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Jacksonville Jaguars continue limping through preseason, six more injuries

By Luke Sims

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The Jacksonville Jaguars lost their second preseason game against the New York Giants, but it’s the injuries that continue to pile up that are most concerning.

While the preseason is a valuable evaluation period in the NFL, the top priority is making sure that your team makes it through the four games as healthy as possible.

The Jaguars haven’t done a great so far, with players like starting tight end Julius Thomas and starting strong safety Johnathan Cyprien falling to injury in Week 1 of the preseason and another six players going down in Week 2 on Saturday night.

The Jacksonville Jaguars are an up and coming team, but if they enter the 2015 season hurt they’re going to struggle to stay even remotely relevant. A squad with just seven wins over the last two years desperately needs to prove itself and the 2015 season may be the opening of a window to do so.

Losing guys like Thomas and Cyprien (both missing the rest of the preseason, but hopefully available for Week 1 of the regular season) hurts, but it’s having players like wide receiver Arrelious Benn and linebacker LaRoy Reynolds become injured that may hurt the most. Linebacker depth is a concern and Benn has been a standout through training camp and the preseason.

Great depth and a successful “next man up” approach to football is what separates great teams from good ones. If the Jaguars don’t have depth that can step up, then they will likely continue to be stuck near the bottom of the AFC South and the NFL. Depth players who are rising talents are valuable commodities in the NFL and having a number become injured like Saturday night can quickly take the wind out of a team’s sails.

Next: Blake Bortles looks good in loss

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