguars staff and players the wrong way" because of his temper and unfamiliarity with this level, according to Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports.

"He has everyone looking over their shoulders already," a source told La Canfora. "He becomes unhinged way too easily, and he doesn't know how to handle losing, even in the preseason. He loses it and wants to take over the drills himself. It's not good."

Meyer is entering his first season coaching in the NFL after spending more than 30 years at the NCAA level, notably leading both Florida and Ohio State to national championships.

The coaching staff offered a mix of those from the college game—including assistant head coach Charlie Strong—and people with extensive NFL experience, such as offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell. 

Unfortunately for the Jags, there is a disconnect between coaches from the different backgrounds, per La Canfora.

Meyer has also "lashed out at his staff" and even questioned their job security before the start of the regular season. The coach reportedly took the preseason very seriously, with the squad struggling to a 1-2 record in the exhibition games.

"You can't freak out about preseason games and belittle your coaches—on a staff you handpicked—every time things don't go your way," a second source said. "It's not going to work here."

Even with 2021 No. 1 overall draft pick Trevor Lawrence under center, turning things around in Jacksonville was always going to be an uphill battle for Meyer. The team went 1-15 last season and has just one playoff appearance in the past 13 years.

If the Jaguars struggle again in 2021, it could lead to significant question marks throughout the coaching staff.   

James Robinson is changing his jersey number from 30 to 25, but he isn't going to let fans who bought his old jersey go away empty-handed.

The Jacksonville Jaguars running back said he plans to sign any No. 30 jersey that fans send a picture of to the team's PR account on Twitter.

Robinson wore No. 30 throughout his rookie season in 2020 and this preseason, but he has since decided to make the switch to No. 25, which he wore at Illinois State and throughout his youth. He's coming off a spectacular year in which he rushed for 1,070 yards and seven touchdowns while adding 49 receptions for 344 yards and three scores.

The Jaguars are set to rely heavily on Robinson again in 2021 after first-round pick Travis Etienne suffered a season-ending Lisfranc injury during the preseason.