The Jags already lost one of the league’s best specialists in Jamal Agnew, and now they will be without punter Logan Cooke for the rest of the season.
The Jacksonville Jaguars were already without one of their best special teams players in receiver and returner Jamal Agnew, and heading forward, they will be without another specialist with Pro Bowl potential in Logan Cooke. On Tuesday, the team placed him on injured reserve due to a right knee injury, which means his 2021 season has come to an end.
There were some concerns for Cooke’s situation entering this week as Jags interim coach Darrell Bevell said he’d be out for an unknown amount of time. However, after further evaluating the injury, the Jags just decided to place him on IR a day later.
“So, we will not have him,” Bevell said on Monday. “He’s in jeopardy of missing a game.”
Cooke went to Twitter to express that he hated that the season ended on such a bad note, but said he appreciated the fanbase and was looking forward to 2022.
Hate to see my season to end like this but It’s all in His hands. I appreciate you Duval! Big things coming in 2022💪🏼 pic.twitter.com/UUOx7RNCR0
Though players like punter Logan Cooke may have had a chance, Jacksonville is still looking for its first Pro Bowler since 2019.
For the second-straight season, no Jacksonville Jaguars players were selected to the Pro Bowl. This shouldn’t come as a major surprise, as the team has struggled all season and sits at 2-12. With just a 3-27 record over the last two seasons and one of the youngest rosters in football, there haven’t been a lot of clear standouts.
The best player on the team is arguably running back James Robinson, who was named to the Pro Football Writers of America All-Rookie team last year after breaking the NFL record for scrimmage yards from an undrafted rookie. However, injuries and limited carries have held him in check this season, though he has one more touchdown already than he did last year with eight, and his average (4.7) is slightly improved from last season.
Perhaps the Jacksonville player with the best argument was punter Logan Cooke, whose average of 47.1 on 63 punts was above average but not elite. However, 28 of those punts were downed inside the 20, which is the third-best mark in the NFL. Las Vegas punter A.J. Cole was the AFC’s Pro Bowl selection instead.
The last time the Jags had a player make the Pro Bowl was 2019, when it got DJ Chark, Calais Campbell, and Josh Allen in. Chark, who is a pending free agent in 2022, and Allen remain on the team. However, Chark’s season ended Week 4 against Cincinnati after he sustained a broken ankle early in the game.
As for Allen, he had a bit of a sophomore slump in 2020, but he’s been better this season, totaling a career-high 60 tackles already with 5.5 sacks. However, he’s not on pace to match his 10.5 sack total from his rookie season.
This is a Jags team that still needs to build more talent, and until that happens, this squad likely won’t have many players earning postseason honors.
The Jags continued to make moves this weekend, but on Saturday, they elected to focus on a player from the 2020 roster.
The free agency period isn’t solely about bringing in players from other teams but is also about extending some who’ve outplayed their current contracts. That’s what the Jacksonville Jaguars were thinking this weekend as they announced that punter Logan Cooke was extended.
Per Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle, the deal was a four-year extension worth $12 million.
Logan Cooke (Jaguars) four-year contract extension is worth $12 million, according to league sources
Cooke, 25, was drafted by the Jags in the seventh round (No. 247 overall) of the 2018 NFL Draft out of Mississippi State. Due to the Jags struggling on offense over recent times, he’s seen the field often and has been one of the league’s better punters in the process.
Since joining the Jags, Cooke has accumulated 217 punts and has garnered a 42.9 net punting average, good for the highest figure in Jags history. That is good for fourth in the NFL currently when looking at averages since he was drafted.
Extending Cooke locks up the young punter, who is a part of one of the better special teams units in football when considering the accuracy of kicker Josh Lambo, too. With Urban Meyer now running the show, the group could make a big leap in 2021 as he’s been huge on special teams performance throughout his career.
Logan Cooke appears to be on his way back to the Jags’ roster after missing time on the Reserve/COVID-19 list.
After missing their last two games, the Jacksonville Jaguars have activated punter Logan Cooke off of their Reserve/ COVID-19 list, which points to him resuming his duties Week 17. His return comes as the Jags are preparing for their season finale against the Indianapolis Colts.
Cooke didn’t surface on Week 15’s injury report but missed their trip to Baltimore with what the team labeled as an illness. As a result, the Jags had to abruptly let kicker Aldrick Rosas handle the duties at punter. He registered three punts on the day and averaged 36.7 yards a punt.
Afterward, the Jags signed veteran punter Dustin Colquitt for Week 16’s home game against the Chicago Bears. In his Jags debut, Colquitt registered six punts for 272 yards, which was good for an average of 45.3 yards per punt.
Cooke will return to the roster after putting together a pretty solid season where he’s averaged 47.6 yards per punt in 2020. He’s also pinned teams within the 10-yard line or less 11 times this season, which is a total that is good for second in the league.
The Jacksonville Jaguars made a roster move on special teams Monday by placing punter Logan Cooke on their Reserve/ COVID-19 list. The transaction came after Cooke didn’t travel with the Jags to Baltimore Sunday because of an illness and was ruled …
The Jacksonville Jaguars made a roster move on special teams Monday by placing punter Logan Cooke on their Reserve/ COVID-19 list. The transaction came after Cooke didn’t travel with the Jags to Baltimore Sunday because of an illness and was ruled out 24 hours before kickoff with the Ravens.
Kicker Aldrick Rosas was the player to step up on short notice in Cooke’s place, registering three punts for 36.7 yards on the day.
The team also announced that they would be signing punter Cameron Nizialek to their practice squad, which means he’ll be on standby for Week 16’s game against the Chicago Bears. He’ll join the Jags practice squad roster after spending time with the Baltimore Ravens, Atlanta Falcons, and the AAF’s Atlanta Legends.
As a collegiate player, Nizialek played for Columbia University (2014-16) and the University of Georgia (2017). While with the Bulldogs, he ranked ninth nationally with a gross punting average of 45.0.
The Baltimore Ravens might have to defend more fourth-down attempts in Week 15 as the Jaguars won’t have their starting punter.
The Baltimore Ravens vs. Jacksonville Jaguars game just got infinitely more interesting. The Jaguars announced they’ll be playing Sunday without a punter after ruling out Logan Cooke with an illness.
It appears Jacksonville will turn to kicker Aldrick Rosas, though there’s no backup punter officially listed on the team’s depth chart, so everyone could be surprised. But the lack of Cooke will also have an impact on kicks as well since he has been the holder. Jacksonville could turn to quarterbacks Gardner Minshew or Mike Glennon to be the holder Sunday, but once again, there isn’t a clear backup plan in place.
While one would think this is a huge blow against the Jaguars and should help propel the Ravens to victory, don’t be so fast. At 1-12 and with very little to lose, don’t be shocked if Jacksonville attempts a few fourth-down conversions over the course of the game, putting more pressure on Baltimore’s ailing defense to stop them.
The Jags will be without a punter Sunday against the Ravens as Logan Cooke missed their trip to Baltimore due to an illness.
The Jacksonville Jaguars ruled just one player out on their final injury report from Friday in cornerback Sidney Jones, but one more player will be joining him. That player is punter Logan Cooke, who didn’t travel with the Jags to Baltimore due to an illness.
Initially, the Jags announced that cook was ruled questionable early Saturday night, then listed him as questionable not too soon afterward.
P Logan Cooke did not travel with the team to Baltimore and has been ruled out for tomorrow's game.
The Jags don’t have a backup punter listed for emergency purposes on their depth chart, so it’s unknown as to whom will take over for Cooke Sunday. It’s possible kicker Aldrick Rosas will handle all of the kicking duties against the Ravens, while Gardner Minshew II or Mike Glennon could be the holder for the Jags on extra-point attempts and field goals.
Cooke has been a good special teams player for the Jags this year, averaging 47.6 yards per punt in 2020. He’s pinned teams within the 10-yard line or less 11 times this season, which is a total that is good for second in the league.
The Jacksonville Jaguars may not have won their game against the Green Bay Packers this Sunday, but they somehow managed to move up a spot in USA TODAY’s most recent power rankings. Now at the No. 30 spot, our comrade Nate Davis seemingly felt that …
The Jacksonville Jaguars may not have won their game against the Green Bay Packers this Sunday, but they somehow managed to move up a spot in USA TODAY’s most recent power rankings. Now at the No. 30 spot, our comrade Nate Davis seemingly felt that there are two teams who are worse than the Jags (at least for now) and one of them, of course, were the winless New York Jets (No. 32).
The other team was the Dallas Cowboys, who have been dealing with quarterback issues as Andy Dalton had to be cleared from concussion and COVID-19 protocols recently. Nonetheless, they still have two more wins than the Jags and could very well climb the rankings as soon as next week with the veteran quarterback back.
30. Jaguars (31): They gave a good account of themselves at Green Bay against the NFC’s current No. 1 seed. Next up for the Jags? Pittsburgh, the AFC’s current No. 1 seed.
While a loss is a loss in the NFL, the Jags did put up a better fight than expected Sunday, and while that doesn’t mean staff changes aren’t needed, it does show that the roster is talented and aren’t quitting.
As for the rest of the AFC South, the Indianapolis Colts and Tennessee Titans came in at the No. 10 and No. 11 spots, respectively, after their Thursday Night Football battle that Indy won by a score of 34-17. Lastly, the Houston Texans found themselves at the No. 28 spot after losing to the Cleveland Browns Sunday.
The Jags got solid contributions from their special teams, but their struggles to stop explosive plays still surfaced against the Packers.
For the third-straight game the Jacksonville Jaguars have stayed competitive late into the fourth quarter. Unfortunately, against the Green Bay Packers this squad wasn’t able to put together a game-winning drive. Despite another loss this was arguably their strongest performance since opening weekend.
Looking back on this game the team will understand they need to improve across all three phases of play, but it seems the coaches will enjoy watching the game tape a little more as we get deeper into the season.
In the wake of yet another loss, here are the good, bad and the ugly from the latest Jaguars defeat:
Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports
The good: Special teams love
There could be a whole host of shoutouts here as James Robinson was spectacular again, and rookie Davon Hamilton is quickly out-performing his overall selection figure. When taking the help both rookies provided into account, it’s easy to overlook the impact that special teams had so I’ll show them some love here.
The tribulations at the kicking position have been well documented, but Chase McLaughlin came out and kicked 100% on a pair of field goals and extra points. His special teams comrade, Logan Cooke, also came out and ripped the ball through the windy Wisconsin air. In fact, three of Cooke’s punts from Sunday afternoon finished inside the 10-yard line, one of which was even inside the Packers’ 3-yard line.
Special teams highlights weren’t just limited to the kicking/punting this week, though. Receiver Keelan Cole peeled off for a franchise record 91-yard punt return touchdown, which kept the Jaguars in the game in the first half. All in all Sunday was a phenomenal day for the special teams unit and plenty to make Joe DeCamillis happy.
Mandatory credit: Dan Powers/USA TODAY
The bad: Big play defense
For the second-straight week, the Jaguars have given up a touchdown of 70 yards or more. This week it was Sidney Jones IV, who got beaten by Marquez Valdes-Scantling at the start of the second quarter.
The Jaguars’ defense came to play this week, limiting the Packers to just 51 yards and 0 points in the first quarter. However, their momentum began to slip away as the team gave up the huge touchdown strike in the opening play of the second period. If the team is to win any of the tough slate of games toward the end of 2020, they need to keep the ball in front of them much better than they have been.
Mandatory Credit: Tork Mason/USA TODAY NETWORK
The ugly: That two-minute drill
Lets not say too much about it, but whoosh. Rookie quarterback Jake Luton had a wobbly start to the game, but still managed to find his feet and lead three scoring drives as the Jaguars hung around far longer than anyone expected them to. In fact, the sixth-round rookie had the opportunity to lead his team downfield and win in Green Bay in only his second career start.
Unfortunately, the drive stalled out in ugly fashion. Luton went 1-of-4 for eight yards and two disappointing sacks. Still, the game was largely enjoyable for Jacksonville fans, especially those who want the team to draft Justin Fields.
There are two coaches who may stand a chance to survive a coaching change for the Jags in our books. One of them is Joe DeCamillis.
With a 4-9 record currently and five straight losses by at least 17 points, the Jacksonville Jaguars are unquestionably going to have a coaching change at the end of the year. Of course, the reason for their record and pending changes is somewhat due to the Jags’ current staff being out-coached at times and fans have been very vocal about getting Doug Marrone and his staff out of the facility.
That said, our question of the day is whether or you all at home feel there is a member of the current staff who should survive what will likely be a coaching staff change in a few weeks? Here are two candidates who we feel at least deserve another year:
Special teams coach – Joe DeCamillis
Joe DeCamillis is one of the league’s most respected special teams coaches and it’s easy to see why when looking at his body of work before joining the Jags and after. Prior to coming to Jacksonville, he was so highly regarded at his last stop that he served as the interim head coach for the Denver Broncos Week 6 of the 2016 season with Gary Kubiak dealing with and illness.
First and foremost, he deserves praise for what he’s gotten out of Josh Lambo, who is kicking at a Pro Bowl level this season. The veteran, who the Jags signed off the free-agent market during the 2017 regular season, has converted 96.3% of his field-goal attempts (26-of-27), good for the best in the league.
DeCamillis has also turned Logan Cooke into a stud punter. With the offense not offering much production, Cooke has been a weapon for the Jags averaging just under 44 yards per punt and constantly pinning the opposition behind the 20-yard line. The crazy part about it is that he’s only 24 and keeping DeCamillis by his side could make him an All-Pro down the road.
Receivers coach – Keenan McCardell
The other assistant who comes to mind when discussing the staff’s ability to teach is receivers coach and Jags great Keenan McCardell, who pretty much has done a well as you can with the young receivers he’s inherited.
During his first season on the Jags’ coaching staff, McCardell immediately showed his skills as a communicator. One series into the regular season, he lost his top receiver, Allen Robinson, for the year with an ACL tear but it didn’t stop him from getting the best out of what was left for Blake Bortles to utilize. He got some quality moments and play out of undrafted rookie Keelan Cole that season, who totaled a career-high in statistics with 42 catches, 748 receiving yards and three touchdowns.
McCardell’s other noteworthy achievement was coaching up second-year receiver DJ Chark Jr., who struggled mightily in 2018 but looks like one of the league’s most improved players now. Chark is currently just 44 yards shy of the 1000-yard mark this season and has impressed on all levels of the field despite the frequent changes at quarterback.
If there is a new staff, they almost certainly will recognize the coaching Chark and the other receivers have responded to and possibly consider keeping McCardell. It also may help his case that he was formerly a receiver in the league who was largely successful.
That said, we’d like to know if you all at home believe McCardell and DeCamillis deserve to remain assistants past 2019. Is there someone we missed on the staff that deserves to stay? Let us know in our Jags Wire forum.
