Jaguars hope to have rookie TE in lineup at Cincinnati

The Jacksonville Jaguars could use their rookie tight end to help a group hit by recent injuries.

Could this be the week Jaguars fans finally see rookie tight end Josh Oliver makes his Jacksonville debut when the team travels to Cincinnati to face the Bengals this weekend?

If he doesn’t suffer any major setbacks from his recovery from an ankle injury he suffered in training camp, it looks as though this will be the weekend he plays in a live football game. And the timing could not have been any better after it was revealed last week James O’Shaughnessy suffered a season-ending knee injury and Geoff Swaim has been placed in concussion protocol by the team after a nasty hit in the 13-6 loss to the New Orleans Saints on Sunday.

Head coach Doug Marrone is optimistic about the rookie playing this week and spoke about it when he talked to the media via teleconference on Monday afternoon.

"“[Geoff] Swaim is obviously in the concussion protocol; he also has an ankle sprain, so we’ll see where he is. I think last week Josh [Oliver] had a good week of practice, no setbacks,” Marrone said."

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"“We’re going to try to make sure we can progress him through this week and I really do believe that if nothing happens during the week then he’ll have a great shot to play on Sunday, which obviously we would probably need with Swaim in concussion protocol. Marqise [Lee], they had him in a boot afterwards, he was walking around. They told me it’s going to be week-to-week and I’ll probably have a much better feel when we talk on Wednesday.”"

As of right now, Seth DeValve and Ben Koyack are the only other tight ends available on the active roster. Should Oliver not be able to play the position this week, the Jaguars may want to consider making a move to acquire another player at the position either by trade or off the free-agent market or another team’s practice squad.

Oliver was the first of the Jaguars two third-round draft picks chosen in April out of San Jose State. The other was linebacker Quincy Williams out of Murray State. He is known as a solid pass catcher and was going to be used in John DeFilippo’s two-tight end sets he uses. There was also some belief Oliver would get some work as a blocking back to aid the running game. In OTAs and training camp.

There is no word how long Swaim may be out with his injuries.