The Jaguars figure to be big players in free agency, with lots of cap space to work with and plenty of room for improvement on offense. One piece of the unit that new head coach Doug Pederson would like to keep in Jacksonville, however, is receiver DJ Chark.
In an appearance on 1010 XL, Pederson noted that injuries played a large role in the team’s struggles last year. With a rookie quarterback in Trevor Lawrence, along with a lost season for fellow first-rounder Travis Etienne, the Jags certainly could’ve used a productive campaign from Chark. Instead, he suffered a fractured ankle in Week 4, an injury that ended his season. The 25-year-old posted 154 receiving yards, and the Jaguars finished last in the league in scoring.
“You think about James Robinson, you think about Travis Etienne, you think about even, you know, hopefully we get DJ Chark back,” Pederson said. “I mean, you think about some of these younger receivers that we do have and there is some skill and ability there that we are excited as a staff to get going with.”
While Pederson added that the offense “is not there yet” and that new pieces will be brought in, his remarks demonstrate a willingness to bring the former second-round pick back. Chark’s best season came in 2019, where he made 73 catches for 1,008 yards and eight touchdowns en route to the Pro Bowl. That helped lead to momentum regarding a potential extension early in the 2021 campaign, but the ankle injury — one of several in his career — surely complicates the matter.
Without a new deal in the next few weeks, Chark will hit the open market. If he does land elsewhere, Jacksonville will still have Marvin Jones, Laviska Shenault and Jamal Agnew under contract through next year.
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