Jaguars Sign 3 to Practice Squad, Including James McCourt and Josh Thompson

Two familiar faces are coming back to the Jaguars via the practice squad.

The Jacksonville Jaguars added three players to their practice squad on Friday afternoon, bringing the official total to 13 and returning two faces to Jacksonville.

The Jaguars signed kicker James McCourt, safety Josh Thompson and wide receiver Seth Williams, just two days after waiving McCourt and Thompson after each made the initial 53-man roster. 

McCourt was 2-of-2 on field goals vs. the Falcons in the preseason finale and only missed one kick in his handful of practices, but both he and Jake Verity were waived to make room for new kicker Riley Patterson, who the Jaguars claimed on waivers.

"James did everything right, it’s not about that," Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson said on Thursday. 

"It’s that we’re still trying to find the right guy for that spot, and Patterson (was one of the guys that back in the spring that we had liked and considered and followed his career a little bit, so when he became available, we wanted to take advantage of the opportunity. "We’re always going to be looking for the best guys and create some competition, so it will be a good opportunity for him.”

Patterson is the seventh kicker the Jaguars have rostered in the span between Week 18 last year and Week 1 this year, following Matthew Wright, Andrew Mevis, Elliott Fry, Ryan Santoso, McCourt, and Verity.

With McCourt now on the practice squad, the Jaguars have two kickers they can roster to determine who can finally stop the bleeding at kicker and provide the team with the consistency they have been missing.

"They both did a really good job for us. James had a good game, had a good practice yesterday, and we still really like where he’s at. Jake, unfortunately, wasn’t able to finish up exactly what we wanted, but both those guys did a really good job for us," Jaguars special teams coordinator Heath Farwell said this week. 

"With that being said, part of our job of getting this roster as good as we can is to evaluate other rosters and see what’s best available. We had been watching several kicker battles as well as other positions to figure out if we can upgrade our roster in any way. Riley (K Riley Patterson) is a guy that we’ve targeted for a while. He was a guy we were hoping would become available. We are fortunate that he did, and here we are. We’re excited to have him.”

Thompson returns to the squad after initially making the 53-man roster as the No. 5 safety but being waived after the Jaguars claimed safety Tyree Gillespie on Wednesday. 

A four-star recruit who earned almost 30 offers out of high school, Thompson appeared in nine games as a freshman, recording 13 tackles and one pass deflection. His playing time increased in 2018 as he appeared in 13 games and started three, recording 22 tackles and one pass deflection.

In 2019, Thompson appeared in the first four games before a foot injury caused him to miss the rest of the season, ending with Thompson getting redshirted. Thompson bounced back in 2020, appearing and starting 10 games while recording 28 tackles, three tackles for loss, five pass deflections, and an interception.

Thompson returned in 2021 and started nine games while also being named a team captain. He recorded 34 tackles, one tackle for loss, three pass breakups, and one interception in his senior season before earning an invite to the Reese's Senior Bowl and combine.

Williams was waived by the Denver Broncos after signing with the team last year and recording one catch for 34 yards. The former Auburn wide receiver is now the tallest receiver on the Jaguars' roster at 6-foot-3.