Jaguars’ latest injury report eases pressure off of Bills’ inexperienced starting LB with additional ace to the depth
The Buffalo Bills are heading into a trap game on Monday night against the Jacksonville Jaguars. There is just no other way to say it. Buffalo is rolling in at 2-0, while Jacksonville is backed into a corner at 0-2. The Jaguars have beaten the Bills in their last two meetings with the Bills, but neither of those matchups were in Buffalo. That will be a different story come Monday night.
Through two weeks, both teams are facing some injury challenges. The Bills are down in the secondary with the loss of Taron Johnson and then they suffered yet another linebacker loss last week in Terrel Bernard. With Jacksonville, their injury report wasn’t as severe but there is a possibility that they will not have one of their star players lining up across from the Bills.
Tight end Evan Engram was warming up for Jacksonville’s Week 2 matchup against the Cleveland Browns when he suffered a hamstring injury in warmups which ultimately kept him from playing in that game. Now, he is in jeopardy of missing his second consecutive game against the Bills.
While we never want to see injuries, they are impossible to avoid in the NFL. According to Ian Rapoport, it sounds like Engram is “a little bit further away” and his status for Monday is up in the air.
Buffalo Bills LB Baylon Spector may heavily benefit from Evan Engram’s absence
Engram is a great pass-catcher and he turned his career around for the better after joining the Jaguars in 2022. He is actually coming off a career year in terms of receiving yards (963). However, his 2024 season is off to a very slow start with this hamstring injury.
If he is not cleared by Monday night, this takes a great amount of pressure off of Baylon Spector, who will be replacing Terrel Bernard for the foreseeable future for the Bills. Buffalo likes to have their linebackers drop back into coverage and help cover the tight ends. Spector and Dorian Williams have not demonstrated that they can do that consistently.
Going into this game with the potential of not having to worry about Engram being a playmaker, Buffalo can turn their focus on other players like Travis Etienne and Brian Thomas Jr.
However, even if Engram is ruled inactive, the Jaguars still have a solid backup tight end in Brenton Strange. The second-year tight end showed a little bit of flash last week against the Browns, being targeted six times and reeling in 3 catches for 65 yards. In addition, Strange can become an extra run-blocker to open up lanes in the rushing attack.
