JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Jacksonville brought back veteran long snapper Carson Tinker on Monday, signing him to a contract nearly five years after he last played for the Jaguars.
Starting long snapper Ross Matiscik injured his right shoulder while making a tackle — and forcing a fumble — in the team’s preseason opener at Dallas on Saturday. Coach Doug Pederson said Monday the team was “leaning toward holding him out” during two days of joint practices and an exhibition game at Detroit this week.
“I don’t want to have any setbacks with him at this point,” Pederson said. “We’ll see where he is at the end of the week.”
So Tinker will step in and get a chance to show off for the rest of the league.
Tinker originally signed with Jacksonville as an undrafted free agent from Alabama in 2013. He won the job in training camp and was a mainstay in the locker room until tearing a knee ligament during training camp in 2017. He returned the following year but landed on IR again with more knee issues. The Jaguars cut him in 2019.
He was out of the league for a year and has bounced around since, spending time with the New York Giants, Tampa Bay, Las Vegas, the Los Angeles Rams and Seattle.
Without Matiscik sidelined against the Cowboys, the Jaguars turned to reserve tight end Josh Pederson — the coach’s son — to handle special teams snaps. The younger Pederson was far from perfect but got a shoutout from Dad for the effort.
“He’s never done it before in a game,” the coach said. “My hat’s off to him for going in there and bailing us out. But we can’t obviously go into a game that way, so we’ll make sure we have an answer.”
Also Monday, the Jaguars activated left guard Ben Bartch from the active/physically unable to perform list. Bartch passed his physical and will continue to move toward a full return from a torn knee ligament sustained early last season. ... Jacksonville also placed defensive lineman Henry Mondeaux on injured reserve.
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