Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver Zay Jones will miss the team’s Week 8 game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, but coach Doug Pederson said Friday that he’s hopeful the receiver will be available to the team after its Week 9 bye.
“Zay is still working through the knee injury,” Pederson said. “I don’t expect him Sunday, hopefully next week with the bye and we’ll see where he’s at after that.”
Jones, 28, suffered a knee injury in the Jaguars’ Week 2 loss against the Kansas City Chiefs that kept him out for two games. While he returned in Week 5 against the Buffalo Bills and caught a first quarter touchdown, Jones re-injured the same knee and has been sidelined since.
While the Jaguars have kept winning in his absence and scored at least 31 points in the last two games, the loss of Jones has still been damaging for the Jacksonville offense.
“Zay is so versatile for us, he has the vertical threat with the speed, he’s got length that we don’t necessarily have in the receiver room,” Jaguars offensive coordinator Press Taylor said Thursday. “The combination of length, speed and blocking ability without him, we can piece it together with a couple of other people. Then, he’s got experience that some of those other guys in the backend don’t necessarily have.
“Again, Zay is a huge part of our offense, so certainly it’s somebody we miss.”
Last season, Jones was the Jaguars’ second leading receiver with 82 receptions for 823 yards and five touchdowns. In limited time this year, Jones has eight receptions for 78 yards and two touchdowns.
