JACKSONVILLE – Doug Marrone overall likes the Jaguars' situation.
"I feel really good about where the team is from a standpoint of health," he said.
Marrone, the Jaguars' head coach, spent the early part of a videoconference with the media Thursday outlining the team's roster situation as 2020 Training Camp continued. Thursday's major early news was that tight end Josh Oliver has been placed on injured reserve with a foot injury.
Oliver, a third-round selection in the 2019 NFL Draft, sustained a broken bone in his foot in a non-contact situation Sunday. Because Oliver was placed on injured reserve before September 6, he will not be eligible to return this season.
Also:
*Myles Jack, the team's starting weak-side linebacker, will return to practice Thursday after missing the first two padded practices this week with an illness that was not COVID-19-related. Jaguars players were off Wednesday.
*K'Lavon Chaisson, a rookie outside linebacker/defensive end selected No. 20 overall in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft, also will return to practice. He had been out through the first part of training camp with a hamstring injury, and Marrone said Chaisson will start working his way back into practice Thursday. "He'll be on the field," Marrone said of Chaisson.
*Marrone also said two players – running back Ryquell Armstead and offensive lineman Tre'Vour Wallace-Simms – have been removed have been moved from the team's reserve/COVID-19 list and will practice Thursday.
*Rookie cornerback CJ Henderson won't practice Thursday because of a non-COVID-19-related illness.
*Safety Ronnie Harrison will miss practice Thursday in the concussion protocol.
Marrone on Thursday also detailed the coming week of training camp, a critical stretch as the team prepares for a 2020 regular season scheduled to that begins with a home game against the Indianapolis Colts at TIAA Bank Field on September 13.
Marrone said multiple players will work inside rather than practicing with the team Friday. Those players will include players whose health is managed during the season by limiting their work in practice.
"We'll have a bunch of guys inside, working – doing things to help us through the season," he said. "We are getting into a week where now we go six straight days until the next day off, so there's a lot of work ahead of us this week.
"And it's a big week. We've got to get a lot of situational work in. We've got to get a lot of high-contact in. It will be a little bit of a push this week as far as each and every day getting better."
Marrone said he expects the Jaguars to scrimmage during practice Saturday with "some live plays in." The Jaguars also likely will scrimmage in a practice one day next week, Marrone said. NFL teams are not playing preseason games this season because of COVID-19.
Marrone also said the coming week – because of the extended contact work on some days – will be critical to evaluating many young linemen, particularly young interior defensive linemen. That area has been hurt during training camp with veteran defensive lineman Rodney Gunter retiring early this week and with veteran defensive tackle Al Woods opting out of the 2020 season because of COVID-19.
"I think in the next six days a lot's going to pick up because of the line play," Marrone said. "I think I'll have a lot better feel for where those guys are."
