Titans at Jaguars Wednesday Injury Report: Adoree Jackson returns

The Titans and Jaguars each held their first practices of the week in advance of their matchup on Sunday. Here are the injury reports from Wednesday’s activities…

Titans

THOUGHTS

The Titans’ injury report is shrinking — good news for a team with deep playoff aspirations. The most important and eye-popping update is the return of Adoree Jackson, who hasn’t practiced in over a month, was back on the field.

It was a limited participation, but that’s to be expected as they work Jackson back into action. I wouldn’t anticipate his return to the lineup this weekend, but this is promising news for his chances to get some regular season action under his belt before the postseason arrives.

When he can return, he’ll provide an immense boost to the Titans defense, not only due to his individual talent but in terms of opening up the playbook on the backend. The Titans should feel more comfortable in press-man with Jackson on the field, which could lead to more aggressive blitzing. Jackson also has an established rapport with Malcolm Butler, Kenny Vaccaro, and Kevin Byard that those guys simply don’t have with a journeyman like Breon Borders.

Jackson certainly won’t solve every issue facing this Titans defense, but he should key a massive improvement. With the explosive offense on the other side, they don’t need their defense to be great. They just need them to be good enough.

And speaking of Borders, he, A.J. Brown, and Dennis Kelly all missed Wednesday’s practice. Kelly has been nursing a knee issue all season, so we can safely assume this is maintenance. Brown has been working through various ailments all season as well, but this is the first time in a while he’s missed a Wednesday session. We’ll monitor his and Borders’ status as the week progresses.

Good news also for Rodger Saffold, Ben Jones, and Jonnu Smith, all of whom were at least out there in a limited capacity. Saffold and Smith missed every practice leading up to last week’s match with Cleveland; Smith was held out of that game, while Saffold played through injury. Look for their workloads to ramp up as Friday approaches.

Rookie running back Darrynton Evans, who hasn’t appeared since Week 5, was activated from Injured Reserve on Monday. He was on the field for a full practice Wednesday, as was fellow rookie Kristian Fulton — who has been designated to return from IR but hasn’t been activated yet.

Kareem Orr was designated to return from IR on Wednesday, and he too practiced in full.

The last bit of news concerns first-round pick Isaiah Wilson. The Titans elected to effectively end his season today by placing him on the Reserve/Non-Football Injury list. Technically, Wilson is eligible to return for the season finale, but only if the team feels he is ready by that point.

Jaguars

THOUGHTS

The Jaguars are pretty healthy overall. It’s hard to know if any of these injuries are serious enough to keep them out of Sunday’s game. The biggest injury to note is to starting center Brandon Linder, who was unable to finish Jacksonville’s most recent game against Minnesota. Head coach Doug Marrone said Wednesday that Linder is unlikely to play this weekend.

Titans fans may recognize a couple other names on the Jaguars’ injured list. Kamalei Correa was traded to Jacksonville earlier this season. He missed last week’s game with his hamstring issue, but I’d expect him to be motivated to make it back in time for his “revenge game.” His limited practice Wednesday will help get him there.

Greg Mabin is also a former Titan of sorts — he was loosely connected to the COVID-19 outbreak the Titans suffered in early October after he was signed off the street and then tested positive for the virus. He’s since been picked up by Jacksonville, but it’s unclear how serious this injury is.

The rest of the absences and limited participants are likely nothing more than maintenance, but we’ll know more when the rest of this week’s reports are released on Thursday and Friday.

More to come then…

Author: Justin GraverPerhaps best known as @titansfilmroom on Twitter, Justin Graver has been writing and creating content about the NFL and the Tennessee Titans for nearly a decade as a longtime staff writer (and social media manager) for the SB Nation site Music City Miracles. Although JG no longer writes for Broadway Sports, his Music City Audible podcast with co-host Justin Melo continues.