The Jaguars are set to see a key member of their defense return for an extremely important closing stretch of the season. Veteran starting safety Eric Murray is coming off of injured reserve with an activation made by the team today. 
Murray joined Jacksonville early into free agency, after five years with the division-rival Texans. He had first arrived in Houston as a full-time starter, but he got benched for a five-week stretch in his second season with the team. He spent the 2022 season essentially as a special teamer and depth piece for the Texans before returning to a starting role the next year, just to have his season ended after six games with a knee injury.
Murray rebounded well last year in Houston, starting 14 games while playing in all 17. That strong final campaign as a Texan helped Murray land a three-year, $22.5MM deal in Duval, and he was looking pretty good to start his first season with the Jaguars before going down with injury.
In Murray’s absence, Antonio Johnson has stepped into the starting lineup. Johnson’s seen plenty of playing time over his three years in Jacksonville, often coming off the bench and making 10 starts in 30 games played. He looked to be shaking off some rust in his first start of the season in place of Murray, but over the last four weeks, Johnson has looked like one of the Jaguars’ best players on defense.
Luckily for Johnson, he won’t likely be demoted immediately upon Murray’s return to the field. Fellow starting safety Andrew Wingard has been ruled out this weekend with a concussion, so Johnson may be lined up next to the man he replaced as the team hosts the division-rival Colts tomorrow. Even once Wingard is healthy, Jacksonville may need to work on finding packages that put all three safeties on the field if the three continue to play at a starting level.
In order to make room on the 53-man roster, the Jaguars waived reserve running back Cody Schrader, who failed to appear in any games after joining the roster in early-October. Additionally, the team announced that undrafted rookie safety Cam’Ron Silmon-Craig and wide receiver Austin Trammell will be called up tomorrow as standard gameday practice squad elevations. This is Silmon-Craig’s third such elevation, so if Jacksonville wants to see him in another game after this week, they’ll need to sign him to the 53-man roster.
