Early this month, reports out of Jacksonville were that the Jaguars plan to bring wide receiver Justin Blackmon back to the team in the event he is reinstated from his latest substance-abuse suspension.
It’s unclear what the chances of that happening are and it’s not much clearer what kind of shape Blackmon is in these days. Gene Frenette of the Florida Times-Union spoke to Blackmon’s mother and others in his inner circle and found that they aren’t sharing much about what the former first-round pick is doing outside of the fact that he’s in Oklahoma.
Blackmon’s teammates, including tight end Marcedes Lewis aren’t hearing much either. The Jags hoped that Lewis would take Blackmon under his wing, but Lewis is concerned that Blackmon is trying to deal with his problems without getting the right kind of help.
“Me, I know how it is when you have outside issues. I can be the first one to tell you it’s not good handling it by yourself,” Lewis said. “Sometimes, you need your teammates to lean on, your coaches and friends. I hope Justin is doing OK and trying to get some guidance. You never know what’s going on unless you’re that person. We can sit here and make as many predictions as we want. We’ll never know until, hopefully, he gets back, whenever that may be.”
The only certain thing about Blackmon at this point is the talent that he’s shown on the football field. It explains why he keeps getting chances and why the Jaguars wanted Lewis to be involved in his life this offseason, but, as Lewis points out, everything is up in the air as long as Blackmon is on his own.