The Jacksonville Jaguars will be without wide receiver Zay Jones on Sunday for a Week 3 game against the Houston Texans due to a knee injury.
To fill the void, the Jaguars moved veteran receiver Jacob Harris from the practice squad to the active roster. But the bigger beneficiary from the ‘next man up’ philosophy may be Tim Jones.
“That’s a big one, he’s a big part of what we’re doing,” Jaguars coach Doug Pederson said Wednesday of the loss of Zay Jones. “Tim Jones has had some playing experience for us and can fill that role quite nicely. Zay is a physical receiver who does some of the blocking for us as well, Tim has done that before and what not. Tim will get some work if Zay can’t go.”
Tim Jones, 25, first joined the Jaguars as an undrafted free agent after the 2021 NFL draft and spent the majority of his rookie year on the team’s practice squad. A year later, he showed enough in camp to make the team’s final 53-man roster.
Now in his third year in the NFL, Jones has three career receptions for 30 yards. While Sunday could be an opportunity to add to his receiving totals, it was business as usual for the receiver on the practice field.
“It doesn’t necessarily change what I do, because I prepare the same way every week,” Jones said Friday. “In my role, I have to know every single position just in case anything were to happen on the field. … I’ll just stick to what I’ve been doing and see what happens.”
There’s no shortage of options for the Jaguars offense with eight wide receivers and three tight ends on the active roster following the elevation of Harris. But Jacksonville has scratched rookies Parker Washington and Elijah Cooks in the first two weeks and probably won’t be able to fill Zay Jones’ role with Jamal Agnew.
“We’re fortunate in that we have versatile pieces,” Jaguars offensive coordinator Press Taylor said Thursday. “We have guys like Tim [Jones], guys like [Agnew] that provide different elements.”
Through the first two weeks of the 2023 season, Calvin Ridley leads the Jaguars in targets with 19. Christian Kirk has 17 while Evan Engram and Zay Jones have 13 each.
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