Jacksonville Jaguars

Jacksonville Jaguars fans are going above and beyond to get former Jags defensive end Yannick Ngakoue his second Pro Bowl nod, but their motives may not be totally altruistic.

SB Nation's James Dator wrote Wednesday that the team's fans have taken to Reddit to build momentum behind Ngakoue's Pro Bowl campaign. By doing so, they may strengthen Jacksonville's outlook in the 2021 NFL draft.

The Jaguars traded Ngakoue to the Minnesota Vikings in August, and Minnesota moved him to the Baltimore Ravens in October. 

According to ESPN's Adam Schefter, the second trade didn't affect the terms of Jacksonville's deal with Minnesota. If Ngakoue makes the Pro Bowl, then the fifth-round pick the Jags received turns into a fourth-rounder.

The 25-year-old isn't a Pro Bowler on merit, having posted 15 tackles and five sacks between his time with the Vikings and Ravens. But fan voting for All-Star Games isn't always a reflection of a player's performance.

Moving up from the fifth round to the fourth may not sound like much. But Jacksonville is 1-8 and last in the AFC South, so it can use whatever help it gets in accelerating its rebuild.          

Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Gardner Minshew II won't play in Week 9 against the Houston Texans because of multiple injuries to his hand, the Jaguars announced Friday. 

The 24-year-old had reportedly been managing thumb fractures and a strained ligament since Oct. 11, but the team did not know about the injury until their Week 8 bye.

In the weeks he played with an injury, Minshew completed just 39 of 71 passes for a 54.9 percentage, compared to at least 63 percent of passes thrown for completions in each of the first five games of the year.

In seven starts this season, the Washington State product has thrown for 1,855 yards and 13 touchdowns on 176-of-267 passing for the 1-6 Jaguars. He's been picked off five times, compared to six in 12 starts last season, and taken down 22 times compared to 33 as a first-year quarterback.  

With Minshew is sidelined, the Jaguars will turn to Mike Glennon or 2020 sixth-rounder Jake Luton. Jacksonville ranks seventh-worst in the league in points per game (22.0).  

Jacksonville Jaguars rookie quarterback Jake Luton is set to start Sunday against the Houston Texans after Gardner Minshew II was ruled out his week with a thumb injury.

"We might as well look," Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone said Monday, per Josh Oehser of Jaguars.com. "We might as well see what we have. Go ahead and play him, and let's go."

On Sunday, Ian Rapoport noted that Jaguars coaches have been "impressed" with Luton after drafting him in the sixth round out of Oregon State.

Minshew suffered multiple fractures and a strained ligament in his right thumb during the Week 5 loss to the Texans, although the team didn't know about it until weeks later, according to Schefter.

The second-year player was productive before the injury was discovered, totaling 1,855 passing yards and 13 touchdowns in his first seven games, good for a 94.4 passer rating that ranks 20th among qualified starters.

It still hasn't been enough to help the team, which is just 1-6 on the season.

Minshew was one of the biggest surprises of the 2019 season, going from a sixth-round pick to a reliable quarterback who finished with 3,271 passing yards, 21 touchdowns and just six interceptions in 14 games for a passer rating of 91.2 that ranked 16th among qualifiers.

His play was enough to beat out Nick Foles and enter this season as the unquestioned starter. However, this injury will force the team to look further down the depth chart and see what Luton has to offer as the Jaguars look to the future.

Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Gardner Minshew II reportedly has multiple fractures and a strained ligament in his right thumb.

ESPN's Adam Schefter reported Minshew has been dealing with the injury since the Jaguars' Oct. 11 loss to the Houston Texans. The team was not informed of his discomfort until this week.

The Jaguars are on bye in Week 8, and it's unclear if Minshew will be available for their Week 9 matchup against Houston.

Minshew has struggled with accuracy in losses to the Detroit Lions and Los Angeles Chargers, completing 39 of 71 passes (54.9 percent) during that time frame. The second-year quarterback had completed at least 63 percent of his passes through the first five games and was among the more accurate passers in football. It's likely the thumb injury led to some of his issues with ball placement.

Mike Glennon is Jacksonville's second-string quarterback and would be in line to start if Minshew is out. Jaguars coach Doug Marrone hinted at a potential quarterback change heading into last week's game against the Chargers, so it's at least possible Glennon could take the job on a full-time basis.

Glennon has shown little more than replacement-level play during his five-plus years in the NFL, while Minshew has been a solid enough starter for a team in desperate need of help at the skill positions.

The Jaguars also have third-string quarterback Jake Luton, who is considered physically gifted but raw. If Jacksonville's downward spiral continues, Luton might wind up getting a look later this season.     

Jacksonville Jaguars running back Ryquell Armstead has been hospitalized twice due to COVID-19, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter. 

Schefter reported the player is dealing with "significant respiratory issues" as part of a variety of complications resulting from the coronavirus.

The 23-year-old was placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list twice but is now expected to miss the rest of the 2020 season.

Head coach Doug Marrone indicated there were serious issues when Armstead was placed on the COVID-19 list in September.

"I can't put a real timetable on it but he'll be out for a while," Marrone said, per Michael DiRocco of ESPN. 

The coronavirus has led to over 224,000 deaths in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, although the disease is considered significantly more dangerous for older individuals. The CDC has reported fewer than 1,000 deaths for those under the age of 30 as of Sunday.

The rate of hospitalization is also higher for older individuals.

There were high expectations for Armstead on the field this season, especially after the Jaguars released presumed starter Leonard Fournette before Week 1. Armstead was second among Jaguars running backs last season with 35 carries and 108 rushing yards after being taken in the fourth round of the 2019 draft.

Undrafted rookie James Robinson has become Jacksonville's starting running back in his absence.

Jacksonville Jaguars coach Doug Marrone says he has not ruled out benching Gardner Minshew if the team's struggles continue. 

"Maybe in the future, I think," Marrone told reporters Tuesday. "I mean, I'd be naive not to say [that's a possibility]. That's up for any position, any play that we can do for ourselves to get better. But no, I didn't feel that way during the course of the game."

The Jaguars have lost their last five games, but Minshew is hardly the biggest reason. Minshew has thrown for 1,682 yards and 11 touchdowns against six interceptions, despite Jacksonville lacking top-end talent at skill positions. Both the team's leading rusher (James Robinson) and receiver (Keelan Cole) went undrafted out of college, and the Jaguars spent their offseason jettisoning most of their veteran talent.

The Jaguars' offensive line also ranks among the NFL's worst units, with Minshew going down for a sack 13 times over the last five weeks. 

Pro Football Focus' 65.6 grade of Minshew's performance is not particularly promising, but he's been an accurate quarterback who has largely avoided costly mistakes. The NFL's NextGen stats show Minshew has completed two percent more of his passes than expected.

"We ought to have some kind of a sense of urgency to be able to score every drive," Minshew said. "But also, a lot of that is putting our defense in bad positions a lot of the time and not capitalizing when they put us in a good position. We have to do better at that and I think that will help us."

Mike Glennon serves as Minshew's backup and has never flashed more than average backup skills across his seven NFL seasons. Any change at quarterback would come more out of desperation than anything. 

The Jacksonville Jaguars could be looking for a new head coach after the 2020 season. If they are, "many" coaches see Jacksonville as a "sneaky-good" landing spot.

Jeremy Fowler and Dan Graziano of ESPN reported Tuesday that coaches have their eye on the status of Doug Marrone, who is on the hot seat in his fourth season with the Jags.

Jacksonville is 23-33 under Marrone, including a 1-5 mark in 2020. The Jaguars have lost their last five games after a season-opening win over the Indianapolis Colts, including their last two by a combined 34 points.

While the team spent most of the offseason jettisoning veteran talent, signaling a rebuild, it also leaves the roster wide-open for a new regime. Marrone and general manager David Caldwell are linked, meaning the team will likely be looking for someone new to head up the football operations staff in addition to a coach.

The Jaguars still have a first- and fourth-round pick from the Los Angeles Rams to satisfy the terms of last season's Jalen Ramsey trade and a second-rounder they acquired for Yannick Ngakoue from the Minnesota Vikings, who also owe the Jags a conditional fifth-rounder in 2022.

With three potentially elite quarterbacks (Trevor Lawrence, Justin Fields and Trey Lance) in the 2021 class, the Jaguars could be in line for a quick rebuild.  

The Jacksonville Jaguars announced that Sunday's game against the Detroit Lions at TIAA Bank Field will be played after all tests for COVID-19 returned negative. 

The Jaguars announced Saturday that they would work remotely after a member of their practice squad tested positive for COVID-19.

Jacksonville has been following the NFL's guidelines for contact tracing.

According to NFL Network's Tom Pelissero, the Jaguars are placing 12 practice squad players on the reserve/COVID-19 list: 

It's the Jags' first positive test since Sept. 5, per ESPN's Michael DiRocco.

Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone told reporters in late September, as the NFL was dealing with its first in-season outbreak of the coronavirus, it was important to reinforce the guidelines to the entire organization:

"I think that this is a great opportunity right now for all of us in this league, coaches, players, support staff, to remind ourselves, with a lot of these openings that are going on, of our awareness of once we're outside the building and what we're doing.

"Knowing that you test every single day, that doesn't mean that you're not going to be exposed to it because those tests don't come back until the evening, so that virus can incubate and go. I think it was a great opportunity. We took the beginning of our team meeting today and really re-emphasized that protocols that have been in place and hopefully something like this won't happen again."

While Jacksonville still had its bye available in Week 8 to help facilitate potential schedule changes, Detroit already had its bye last week. 

It's an issue the NFL will face in the coming months as teams use their byes and still attempt to remain on track to finish the regular season on the scheduled Jan. 3 end date.

Meanwhile, the Jaguars opened the regular season with an impressive 27-20 victory over the AFC South rival Indianapolis Colts. They've dropped four straight games since, however, and are looking to get back on track against the 1-3 Lions.

Kickoff is scheduled for Sunday at 1 p.m. ET in Jacksonville.

The Tennessee Titans have traded linebacker Kamalei Correa and a 2021 seventh-round pick to the Jacksonville Jaguars in exchange for a 2021 sixth-round pick,

The linebacker, who signed a one-year deal worth $2.25 million this offseason, reportedly requested a trade from the Titans after playing just 39 defensive snaps through four games. Mike Garafolo of NFL Network reported Wednesday morning that the team planned to release him if it could not find a suitable trade offer.

The Baltimore Ravens drafted Correa in the second round in 2016 (No. 42 overall) out of Boise State. He played nine games in his rookie season before he was placed on injured reserve. He appeared in all 16 games in 2017, and the Ravens traded him to Tennessee for a sixth-round pick ahead of the 2018 season.

The 26-year-old closed his Titans career on the sidelines. Tennessee placed him on the reserve/COVID-19 list Sept. 30 after he returned a positive test, one of 24 cases in the Titans organization. Though he was taken off the list, he was inactive for the team's Week 5 crushing of the Buffalo Bills.

He appeared in 32 games with nine starts through two-and-a-half seasons with the Titans, but the Hawaii native has not made a start this season. In 2019, he posted career bests with 37 combined tackles, five sacks and six tackles for loss.

In Jacksonville, he will slot in on a front seven that includes linebackers Myles Jack, Joe Schobert and Cassius Marsh Sr., as well as first-round defensive linemen Josh Allen and K'Lavon Chaisson.

Anyone have a spare $199 million lying around in their couch cushions? If so, you could own a really cool yacht.  

Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan has listed his yacht, The Kismet, for sale with the low purchase price of just $198,887,875. 

Khan bought the luxury vessel in 2014. It can accommodate 16 guests in its eight bedrooms and also features a swimming pool, full-service spa and retractable outdoor fireplace.

According to the listing website, the Kismet is "the highest quality superyacht available for sale in the world today."