Former Jaguars Playmaker Signs With AFC Rival

Former Jacksonville Jaguars running back Gary Brightwell just signed with an AFC rival in the Cincinnati Bengals.

Aug 17, 2024; Jacksonville, Florida, USA; Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Mac Jones (10) hands off to running back Gary Brightwell (35) against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the fourth quarter during a preseason game at EverBank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images / Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

Former Jacksonville Jaguars running back Gary Brightwell has signed to the Cincinnati Bengals' practice squad, via NFL media.

The Jaguars signed Brightwell in early August. He played in all three of the team's preseason games, carrying the ball 26 times for 100 yards while also catching four passes.

Jacksonville ultimately released Brightwell before the start of the regular season. He then joined the Cleveland Browns, where he participated in a couple of games but did not register a statistic. He was released late last month.

Brightwell, who played his collegiate football at the University of Arizona, was originally selected by the New York Giants in the sixth round of the 2021 NFL Draft.

In three seasons with the Giants, Brightwell totaled 164 yards and a touchdown on 41 rushing attempts. He added 11 catches for 92 yards.

Ironically enough, Brightwell actually beat out fellow former Jaguars halfback Leonard Fournette for a job with the Bengals. Fournette was also invited to Cincinnati's workouts, but the Bengals decided to roll with the younger Brightwell.

It just goes to show how far Fournette—who posted a couple of 1,000-yard campaigns in three seasons with the Jags between 2017 and 2019—has fallen.

Brightwell was not a very productive player on the collegiate level, amassing a grand total of 1,305 rushing yards and nine scores across four seasons at Arizona.

However, his physical north-south running style and his ability to catch passes out of the backfield made him a rather intriguing late-round prospect a few years ago.

Whether or not Brightwell ever actually establishes himself as a legitimate threat on the NFL level remains to be seen, but there was clearly no room for him in a Jaguars backfield that already includes Tank Bigsby and Travis Etienne Jr.

Plus, Jacksonville selected Keilan Robinson—who is on injured reserve—in the fifth round of the draft back in April.

That doesn't mean the Jags are a great running team, though.

The Jaguars rank 25th in the NFL in rushing offense, averaging just 107.7 yards on the ground per game. Individually, though, Bigsby has been impressive, having registered 519 yards and four touchdowns while logging a robust 5.5 yards per attempt.

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