Jacksonville Jaguars activate wide receiver for Thursday night

The Jacksonville Jaguars have elevated veteran wide receiver Tavon Austin to the active roster from injured reserve, according to NBC Sports. The move comes just hours before the Jaguars face the Cincinnati Bengals on Thursday Night Football.

Austin, a former top-10 pick by the St. Louis Rams, signed with Jacksonville on Aug. 6 and was placed on injured reserve after making the 53-man roster. The 31-year-old slot receiver has played for four other NFL teams over his nine-year career and will make his Jaguars debut this week.

At 5-foot-8, Tavon Austin will be on the active roster Thursday to play alongside D.J. Chark Jr., Marvin Jones Jr. and Laviska Shenault Jr. out wide. He brings 220 career receptions for 2,026 yards and 15 touchdowns worth of experience. Austin has also been a threat in the return game over his career but will not serve as the primary special teams threat with Jamal Agnew on the team.

Over the first three weeks, the Jaguars have elevated Devin Smith, Laquan Treadwell and Phillip Dorsett from the practice squad to fill Austin’s void. Each of those receivers got one target with no receptions among them.

Dorsett was cut from the practice squad following Week 3, providing the Jaguars with more flexibility on the roster. The Jaguars also made a move to activate kicker Matthew Wright to replace starter Josh Lambo, who is out for personal reasons.

Trying to avoid an 0-4 start and a 19th straight loss, Jacksonville brings another receiver threat to the offense for rookie quarterback Trevor Lawrence.

Progress from Trevor Lawrence

Rookie quarterback Trevor Lawrence has gone through plenty of ups and downs in the first three weeks of his NFL career. Despite falling to 0-3, the 2021 No. 1 overall pick sees progress in his game over the past month.

“I feel like every week I’ve gotten better,” Lawrence said, via Jaguars.com. “I definitely feel the progress, I feel like I’m seeing it really well, I feel good about where I am.”

He continued: “I think I’ve gotten better at getting through all my progressions. I thought I did a pretty good job getting through my reads, not holding the ball too long. I thought I was more accurate. Those are the biggest things.”

The rookie quarterback is 64-for-118 on passes with 669 yards, five touchdowns and seven interceptions in his first three NFL starts. While his stats have not impressed, Trevor Lawrence understands it is a long season and there is plenty of time to progress and recover.

“Everybody’s different and everybody’s situation is different,” he said. “I’m also not expecting this thing to take a year or two until I start taking care of the ball and playing better. I’m trending that way right now and I’m looking forward to the rest of the season and feel like there’s a lot of work for us to do and a lot of games we can win, I’m going to accelerate that as fast as possible. I haven’t played my best, but I know there’s a lot of good football ahead.”