Can Jacksonville Jaguars WR Marqise Lee Stay Healthy?
Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver Marqise Lee needs to stay healthy if he hopes to have an impact in 2016.
Fans attending day five of training camp outside Everbank Field didn’t get a great perspective of the team’s eleven-on-eleven drills. The bleachers provided for the spectators of these open practices only offer a proper view of the nearest of three fields.
With the team rotating to the farthest field to protect turf conditions, front and center for the Jacksonville Jaguars faithful was none other than Marqise Lee. Team trainers put the speedy wide receiver through about ninety minutes of various stretches and agility drills along the near sideline Tuesday morning.
Those following Lee’s career with the Jaguars are all too aware of the team’s “return to play protocol” and the number of times the third year receiver has suffered through it following an injury. He appears to be progressing through his latest stint on the sideline normally. He high-stepped and sprinted at less-than-full speed as fans squinted into the distance to catch glimpses of Blake Bortles completing passes to his comrades.
"Lee caught a few passes from a trainer and he even stayed around after practice to catch balls hurled from the passing machine, but fans surely noticed that he wasn’t planting and cutting just yet."
With an inter-team scrimmage looming on the schedule this Friday, fans and coaches must be eager for the receiver to be cleared by team physicians. Lee downplayed his latest injury when asked about it four days ago, calling it “no big thing” but the grumbling fan base is not so easily appeased.
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While Lee may be right in the long run, he’s missing important opportunities to gain chemistry and timing with his quarterback, and the need for that has been apparent at times. Bortles connected with Lee on only 15 of 32 targets in 10 games last season. It’s my opinion that a handful of those incompletions can be chalked up to timing issues between the two.
The fact that Lee seems to have that “extra-gear” when compared to other receivers on the team makes the timing issue more plausible as well as more frustrating to fans at the same time.
Softening the blow is something that those around the Jaguars are still not accustomed to seeing: Talent and depth at the wide receiver position. Prior to last season, you’d have to think back to 2001 to recall dual 1000 yard receivers on the Jags roster.
Allen Robinson and Allen Hurns now have achieved the feat previously notched by Jimmy Smith and Keenan McCardell all those years ago. The “Allens” certainly take some pressure off of the remaining group, but coaches continue to see Lee as a potential vertical threat that they’d like to have in their offense. Only time will tell if he’ll have the opportunity to become that threat, but one can’t help but worry that his window is getting smaller and smaller with each injury.