JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The uncertainty surrounding quarterback Trevor Lawrence forced the Jaguars to head to the waiver wire and re-sign a familiar name.
Jacksonville signed E.J. Perry to its practice squad on Tuesday as it tries to prepare potentially to be without Lawrence for Sunday’s game at Tampa Bay. The team would have elevated practice squad quarterback Nathan Rourke to the 53-man roster, but Rourke was signed by the Patriots on Monday.
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That left a major hole in the roster.
If C.J. Beathard is forced to start for Lawrence, there was no player in the Jacksonville system to serve as his backup. Perry spent last season on Jacksonville’s practice squad and started spring on the team’s extended roster. The Jaguars waived him in March and he went on to spend time with the Texans, as well as the USFL’s Michigan Panthers.
The Brown product is familiar with Press Taylor and Doug Pederson’s offense, which made him a likely candidate for a return. Now, the waiting game continues for a status update on Lawrence, who is in the concussion protocol after Sunday’s 23-7 loss to the Ravens.
Pederson said Monday that he thought Lawrence suffered the injury on a run play with five minutes left in the game. Lawrence took a big hit at the end of it on a tackle by Odafe Oweh and was in for 10 plays after that hit. The NFL has tasked multiple entities at games with recognizing signs of head trauma, including game officials, unaffiliated medical personnel or certified athletic trainers acting as spotters during the game.
Lawrence didn’t go to the medical tent at that point or any other during the game that would have revealed a problem. Pederson said that Lawrence “self-disclosed” his issue after the game to trainers.
In a six-year period (2015 to 2020), players who suffered a concussion missed a median of nine days, according to data from the National Library of Medicine. Among those players, 59% missed one or more games.