Tag: C.J. Beathard

Jaguars vs. Bengals recap: Everything goes wrong for Jacksonville

It was a nightmarish night for the Jaguars on Monday Night Football.

It was supposed to be an easy night against a double-digit underdog, but the Jacksonville Jaguars’ 34-31 overtime loss to the Cincinnati Bengals proved to be a nightmare.

After a strong start to the game for the Jaguars with an opening drive touchdown and two defensive stops, the Bengals offense caught fire. In his second career start, Jake Browning had a terrific night, throwing only five incompletions on 37 pass attempts.

The Jaguars clawed back from an early second half deficit, but a bad night turned into a nightmare one due to injuries. Jacksonville lost Christian Kirk to a groin injury on the first offensive snap, but even worse, the team lost Trevor Lawrence to an ankle injury in the fourth quarter.

While Jacksonville managed to drive into field goal range for a game-tying kick in the final 30 seconds of regulation, the offense couldn’t do it again in overtime. Instead it was Cincinnati that got the yards it needed to set up a 48-yarder for Evan McPherson that ended the game.

Here’s how Jacksonville’s costly Week 13 loss went down:

C.J. Beathard says it’s ‘very likely’ Trevor Lawrence plays in Week 7

Jaguars backup quarterback C.J. Beathard says Trevor Lawrence is doing “anything and everything” he can to play Thursday.

Jacksonville Jaguars backup quarterback C.J. Beathard is ready to start Thursday if Trevor Lawrence can’t play due to a knee injury he suffered Sunday in a Week 6 win. He isn’t counting on it, though.

“Shoot, I’ve been here two-and-a-half years with him and he hasn’t missed a single game,” Beathard said Tuesday after practice. “He’s as tough as they come and I know he’s doing anything and everything he can right now to be ready to play. I mean, it’s still very likely that he plays this week.”

Beathard, a former starter during his time with the San Francisco 49ers, did say he took the majority of the first-team snaps at practice Tuesday, though.

Lawrence, 24, has started every game for the Jaguars since getting picked No. 1 overall in the 2021 NFL draft. Last season, the quarterback suffered a toe injury that limited his ability to practice for more than a month, but he continued to play through the remainder of the season.

On Tuesday, Lawrence was back on the practice field, but wore a brace over his injured left knee.

The injury for Lawrence occurred on a sack in the final minutes of the Jaguars’ 37-20 win against the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday. While he didn’t return to the game, the only other offensive snaps for Jacksonville were three kneels by Beathard.

After the game, Lawrence told reporters immediately after the game that he was “feeling OK,” But Jaguars coach Doug Pederson played coy on Monday when asked about Lawrence’s status for a Thursday game against the New Orleans Saints.

In the Jaguars’ first injury report ahead of the Week 7 game, Lawrence was listed as “did not participate,” although that was an estimation if the team held a practice Monday.

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Doug Pederson not offering any hints on Trevor Lawrence’s knee injury

Doug Pederson says he’ll know Thursday night at kickoff time if Trevor Lawrence is ready to play against the Saints.

Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence is day to day due to a knee injury suffered in Week 6. Any details beyond that aren’t coming from Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson any time soon.

In a press conference Monday, Pederson said Lawrence is feeling better, but sore. He passed on providing any details about  the nature of the injury and when asked if he’d know by Wednesday if the quarterback will be ready to play against the New Orleans Saints, Pederson offered an alternate timeline.

“7:20, kickoff, Thursday night,” Pederson said.

Lawrence, 24, told reporters after the game Sunday that his knee was feeling “pretty good.” The third-year quarterback was later spotted leaving EverBank Stadium with a wrap of sorts around his injured left leg. On Monday morning, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported that Lawrence underwent an MRI but the team believes he suffered “no major injury.”

Still, any kind of knee injury will present challenges with the Jaguars playing the Saints on a short week.

If Lawrence misses the first game of his NFL career, it’d be former San Francisco 49ers starter C.J. Beathard called upon to start Thursday. Now in his third season with the Jaguars, Beathard has thrown only 15 passes with the team. He previously started 12 games in three seasons with the 49ers.

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Nathan Rourke: I have to ‘make some film’ in case Jaguars cut ties

Nathan Rourke knows strong preseason showings will help him, whether he makes the Jaguars roster or not.

Jacksonville Jaguars third-string quarterback Nathan Rourke doesn’t have a shot at becoming the backup. Head coach Doug Pederson told reporters Saturday that, despite Rourke’s strong preseason performances, it’ll still be C.J. Beathard backing up Trevor Lawrence in 2023.

Would the Jaguars consider keeping Rourke as a third quarterback on the 53-man roster? That remains to be seen, but the former Canadian Football League is preparing for the possibility that he’ll become available to other teams soon. And the best thing Rourke can do is continue to play well.

“You don’t get a lot of opportunities and you’ve got to make them count,” Rourke said Monday in an interview with News4Jax. “It’s important — obviously you’d love to be able to make this team and be able to contribute — but you have to be able to go out there and make some film for other teams if it doesn’t work out here, right?

“I’ve been very grateful to the [Jaguars] organization here that they’ve given me a chance to do that and be able to show the player I am and what they have and hopefully we can make it work.”

In two preseason games, Rourke has completed 19 of 29 passes for 274 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions. In the final minutes of the Jaguars’ 28-23 win over the Dallas Cowboys, he pulled off a remarkable play that even caught the attention of the Kansas City Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes.

Rourke’s strong play has taken many by surprise and could land him a spot on an NFL roster. But the former B.C. Lions quarterback didn’t walk away from the CFL just to be a training camp arm.

“I left a really good situation in B.C., I left a really good team and coaching staff, people I was comfortable with, in order to come and chase an opportunity here in the NFL,” Rourke said. “If I didn’t think I would be able to make it, I probably wouldn’t have came, just to be fully honest.”

If Jacksonville cuts Rourke after preseason ends, he’d hit the waiver wire where every other team would have a chance to put in a claim. Only if every team opted against claiming Rourke could the Jaguars add him to their practice squad.

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Doug Pederson: There is no battle for backup quarterback job

Doug Pederson says C.J. Beathard will be the Jaguars’ backup quarterback, despite the strong performances of Nathan Rourke.

The impressive performances of quarterback Nathan Rourke in preseason don’t have him knocking on the door of the backup quarterback job for the Jacksonville Jaguars.

According to Jaguars coach Doug Pederson, there’s no competition at the position. When asked if there was a battle for No. 2 on the depth chart, Pederson simply said “no.”

“I thought Nathan did well again today,” Pederson said at a postgame press conference Saturday. “A couple touchdown drives there and he’s done a nice job. He’s done exactly what we ask him to do. C.J. [Beathard] is our No. 2 and, obviously, Trevor [Lawrence] is our No. 1.”

Beathard, 29, started 12 games during his four seasons with the San Francisco 49ers before signing with the Jaguars as a backup in 2021. While he only saw snaps in clean-up duty during his first two years with Jacksonville, the team re-signed Beathard to another two-year deal in February.

Rourke, 25, previously starred with the B.C. Lions of the Canadian Football League and signed with the Jaguars in January after working out for a dozen NFL teams.

Through two preseason games, Beathard has completed 18 of his 33 passes for 218 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Rourke has completed 19 of 29 passes for 274 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions.

The question now for the Jaguars is whether the team would consider carrying three quarterbacks on the roster into the regular season. The team hasn’t done that in the last two seasons, but would have to place Rourke on the waiver wire if it hopes to re-sign him to the practice squad.

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Press Taylor: Jaguars have ‘high hopes’ for backup QB Nathan Rourke

Jaguars offensive coordinator Press Taylor says former CFL star Nathan Rourke has done a “great job” so far in camp.

Former Canadian Football League star Nathan Rourke probably won’t be starting games for the Jacksonville Jaguars any time soon, but offensive coordinator Press Taylor isn’t discounting the quarterback’s potential impact.

“He’s done a great job, just in terms of growing from the spring, through the summer, into now at training camp,” Taylor said of Rourke on Monday. “He’s done a great job in that [quarterback] room with those guys, and he’s somebody that’s going to get a lot of opportunities as well coming up in these preseason games, that we have high hopes for leading our offense.”

Rourke, 25, previously spent two seasons with the CFL’s B.C. Lions and earned the league’s Most Outstanding Canadian award after completing 78.7 percent of his passes in 2022 for 3,349 yards and 25 touchdowns with 10 interceptions.

After working out for at least a dozen NFL teams in December and January, Rourke opted to sign with the Jaguars.

To earn a place on the team’s 53-man roster this fall, Rourke will likely have to beat out former San Francisco 49ers starter C.J. Beathard for the No. 2 spot on the depth chart. Catching up to a seventh-year veteran entering his second season in the Jaguars’ offensive system could be a challenge, though.

“He’s done a good job,” Taylor said of Rourke. “The big thing with those guys is understanding what we’re trying to do on each play, where to go to with the ball and playing on time. Throughout this training camp, we’re really evaluating the quarterback’s process, not as concerned with what the stats may look like and this and that, because again, we’re not scheming our defense.

“We want them to understand the process within each play and how we get through our progressions, when we may throw a ball to a certain guy in certain times.”

The first of Jacksonville’s three preseason games is scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 12 at 5 p.m. ET against the Dallas Cowboys.

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Jaguars 2023 roster review: QB C.J. Beathard

Jaguars backup C.J. Beathard hasn’t played much in two seasons with the team, but he’s earned trust from coaches and teammates.

The brunt of the offseason is in the books and training camp is still off on the horizon. Join us in the NFL’s dead zone with a player-by-player review of the Jaguars roster ahead of the 2023 season.

The Jacksonville Jaguars have a star at quarterback in Trevor Lawrence, but for a brief moment during the 2022 season it looked like the worst case scenario came to fruition.

During a blowout loss to the Detroit Lions, Lawrence was twisted down on a sack just before halftime and stayed down on the field in pain. C.J. Beathard stepping in to start at quarterback for the Jaguars seemed to be a very real possibility in that moment. But Lawrence jogged out for the second half and eventually led his team to the playoffs.

Through two seasons with the Jaguars, Beathard has thrown just 13 passes.

Still, the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback did enough that the Jaguars opted to re-sign the backup in the 2023 offseason.

Contract (2023): $1.080 million base salary; $500,000 prorated signing bonus, $400,000 roster bonus, $100,000 workout bonus, $1 million in incentives; $2.080 million cap hit (2023). Due to become free agent in 2025.

Acquired: Jaguars signed Beathard in free agency on March 24, 2021.

PFF grades:

  • 57.6 (2022 – 27 snaps)
  • 95.0 (2021 – 7 snaps)
  • 67.7 (2020 – SF)
  • 64.9 (2019 – SF)
  • 59.5 (2018 – SF)

Statistics:

  • 7 completions, 11 attempts, 35 yards, 0 touchdowns, 1 interception (2022)
  • 2 completions, 2 attempts, 33 yards, 0 touchdowns, 0 interceptions (2021)

Highlight:

Quote: “My confidence level is high in him. What he’s shown, he’s a veteran guy. … He’s well-versed in the offense and [I have] a lot of confidence in him.” – Doug Pederson on Beathard

Calvin Ridley (No. 0) Travis Etienne Jr. (No. 1) Rayshawn Jenkins (No. 2) C.J. Beathard (No. 3) Tank Bigsby (No. 4) Andre Cisco (No. 5)
Chris Claybrooks (No. 6) Zay Jones (No. 7) Logan Cooke (No. 9) Parker Washington (No. 11) James McCourt (No. 12) Christian Kirk (No. 13)
Kendric Pryor (No. 14) Tim Jones (No. 15) Trevor Lawrence (No. 16) Evan Engram (No. 17) Nathan Rourke (No. 18) Sammis Reyes (No. 19)
Daniel Thomas (No. 20) Latavious Brini (No. 21) JaMycal Hasty (No. 22) Foyesade Oluokun (No. 23) Snoop Conner (No. 24) D’Ernest Johnson (No. 25)
Antonio Johnson (No. 26) Divaad Wilson (No. 27) Tevaughn Campbell (No. 29) Montaric Brown (No. 30) Darious Williams (No. 31) Tyson Campbell (No. 32)
Devin Lloyd (No. 33) Gregory Junior (No. 34) Ayo Oyelola (No. 35) Christian Braswell (No. 36) Tre Herndon (No. 37) Qadree Ollison (No. 38)
Jamal Agnew (No. 39) Erick Hallett (No. 40) Josh Allen (No. 41) Andrew Wingard (No. 42) Kaleb Hayes (No. 43) Derek Parish (No. 43)
Travon Walker (No. 44) K’Lavon Chaisson (No. 45) Ross Matiscik (No. 46) De’Shaan Dixon (No. 47) Chad Muma (No. 48) Leonard Taylor (No. 49)
Shaquille Quarterman (No. 50) Ventrell Miller (No. 51) DaVon Hamilton (No. 52) Willie Taylor III (No. 53) DJ Coleman (No. 54) Dequan Jackson (No. 55)
Yasir Abdullah (No. 56) Caleb Johnson (No. 57) Raymond Vohasek (No. 59) Darryl Williams (No. 60) Samuel Jackson (No. 62) Coy Cronk (No. 64)
Chandler Brewer (No. 67) Brandon Scherff (No. 68) Tyler Shatley (No. 69) Cole Van Lanen (No. 70) Walker Little (No. 72) Blake Hance (No. 73)
Cam Robinson (No. 74) Cooper Hodges (No. 75) Anton Harrison (No. 76) Josh Wells (No. 77) Ben Bartch (No. 78) Luke Fortner (No. 79)
Kevin Austin Jr. (No. 80) Seth Williams (No. 81) Elijah Cooks (No. 84) Brenton Strange (No. 85) Gerrit Prince (No. 86) Jaray Jenkins (No. 87)
Oliver Martin (No. 88) Luke Farrell (No. 89) Henry Mondeaux (No. 90) Jordan Smith (No. 92) Tyler Lacy (No. 93) Folorunso Fatukasi (No. 94)
Roy Robertson-Harris (No. 95) Adam Gotsis (No. 96) Nick Thurman (No. 97) Michael Dogbe (No. 98) Jeremiah Ledbetter (No. 99) Brandon McManus
Jacob Harris

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Ranking the QBs in the AFC South entering 2023

Taking a look at ranking the QBs in the AFC South entering 2023.

The quarterback position in the AFC South has been less than desirable since Andrew Luck’s retirement, Deshaun Watson’s fallout with the Houston Texans, and Trevor Lawrence’s disastrous rookie season under Urban Meyer.

For now, the future is bright for the division’s quarterbacks entering the 2023 season. Lawrence is coming off a strong Year 2 for the Jacksonville Jaguars while the Indianapolis Colts, Houston Texans, and Tennessee Titans are hoping they have found their long-term franchise quarterback coming out of this year’s NFL draft.

This will be the first season we could see all 32 teams carry three quarterbacks on their rosters due to the new third QB rule the league has implemented because of what happened to the San Francisco 49ers in last year’s playoff game against the Philadelphia Eagles.

Let’s take a look at how the AFC South quarterbacks rank heading into the upcoming season:

Jaguars waive QB E.J. Perry after year on practice squad

The Jaguars parted with quarterback E.J. Perry, who signed with the team as an undrafted free agent in 2022.

The Jacksonville Jaguars waived quarterback E.J. Perry on Tuesday, a little over a month after keeping him with a reserve/future contract in January.

Perry, 24, was a two-time All-Ivy League selection at Brown and joined the Jaguars as an undrafted free agent following the 2022 NFL Draft. Perry was cut by the team at the end of August and was added to the practice squad where he spent the entire 2022 season.

In February, the Jaguars re-signed backup quarterback C.J. Beathard and the team added to its depth chart in January by adding former Canadian Football League star Nathan Rourke. While the latter is recovering from a minor foot surgery, Jacksonville evidently feels good enough about its trio of passers to part with Perry.

In the 2022 preseason, Perry completed 25 of his 48 passes for 293 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions. In two seasons as the starting quarterback at Brown, Perry had 45 touchdowns with 27 interceptions.

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Jaguars QB C.J. Beathard’s new contract details, value revealed

C.J. Beathard new deal includes $1 million in incentives in each of the next two seasons.

The Jacksonville Jaguars don’t have much (or any right now) cap space to work with, but decided that keeping backup quarterback C.J. Beathard was a priority anyway.

On Friday, the team announced that it kept Beathard with a new contract, less than three weeks before the veteran quarterback was set to become a free agent.

According to the contract details reported by Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, the deal is more than affordable for the Jaguars.

The deal is only slightly less than the two-year, $5 million contract Beathard signed with the Jaguars during the 2021 offseason.

While the exact cap hit won’t be revealed until there’s a better idea of the displacement of the money over the next two seasons, the contract will be a minimal burden for the Jaguars, regardless.

There’s also a chance that Beathard won’t be on the roster in the fall, as the team recently added Canadian Football League star Nathan Rourke to compete for a backup role behind Trevor Lawrence.

In two seasons with the Jaguars, Beathard has only appeared a few times in clean up duty. He’s thrown just 13 passes with the Jaguars after previously starting 12 games in four seasons with the San Francisco 49ers.

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