Jaguars Place RB Ryquell Armstead on Reserve/COVID-19 List For Second Time

For the second time in the last two months, Ryquell Armstead has found himself on Jacksonville's Reserve/COVID-19 list.

For the second time since the beginning of August, Jacksonville Jaguars running back Ryquell Armstead has been placed on the team's Reserve/COVID-19 list. 

Armstead also missed the first chunk of training camp due to being placed on the Reserve/COVID-19 list on Aug. 2 and not being activated until Aug. 20. He did impress in the handful of practices he was featured in, but he did not participate in last Saturday's scrimmage and had not practiced since due to an illness the Jaguars said was not related to COVID-19.

While a player is on the reserve/COVID-19 list, it doesn't necessarily mean a player has tested positive for COVID-19. 

"The Reserve/COVID-19 list is a new reserve category created by the NFL for a player who either tests positive for COVID-19 or who has been quarantined after having been in close contact with an infected person or persons," the Jaguars said in a statement regarding the COVID-19 list earlier this offseason. "Clubs are not permitted to comment on a player’s medical status other than referring to roster status. Clubs may not disclose whether the player is in quarantine or is positive for COVID-19.

With the release of Leonard Fournette on Monday, it is clearly a major deal for the Jaguars to have another running back leave the backfield, even if it is just temporarily in this case. Armstead, if healthy, would have likely led the Jaguars backfield in replacing Fournette, but the Jaguars have simply not seen much of him in camp due to being on the reserve list and other small injuries.

"As for Q, Ryquell [Armstead] has been out, he hasn’t been in as much, he’s had some little knicks and knacks that he’s had to deal with, a sore groin, a sore hammy [hamstring]," running backs coach Terry Robiskie said on Sept. 1. 

"So, he’s just basically been meeting with us mostly on the computer, he hasn’t been out on the field doing a lot of work with us yet, he’s kind of off to the side doing his work.”

Selected in the fifth round (No. 140 overall) of the 2019 draft to backup Fournette, Armstead served as Jacksonville's No. 2 running back last season but he still didn't play much due to Fournette's massive volume of snaps.

As a rookie, Armstead carried the ball 35 times for 108 yards (3.1 yards per rush, 6.8 yards per game), but there were some positives. He was an effective pass-catcher out of the backfield, catching 14 passes for 144 yards and two touchdowns.