Jaguars CB Jalen Ramsey’s Knee Injury: Concern Or Not For Team?

Jacksonville Jaguars cornerback Jalen Ramsey suffered a small meniscus tear in his right knee injury on Thursday.

Jaguars CB Jalen Ramsey’s Knee Injury: Concern Or Not For Team?

The fifth overall draft pick will now miss time and his injury could require surgery, depending on what Dr. James Andrews determines when he examines Ramsey next week.

NFL Media Insider Ian Rapoport stated the Jaguars are hoping to have a recovery timeline for Ramsey by Monday, and added that the team is optimistic the injury is not serious.

Many draft analysts considered Ramsey the best player in the entire 2016 draft. The 6-foot-1 corner boasts the size and speed to play anywhere in the secondary. Some considered him a safety with the size potential to be a hybrid player.

Ramsey was slotted to start at corner for Jacksonville, creating a solid trio with Davon House and free-agent pickup Prince Amukamara.

The Jaguars had gained momentum from free agency and from assembling a very strong draft class. Ramsey’s injury will undoubtedly put a dent in that.

Nevertheless, the team’s situation is still not as bleak as it was last year when first-round pick Dante Fowler Jr. tore his left ACL on the first day of rookie minicamp. The Jaguars have had one bad season after another in the last ten years.

They went 11-5 in 2007 and upset the Pittsburgh Steelers in a wild-card game before losing the following week to the New England Patriots. Since, they have won more than five games in a season just twice — and never finished better than 8-8.

The Jaguars also made the playoffs in 1996– the franchise’s second season– after Atlanta Falcons kicker Morten Anderson’s plant foot slipped and he missed a 30-yard field goal in the regular-season finale.

Aside from quarterback Blake Bortles, their first-round draft picks since 2007 have either been huge busts, had substance-abuse issues, or have severely underperformed their draft position. The team capitalized on Bortles in 2014, but Fowler’s freak injury came just a few months afterwards.

Some might say this is simply karma. The Jaguars dumped coach Tom Coughlin after the 2002 season, and he went on to win two Super Bowls with the New York Giants in 2008 and 2012.

In any case, one thing remains clear: the Jaguars were having one of the best off-seasons in the NFL up until news of Ramsey’s injury leaked. Now, we are left wondering whether they will ever catch a break.

PHOTO: ATLANTA, GA – DECEMBER 31: Jalen Ramsey #8 of the Florida State Seminoles heads off the field against the Houston Cougars during the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl at the Georgia Dome on December 31, 2015 in Atlanta, Georgia. Photo by Scott Cunningham/Getty Images)