NFL forces Jaguars to list Trevor Lawrence on injury report

Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence still has an injured knee. But the team isn’t listing him on its official daily injury report.

But that’s all about to change, thanks to ProFootballTalk. Reporters from the site contacted the league office about whether the NFL intended to investigate why the Jaguars aren’t listing Lawrence. Yet at the same time, Lawrence and coach Doug Pederson have acknowledged that the knee the quarterback sprained in week six still is giving him problems.

According to PFT’s report, the Jaguars added Lawrence Thursday night. Yet as of early afternoon Friday, Lawrence still isn’t listed on the report posted to the team’s official site. There are six Jaguars on the list. Two — receiver Jamal Agnew and cornerback Tyson Campbell — have yet to practice this week. The other four have been limited.

So why is this important? The NFL requires teams to keep an accurate injury list and make it publicly available. As of Friday, the league also is investigating whether the Bengals did something similar to hide a wrist injury suffered by Joe Burrow. The Bengals social media squad posted a video Wednesday night showing the team’s arrival in Baltimore. Burrow was standing in the back. Some enterprising fans noticed a tiny detail — Burrow appeared to be wearing a brace on his right wrist. Yet Burrow hadn’t appeared on the Bengals injury list.

The Bengals deleted the video. But Burrow sprained his right wrist in the second quarter. His facial reactions earlier in the game indicated he was feeling some discomfort with his wrist. Then by halftime, he couldn’t grip a football. Coach Zac Taylor said he wasn’t aware if Burrow had suffered an earlier sprain.

That brings us back to Lawrence and the Jaguars. The quarterback sprained his knee against the Colts a month ago. But he didn’t miss any action. In weeks seven and eight, the Jaguars listed Lawrence as questionable. He dropped off the list in week nine.

Yet both Pederson and Lawrence talked about the quarterback’s knee this week after the 49ers thumped the Jaguars, 34-3, last Sunday.

“Sure, one of the things that we haven’t been able to do because of Trevor’s condition with his knee is just move him a little bit more,” Pederson told reporters at his Wednesday press conference. “Sometimes, you can create things off of that. He’s been limited that way.” 

During Lawrence’s media availability, he told reporters that his knee is “feeling better.”

“It’s finally getting to where I’m not going to really think about it as much and won’t be as much as an issue.,” he said. “I feel like I’m starting to move pretty fluid and it’s not bothering when I do much. Obviously, it’s still a little bit here or there, it’ll get aggravated. But that’s a good question, I’m starting to feel comfortable and I’m happy about that with the progress I’ve made. We’ve been able to protect it the last few weeks and I’m excited to hopefully finally get going and just play normal, move around, all that stuff.”

Even with Lawrence’s healing knee, the Jaguars are 6-3. They’d won five games in a row until they faced the 49ers. They host the Titans this Sunday.