Jaguars Vs. Saints: Linder, Chark among 5 Inactives

Brandon Linder, DJ Chark and three other players won't suit up for the Jaguars in tonight's game against the Saints.

A week after the Jacksonville Jaguars deployed nearly their entire roster in a preseason debut, the team will have just five of the players on their roster unavailable to them in Monday night's preseason tilt against the New Orleans Saints.

With the Jaguars (0-1) looking to find more success on Monday than they did against the Cleveland Browns a week ago, the Jaguars announced the following five players won't dress for the game. 

• WR DJ Chark
• C Brandon Linder
• DE/OLB Josh Allen
• CB Tre Herndon
• LG Andrew Norwell

All five players are projected starters or started for the Jaguars in last week's preseason game. 

The Jaguars placed Allen, a third-year veteran, on the Reserve/COVID-19 list on Monday morning. The other four players are all recovering from injuries.

The most notable of these names is starting center Brandon Linder, who has been lauded by both head coach Urban Meyer and quarterback Trevor Lawrence for his help in assisting the transition of the rookie No. 1 overall pick. Linder played against the Browns last week but missed most of the team's following practices leading up to tonight's game. 

“He’s got patella tendonitis, so they gave him a little rehab day today. He should be back out. We’re going to sit him for a little bit, but he’s fine. He’s fine," Meyer said about Brandon Linder last Tuesday.

Herndon started at cornerback for the Jaguars against the Browns but is dealing with an MCL sprain that Meyer described as week-to-week. 

Chark had finger surgery earlier in August but returned to practice in some facet last week, running routes on air but not catching any passes. Meyer said he expects Chark to be back by Week 1. 

Norwell has missed most of the last several weeks with a shoulder injury, but Meyer said last week that Norwell had just "one more week out."

With Linder and Norwell both out, the Jaguars will be missing two of their five starting offensive linemen. In their places will be veteran backup center Tyler Shatley and second-year guard Ben Bartch, a former fourth-round pick who started at left guard in Week 1 of the preseason.

"That can happen at any time in the season," offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell said last week about missing several starters on the offensive line. 

"We really have a lot of respect for Shatley, we have a lot of respect for Ben Bartch, and I think they’ve done a good job for themselves, so we will play it as a normal game. We won’t have any concerns with those guys being in there.”