JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Trevor Lawrence suffered a high ankle sprain and the team will monitor how he’s feeling this week, but his status remains unclear going forward, coach Doug Pederson said on Tuesday, a significant relief for the franchise.
The news wasn’t nearly as favorable for Lawrence’s top receiving threat, Christian Kirk. Pederson said that Kirk has a core muscle injury that will likely require surgery.
Recommended Videos
The good news first for Jacksonville was that all other testing revealed nothing structurally wrong with Lawrence’s leg — a big relief for the franchise. Pederson said that Lawrence’s availability will be determined this week, and didn’t lean one way or another on his status in Week 14.
“I’m not going to put that timetable on Trevor. I’m not going to put him in a box like that. We’ll see how he is in a couple of days,” Pederson said.
When asked if surgery was a possibility, Pederson said that hasn’t been explored or discussed.
“I have not had discussions with the doctors about that,” he said. “I don’t think that’s a necessary means at this point. I think just because it’s where it is in the ankle that it’s not necessarily something that surgery would be warranted at this time.”
Taken collectively, Jacksonville’s injury list ballooned in Monday night’s 34-31 overtime loss to Cincinnati. Kirk and Lawrence were the main ones, but cornerback Tre Herndon, left tackle Walker Little, defensive lineman Foley Fatukasi, safety Andre Cisco all suffered injuries in the game. Herndon is in concussion protocol. Fatukasi has a heel contusion. Little suffered a hamstring injury, and Cisco was dealing with a shoulder injury.
Jacksonville (8-4) plays at Cleveland (7-5) on Sunday. If he can’t go, then C.J. Beathard would make his first start with Jacksonville.
Lawrence went down awkwardly late in Monday’s 34-31 overtime loss to the Bengals when offensive tackle Little stepped on his ankle on a play where Lawrence likely would have targeted rookie Parker Washington. But Washington didn’t run the proper route and Lawrence had to hold on to the ball. His foot bent awkwardly and rolled inward, and Lawrence was in noticeable pain.
“Yeah, there was just some miscommunication with Parker and the decision he had with his route. There was a defender outside of him, defender inside of him and he was kind of caught in between,” Pederson said. “It’s just a young player who hasn’t had a lot of time yet or a lot of reps out there. Just an indecisive decision on Parker’s part in that particular case. It’s something that he’ll learn from and get better. Unfortunately, it ended up with Trevor being injured.”
Lawrence attempted to get up but went back down to the ground and slammed his hand on the turf in frustration. Lawrence was helped off to the locker room. After the game, Lawrence was in the locker room and appeared in good spirits but used the aid of crutches to help support himself.
Lawrence has been exceptionally durable in the NFL. He’s been pulled from games when the outcome has been decided but hasn’t missed any meaningful time and has never missed a start. Beathard came on in relief of Lawrence and led Jacksonville to a game-tying field goal. His 43-yard completion to Calvin Ridley in overtime should have set Jacksonville up for the winning score, but rookie right tackle Anton Harrison was flagged for holding to wipe out the big gain.
Beathard has appeared in 11 games over three seasons in Jacksonville. He’s 21 for 27 passing for 145 yards and an interception in town.
Pederson said that the team hasn’t talked about bringing in any veteran quarterbacks to back up Beathard if Lawrence misses an extended period of time.
“We haven’t had those discussions yet,” Pederson said.
Kirk’s injury is significant for a team that has been racked by health issues as of late. Any surgery will likely put Kirk on injured reserve, where he will be required to miss four games before he can be returned to the active roster.
“I believe so,” Pederson said of the need for surgery for Kirk. “We’re going to send the images off and get another look at it, make sure that we have the right diagnosis and the right plan of attack for Christian moving forward.”