JACKSONVILLE – The Jaguars reduced their roster in a big way Tuesday.
Twelve days before the 2021 regular-season opener, the Jaguars had their busiest transaction day of the year as they reduced their roster to the NFL regular-season limit of 53 players. Teams had until Tuesday at 4 p.m. EDT to do so.
The Jaguars waived 18 players Tuesday and released six others. They also placed one player on reserve/injured and another on the reserve/non-football injury list.
The Jaguars on Tuesday waived 11 players who spent time on the team's active roster last season: Defensive tackle Doug Costin, running back Nathan Cottrell, tight end Tyler Davis, tight end Ben Ellefson, wide receiver Collin Johnson, quarterback Jake Luton, offensive lineman KC McDermott, running back Devine Ozigbo, defensive back Brandon Rusnak, offensive lineman Tre'Vour Wallace-Simms and linebacker Quincy Williams.
The waived players included four past Jaguars draftees: Williams (Round 3, 2019), Davis (Round 6, 2020), Johnson (Round 5, 2020) and Luton (Round 6, 2020).
The team also released wide receiver Phillip Dorsett, who signed as an unrestricted free agent this past offseason, as well as veteran safety Jarrod Wilson – the latter of whom started 30 games for the Jaguars in five seasons.
Six members of the 2021 draft class made the 53-player roster: Quarterback Trevor Lawrence (Round 1), cornerback Tyson Campbell (Round 2), offensive tackle Walker Little (Round 2), safety Andre Cisco (Round 3), defensive end Jordan Smith (Round 4) and tight end Luke Farrell (Round 5). They waived sixth-round wide receiver Jalen Camp and first-round running back Travis Etienne Jr. is on injured reserve.
The team announced the transactions late Tuesday afternoon, with all players released/waived Tuesday eligible to be on the Jaguars' practice squad.
Because of COVID-19, practice squads are expanded compared with seasons before 2020 – with 16 players on the practice squad and six of those players allowed to be veterans of unlimited experience.
Teams again this season also will be able to protect up to four practice-squad players per week from being signed by other teams, and they will be able to promote two practice-squad players a week without signing those players to the active roster.
Tuesday's moves:
- Waived: Cornerback Lorenzo Burns, Camp, Costin, wide receiver Jeff Cotton Jr., Cottrell, Davis, Ellefson, wide receiver Josh Hamond, Johnson, wide receiver Tevin Jones, Luton, McDermott, Ozigbo, offensive lineman Austen Pleasants, Rusnak, offensive lineman Badara Traore, Wallace-Simms and Williams.
- Released: Wide receiver Pharoh Cooper, Dorsett, offensive lineman Jermaine Eluemunor, wide receiver Devin Smith, wide receiver Laquon Treadwell and Wilson.
- Reserve/injured: Safety Josh Jones.
- Reserve/non-football injury: Linebacker Dylan Moses
