JACKSONVILLE – The day ended in somewhat fitting fashion.
And that wasn't the greatest news Thursday for the Jaguars, particularly at the wide receiver position, with an ankle injury to veteran Tandon Doss ending a day that featured several injuries around the roster.
Doss, a fourth-year veteran battling for a roster position at receiver and punt returner, sustained the injury running an out route near the sideline. He fell, writhed on the grass immediately and was attended to by trainers as practice ended.
The other Jaguars' receivers and Head Coach Gus Bradley gathered around Doss for several minutes thereafter.
The injury to Doss was another blow to the Jaguars' receiver position.
Rookie wide receiver Allen Robinson left midway through practice Thursday with tightness in the same hamstring that kept him out of much of the Jaguars' off-field offseason work. The team already is working without injured Cecil Shorts III and Ace Sanders, who is out of camp dealing with personal issues.
The Jaguars had up to seven wide receivers out during the offseason.
"Just like in OTAs, guys will step up," Bradley said early Thursday afternoon after the Jaguars worked for about two hours and 10 minutes in 92-degree temperatures in the late morning and early afternoon at the Florida Blue Health and Wellness Practice Fields.
"The Tandon Doss thing, we'll see," Bradley added. "We were pretty cautious with Allen Robinson. He felt a little bit of tightness and we held him out. At this time of year, we want to err on that side. The challenge for us now is when you do lose some numbers not to pile up the reps on other guys.
"That will be the challenge for us right now."
With Sanders and Doss out, Bradley said rookie wide receiver Marqise Lee and veteran cornerback Will Blackmon could be options at punt returner, as well as rookie Damian Copeland.
"We're fortunate that Will Blackmon's done it – and Marqise Lee," Bradley said.
Bradley minutes before Doss' injury had gathered the team at midfield before the practice-ending team period.
"It was just, 'We have to pick up the level of intensity,''' Bradley said. "It was good, but I felt like at this point in time in practice, in training camp, we hadn't felt a lull. I didn't want it to become a lull. I just readdressed. I said, 'You may start to feel this. Let's fight through it.' I thought they did a good job with it.''
Several other Jaguars players also sustained injuries Thursday, with linebacker John Lotulelei leaving with a medial collateral ligament injury and rookie guard Brandon Linder leaving with a foot injury. Guard Jacques McClendon worked with the starters in Linder's absence.
Tight end Marcedes Lewis had a veterans day off Thursday, his first such day. Defensive end Chris Clemons and middle linebacker Paul Posluszny also had their first veterans days off on the sixth day of training camp, the second in full pads.
Linebacker Geno Hayes, who has had veteran days off at times in training camp, did not practice on Thursday after working Wednesday. Cecil Shorts III (hamstring) remained out, and tight end Clay Harbor (calf) also missed practice.
Cornerback Alan Ball remained in the Physically Unable to Perform list, but could return to practice by the end of this week. Ball ran on the side Thursday in practice and the team remains cautious in his return.
Defensive end Jordan Miller missed practice with a knee injury.
The Jaguars will hold a walkthrough practice later Thursday afternoon, and will hold another practice at 9:55 a.m. Friday. Friday's practice is free and open to the public, and the Jaguars will work that day in full pads.
The team will hold a mock game/scrimmage scheduled at EverBank Field Saturday at 6:45 p.m.
QB @bbortles5 hits WR @kerrytaylor15 for a completion in drills. #JagsCamp | #SlowMo https://t.co/OynMRTzvih — Jacksonville Jaguars (@Jaguars) July 31, 2014
INJURY WATCH
Ball (ankle) and linebacker Dekoda Watson (sports hernia) remain on the Physically Unable to Perform list, with cornerback Aaron Colvin (knee) remaining on the non-football injury list. Safety Josh Evans (foot) practiced on a limited basis Wednesday and Shorts, Harbor and linebacker J.T. Thomas (hamstring) all missed practice.
PLAY OF THE DAY
The play of the day may have come before practice, when safety Johnathan Cyprien and cornerback Dwayne Gratz switched jerseys. Cyprien during the Thursday practice wore Gratz's No. 27 jersey with "Gratz" across the back and Gratz wore Cyprien's No. 37 jersey. It took a while for the onlooking media to get adjusted to the switch between the second-year veterans, and it never quite looked right with Cyprien's jersey on the edge and Gratz in the middle of the field. Oh, those sneaky youngsters.
HIGHLIGHTS
*Rookie wide receiver Allen Hurns and veteran wide receiver Doss each caught long touchdown passes from Chad Henne during a 7-on-7 drill in the second half of practice. …
*Second-year left tackle Luke Joeckel had a pancake block of rookie DE Chris Smith for a second consecutive day.
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