Toby Gerhart Injury: Updates on Jaguars Star's Ankle and Return

Updates from Sunday, Sept. 14

Toby Gerhart was not among the Jaguars' list of inactive players for Week 2:

Updates from Friday, Sept. 12

The Jaguars' official Twitter feed reports Gerhart's status for Sunday's game:

Updates from Thursday, Sept. 11

Hays Carlyon of the Florida Times-Union has an update on Gerhart's ankle:

John Oehser of The O-Zone reported more on Gerhart from practice:

Ryan O'Halloran of the Florida Times-Union provides an update on Gerhart's status for Sunday:

Updates from Wednesday, Sept. 10

Ryan O'Halloran of the Florida Times-Union has the latest on Gerhart's status:

Updates from Monday, Sept. 8

John Oehser of The O-Zone passed along an update on Toby Gerhart after injuring his ankle in Sunday's loss to Philadelphia:

Original Text

Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Gus Bradley finds himself without a featured running back now that Toby Gerhart left the team's Week 1 contest against Philadelphia after suffering ankle injury in the first half.

Gerhart has been listed as questionable to return to the game via Geoff Mosher of CSN Philly:  

However, Gerhart returned to action for the Jaguars (via Ryan O'Halloran of the Florida Times-Union):

Following the game, Gerhart spoke about the status of his ankle (via O'Halloran):

Now 27 years old, Gerhart spent the first four seasons of his career as Adrian Peterson's backup in Minnesota, and the numbers when given a rare opportunity are a large reason Bradley brought him on this past offseason:

Year	G	Rush	Yds	Avg	TD	Rec	Yds	TD
2010	15	81	322	4.0	1	21	167	0
2011	16	109	531	4.9	1	23	190	3
2012	16	50	169	3.4	1	20	155	0
2013	14	36	283	7.9	2	13	88	0

Given Bradley's last stop was in Seattle, the addition of Gerhart was a clear attempt to establish a power-running game to help along either veteran quarterback Chad Henne or rookie Blake Bortles in the same vein that Marshawn Lynch helped along Russell Wilson.

The move was met with critical acclaim, as has most of Bradley's decisions during the rebuild. Take a note from Bleacher Report's Matt Miller, for example:

Within the organization, those in control pegged Gerhart as an every-down back, including offensive coordinator Jedd Fisch, as captured by Rotoworld's Adam Levitan:

Gerhart was a bit of a risk, though, as the numbers show he had only played in a 16-game season twice entering 2014. Even worse, he missed some time during the preseason with an injury as well, so whispers of his body being able to hold up under a full workload given his violent running style were justified.

For now, Bradley must turn to a committee approach in the backfield, which may not be such a bad thing as a breath of fresh air for an offense that continues to see stacked boxes at the line due to a lack of receiving threats.

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Sophomore Denard Robinson is the next man up, and his ability to stretch things out on the ground (4.47 yards per carry in the preseason) and act as a receiver gives the offense an added versatility. Third-year player Jordan Todman is a superb pass-blocker and should likely split the load with Robinson, while promising rookie and Bortles' collegiate buddy Storm Johnson will see a bit of work, too.

Obviously, the Jaguars are happy to have their No. 1 back in the game, but Bradley has done a superb job of preparing the roster for hits such as this if Gerhart has to leave the game again.

Note: Stats courtesy of NFL.com. All advanced metrics via Pro Football Focus (subscription required).