The Jacksonville Jaguars will host the Pittsburgh Steelers next Sunday and it appears as though they’ll play that game without their starting center.
According to Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network, Jaguars center Brandon Linder suffered a knee injury in his teams’s 29-26 road loss to the Indianapolis Colts that will prevent him from playing Sunday against the Steelers. Linder might even miss more time than that as he’s still reportedly undergoing testing on his injured knee.
Tyler Shatley, who has started eight games at center or guard in four seasons with the Jaguars, took over for Linder Sunday when he left the game injured.
Linder isn’t the only concern for the Jaguars when it comes to their offensive line as left tackles Josh Walker and Ereck Flowers are both dealing with injuries as well as of Sunday. Walker is now dealing with a foot injury while Flowers, a former first round draft pick of the New York Giants who was recently signed by the Jaguars, suffered a knee injury on Sunday. Flowers only managed to play 15 snaps on Sunday.
At this point, all we know about the Jaguars offensive line ahead of their Sunday home game against the Steelers is that Shatley will likely start at center with him being flanked at the two guard positions by Andrew Norwell and A.J. Cann. It will be interesting to see the Jaguars are forced to flip right tackle Jermey Parnell over to the left side should both Walker and Flowers ultimately sit out Sunday’s game against the Steelers with injuries.
The Jaguars currently have two offensive linemen in guard Brandon Thomas and KC McDermott on their practice squad. Additionally, guard Chris Reed is currently on the Jaguars 53-man roster but he was inactive for Sunday’s game against the Colts.
UPDATE:
