The Jacksonville Jaguars had veteran wide receiver Zay Jones on the practice field for the second consecutive day on Thursday, with Jones listed as a limited participant due to a knee injury.
Jones, who injured his knee in Week 2 vs. the Kansas City Chiefs, has appeared in just three games this year. Week 1 was the only game where he played the entire four quarters without leaving due to injury, though he did return in Week 2 after a brief absence.
Jones then missed the next two weeks before returning in Week 5 vs. the Buffalo Bills, where he caught five passes for 55 yards and a touchdown before his injury flamed up again in the second half.
On the season, Jones has caught eight passes for 78 yards and two of Trevor Lawrence's nine touchdown passes. To this point in the season, he has caught 50% of Lawrence's red-zone touchdowns.
"I think Zay just has such a versatility to his game that we mix and match it with multiple people. To get the speed element that Zay has, Ag [Jamal Agnew] plays a role in that or we move Christian [Kirk] and Calvin [Ridley] around to do that. To get the physical blocking aspect, Tim [Jones], Elijah [Cooks], maybe a little bit more 12 personnel to do some of the things that Zay can do," Jaguars offensive coordinator Press Taylor said last month.
"Zay is so versatile for us, he has the vertical threat with the speed, he’s got length that we don’t necessarily have in the receiver room. The combination of length, speed and blocking ability without him, we can piece it together with a couple of other people. Then, he’s got experience. Some of those other guys in the backend don’t necessarily have. As the game changes and as the picture changes within a down, you know what Zay is going to do because Zay has seen it a million times.
"Zay and Trevor [Lawrence] have that chemistry and that communication that they go through where you’re piecing people to do a job that one person did. Again, Zay is a huge part of our offense, so certainly it’s somebody we miss. I think we have done a decent job of intermixing people into the game and finding different ways and different roles to use those people.”
In addition to Jones being limited, the Jaguars also had cornerback Tyson Campbell (hamstring), safety Andre Cisco (hamstring), guard Ezra Cleveland (toe), and safety Daniel Thomas (hamstring) limited. Outside linebacker Yasir Abdullah returned to practice after missing Wednesday with an illness.
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