DJ Chark has surgery on finger, expected to return for week one

Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver DJ Chark had surgery to repair a broken finger on his right hand, but he’s expected to be back in time for week one, per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport. Here are the quotes below in Rapoport’s interview with NFL Network’s Scott Hanson.

“He had surgery on his finger. This, coming, pretty recently, had a little bit of a hairline fracture in his finger. Nothing to worry about. Easy for me to say. It’s not surgery on my finger, but anyways, nothing to worry about as far as the regular season. The Jaguars do expect Chark back before Week 1. No issues here. Probably more of an issue is they really wanted him to get the reps with this new coaching staff to make sure he can hit the ground running when the season begins.”

Chark is expected to play a big role on the Jaguars offense in the 2021 season; so their fans can breathe a sigh of relief. Chark has been one of the better receivers in the National Football League the past two seasons, hauling in over 120 catches for over 1,700 receiving yards, and 13 touchdowns.

His 2020 season wasn’t quite as strong, but many people are expecting a bounce-back 2021 campaign from the speedy wideout. The former LSU standout has home-run hitting speed, with a 4.34 second 40-yard dash time. That 40-yard dash time puts him in the 98th percentile of players in the NFL, according to PlayerProfiler.

The biggest reason many people are expecting Chark’s production in 2021 to improve is simple: Jaguars’ rookie quarterback Trevor Lawrence. The rookie quarterback has high expectations on his shoulders, but such is the territory when you were the top overall selection in the 2021 NFL Draft. Lawrence is a favorite to win Rookie of the Year, according to PFF and many other media outlets.

HOW WILL THIS OFFENSE LOOK IN 2021?

Jacksonville has a number of talented offensive weapons; so it’ll be fascinating to see how Urban Meyer plans to utilize the different players. The hierarchy in the Jags’ receiving corps is still a bit of a mystery, but Chark is expected to play a big role.

Many people are really looking forward to seeing how exactly the Jags’ offense will play out in 2021. Everywhere you look there are weapons: DJ Chark, Laviska Shenault, Jr., Marvin Jones, Laquon Treadwell, James Robinson, Travis Etienne, and even recently added Tavon Austin.

The biggest question everybody wants to know is how exactly are all of these weapons going to be deployed and utilized? We’ll get a better picture of that in the upcoming pre-season.

(Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images)