Shocking Jaguars player heads to IR after Doug Pederson indicates total opposite

When tight end Evan Engram popped up on the Week 15 injury report, nobody batted an eye because Doug Pederson said that he would suit up against the New York Jets. Fast forward to a few days later, and the Jacksonville Jaguars are placing the veteran tight end on Injured Reserve. This means Pederson doesn't know what's going on with his players or even worse, he's not being truthful. Either possibility isn't great.

Pederson met with the local media and said that the team is placing Engram on IR, pointing out that he suffered a labrum injury.

"Unfortunately, we're going to lose Engram for the year," Pederson told the press corps when asked to give an update on the tight end. "After more MRI results, testing, all that, he'll have a labrum to get fixed. So he'll have surgery to fix the shoulder, miss the rest of the year."

Pederson went on to say that he found out about the extent of Engram's injury this week. This is odd when you take into account that he said Wednesday that the former Ole Miss Rebel was trending toward playing Sunday. You could make the case that he only learned about the severity of the injury after his exchange with the media, but he must've had an idea.

This isn't the first time this season Pederson has said a player will play only to be proven wrong. In fact, Engram suffered a hamstring injury earlier this year, and the head coach proclaimed that it wasn't that serious. However, he ended up sitting out four games.

The same happened with linebacker Foyesade Oluokun. He suffered a foot injury, and Pederson downplayed the severity, pointing out that it wasn't serious. In the end, the veteran defender ended up landing on Injured Reserve.

Circling back to Engram, he's appeared in nine games this season, hauling in 47 receptions for 365 yards with one touchdown, his lowest output since signing with the Jags in 2022. Because players must stay at least for four games on IR, the Powder Springs, Georgia native will miss the rest of the season, and sophomore Brenton Strange will step up into a bigger role.

This doesn't bode well for hopeless Jaguars HC Doug Pederson

This isn't a case of Doug Pederson not knowing his players' names or being aware of how much playing time they got like Urban Meyer did during his brief stint with the Jacksonville Jaguars. However, his penchant for not being transparent about injuries should be a reason for concern.

When asked when he learned about Evan Engram's injury, he tried to downplay the question, pointing out that it didn't matter when he learned about it. He more or less has a point, but then, why tell reporters that the tight end was fine and on pace to play?

In Pederson's defense, things are fluid when a team has to deal with injuries. Having said that, he could've easily said earlier in the week that it was too early to provide an update on Engram.

Ultimately, it may not matter how Doug Pederson is dealing with this situation. He knows that the end is probably near and he's just doing enough to get through the end of the season.

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