When the Jaguars put up their fourth loss of the season against the Colts on Sunday, it meant that the time had run out on wide receiver Justin Blackmon’s suspension for violating the league’s substance abuse policy.
Blackmon will be back at practice on Wednesday, the first time he’s been able to work with his teamates since his suspension went into effect, and coach Gus Bradley sounds confident that Blackmon will hit the ground running.
“He’s done tremendous these last four weeks,” Bradley said, via Hays Carlyon of the Florida Times Union. “His body fat has dropped and his weight has gained. He’s in really, really good shape right now. He’s done everything that we’ve asked of him, he went on the trips with us. I could go with a list on some of the things we asked him to do that he’s done, so he’s a in a great frame of mind right now.”
Bradley said that he expects Blackmon to start against the Rams in Week Five if he remains in that great frame of mind. Blackmon’s return won’t fix all that ails the Jaguars right now, but he should boost a receiving corps that’s been thinned by injuries and that has struggled to hang onto passes from Blaine Gabbert and Chad Henne.