Jaguars' James Robinson Misses Thursday's Practice

The rookie running back has told Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone he expects to play on Sunday, but he wasn't listed as a participant in practice on Thursday.

Jacksonville Jaguars running back James Robinson is one of the most popular names in football this week as the result of fantasy football championships taking place across the world, but owners may have some worry after Robinson didn't participate in practice on Thursday. 

Robinson was listed as 'DNP', or did not participate, on the team's Thursday injury report. Also listed as DNP were wide receiver Collin Johnson (hamstring) and cornerback Sidney Jones (Achilles).

The Jaguars (1-13) are set to host the Chicago Bears (7-7) this weekend. Considering the Jaguars are having a Week 16 quarterback competition between Gardner Minshew II and Mike Glennon, any potential absence of Robinson would be a significant loss to an already struggling offense. The Jaguars have scored just 24 points over the last two weeks and haven't scored more than 25 points since Week 7.

"James what we’re going to do is we’re going to rest him I think, be cautious with him, but obviously he’s already said he wants to play and feels like he will play. That’s him speaking," Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone said on Wednesday. 

Robinson was later a non-participant in Wednesday's practice.

"We’re going to rest him today. We’ll come back tomorrow and do some stuff with him. He wants to practice, that’s a coach’s decision that we’re just keeping him back because today’s just a lot of walk throughs. He wants to play, so we’ll get him out there on Thursday, see how he runs around," Marrone said Wednesday. "He’s not limping, not doing anything like that. I feel good talking to him that he’s going to play, so I was talking more about today than about the game status.”

Robinson has carried the ball 240 times for 1,070 yards (4.5 yards per carry) and seven touchdowns, along with 49 catches for 344 yards (7.0 yards per catch) and three touchdowns this season. 

Robinson currently ranks fourth in the NFL in rushing attempts and yards from scrimmage, third in rushing yards, and fifth in rushing yards per game. Robinson currently has the second-most scrimmage yards for a rookie in franchise history, passing Maurice Jones-Drew this past weekend when he collected 53 yards and a touchdown catch.

In Week 14, Robinson became the fourth undrafted rookie in NFL history to total at least 1,000 rushing yards, and the fastest to do so. Robinson is the third rookie running back in Jaguars history to total 1,000 yards in a season and the fourth running back overall in franchise history to rush for 1,000-plus yards. Robinson’s 1,361 scrimmage yards through 13 games were the most by an undrafted rookie in NFL history through that many career games.