After a slow start to his preseason due to injury, Jacksonville Jaguars linebacker Devin Lloyd returned to practice on Thursday in Atlanta. With the intention of starting in the team’s Week 1 tilt against the Washington Commanders, Lloyd is behind schedule in his recovery from a lingering hamstring issue.
Head coach Doug Pederson gave an update on Lloyd’s timetable for return in his comments to the media on Thursday, explaining that the rookie is shaking off some rust after missing weeks of valuable learning experience on the field.
“It was good to see him out there,” Pederson said of Lloyd’s participation on Thursday. “As we’ve talked, we’ve tried to increase his reps each day, and hopefully he’ll get a few more today. I’ll say this, you can see the nerves and the jitterbugs floating around in him a little bit out there, but he settled in and had a nice practice. Good to see him back out there.”
It is unclear if Lloyd is on track to start in Week 1 against Washington, but from the sound of Pederson’s comments on Thursday, it would seem that he is trending toward making a difference in games very soon. As the Jaguars’ second first-round pick in the 2022 draft, expectations are high for the former Utah linebacker, who was brought in to compete for a starting role on Jacksonville’s top-tier defense.
Hamstring injuries like the one Lloyd is currently dealing with are hard to treat because they occur in the muscle and can be easily aggravated if a player is rushed back into action too quickly. The Jaguars will likely play his status by ear in the coming weeks in an effort to extend the amount of time he is able to see the field without suffering the effects of the painful injury this season.