The Jacksonville Jaguars were dealing with several injuries ahead of their Week 11 matchup against the Los Angeles Chargers. They suffered another one early in the game.
Early in the first quarter, Greg Newsome left the game with a knee injury. It didn't appear to be serious, and it seemed like he was going to return to the field. However, the fifth-year cornerback has been downgraded to questionable, according to Michael DiRocco of ESPN. Based on how things are playing out, he probably won't return.
With Newsome out, Christian Braswell, a sixth-round pick in 2023, is the next man up at corner opposite Montaric Brown.
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The Jaguars are still waiting for the Greg Newsome trade to pay off
The Jacksonville Jaguars sent Tyson Campbell to the Cleveland Browns in return for Greg Newsome because they thought the latter was a better fit in their system. However, the team's brass is still waiting for the decision to pay dividends.
While Campbell already scored the first pick-6 of his career with Cleveland, Newsome has been a non-factor with the Jags. Now, they didn't expect him to get hurt, but it's clear that things haven't panned out the way they envisioned
In four games with the Jaguars, Newsome has posted a Pro Football Focus overall grade of 36.2 and given up a 68.2 percent completion rate. If that wasn't enough, he's allowed four touchdowns. That's as many as he surrendered last year.
Now, it hasn't helped that Newsome was traded midseason, but that shouldn't be an excuse. Now, there's a chance that he'll bounce back, but things aren't looking particularly great at this moment.
Compounding the issue is that the Jaguars cannot afford to bench Newsome or miss him for an extended period of time because they don't have anybody else. Already, they lost Travis Hunter to a season-ending knee injury, while Jourdan Lewis missed the Chargers game with a neck injury.
Maybe when Lewis comes back, Jacksonville could bench Newsome in favor of Jarrian Jones. Then again, Jones didn't fare particularly well when he lined up in the boundaries early in the regular season, so it's hard to tell just how much of an upgrade he would be.
In the end, though, the Jaguars are better with Greg Newsome than without him, especially with injuries piling up at corner.