Do the Jaguars have some injuries on defense?

The Jacksonville Jaguars had multiple defensive players sit out of the first day of organized team activities (OTAs), including newly signed safety Barry Church, returning safety Tashaun Gipson and cornerback Aaron Colvin. There was some speculation on Tuesday that a few of these players could be injured and on Jaguars Today on 1010XL Wednesday, Ryan O’Halloran of the Florida Times-Union stated that the three players listed above were in fact, injured.

“What I was told last week was that a couple of these guys were supposed to be practicing next week,” O’Halloran said. O’Halloran indicated that last week he had a list of four players he knew were banged up and a team official indicated that two of those four should be practicing “next week” and all four were not on the field Tuesday during practice.

There was some discussion on if a guy like Church might have been banged up when he was signed in free agency two months ago, which as long as the team knows about it before hand, isn’t a big deal. Gipson also might have had some offseason “clean up” surgery and/or was just still banged up from last season. O’Halloran indicated he wasn’t really at liberty to give specifics on any player, as the team is not required to disclose injuries at this point in the season, so they will not confirm injury specifics.

“You can worry about what you can control. The things you can’t control, if someone can be here and they’re not, that’s disappointing, but it’s not because of a tweak here or there, then obviously it’s just part of it,” Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone said on Tuesday afternoon when asked about five of the team’s defensive backs sitting out Day 1 of OTAs. “Obviously, when you get a chance to practice, even though it’s voluntary or however you want to describe it for the league or the CBA, you’d like everyone to be here and everyone practicing to have a chance to get better as a team and give you a better opportunity to win.”

All in all, it’s not really a big deal at this point in late May, but it will be something to keep an eye on.