The Jacksonville Jaguars had high hopes for Caleb Ransaw’s first season on an NFL field. They still do – in 2026.
A former Sparkman High School standout and a third-round rookie whom Jacksonville hoped would help the NFL’s worst 2024 passing defense at safety in 2025, Ransaw will not play this season after the Jaguars placed him on injured reserve.
“It’s unfortunate,” Jacksonville general manager James Gladstone said. “He had a non-contact injury on his foot that, ultimately, we put him in a boot with the hope that it wouldn’t result in surgery. Checked after the boot came off, and it was clear that we were going to have to go in. And so he ended up having the surgery. Still had optimism that there was a chance towards the back half of the year that he would be able to return and do a designation for return. Unfortunately, it ended up being that it was going to be too close to the buzzer, so to speak, and it would have been some version of trying to rush him back.
“Looking at the long game, it makes the most sense to make sure his recovery timeline isn’t rushed, and we can go about it the right way for him. And yeah, it’s disappointing because he is somebody that we certainly had a very vivid vision for, and he was progressing at an extremely high rate.”
The Jaguars’ depth chart shows Eric Murray and Andrew Wingard as the NFL team’s starting safeties for Sunday’s season-opening game against the Carolina Panthers.
Wingard has started 28 games in six seasons with Jacksonville. An offseason free-agent signing, Murray has 58 starts in nine NFL seasons, including 14 in 2024 for the Houston Texans.
The Jaguars drafted Ransaw from Tulane. Between Sparkman and the Green Wave, Ransaw played three seasons at Troy. At the Reese’s Senior Bowl, Ransaw worked as a safety after playing mainly cornerback – outside and slot – during his college career.
Ransaw boosted his draft stock at the NFL Scouting Combine, where he ran a 4.33-second 40-yard dash – the sixth-fastest time overall at this year’s event. Jacksonville picked the defensive back with the intention of breaking him into the NFL at safety.
Jaguars coach Liam Coen said Ransaw “has to” get something out of his rookie season even though he will be limited to rehab, meetings and watching his teammates practice and play.
“It’s really difficult when you’re hurt and you know it’s going to be a tough go, so you’ve got to,” Coen said. “And he’s the type of guy that will handle it the right way. He’s had injuries in the past. He’s been hurt before. He’s been able to stay locked in and come back from that, so I have the confidence in him that he’ll be in there doing the right things.
“Why? I mean, the guy, I remember hearing a story when he had surgery at Tulane. … He had his iPad with him, and he had the video guy download all of the best nickels in the NFL and he was watching all their tape while he was out of post-op. So he’s got that right mindset, and he has to take advantage of it.”
The Panthers and the Jaguars play at noon CDT Sunday at EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida.
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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at@AMarkG1.
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