Jaguars cut 12; IR for tight end Rivera

JACKSONVILLE — The Jaguars pared their roster to 75 on Friday by cutting 12 players and making three injury-related moves. Tight end Mychal Rivera, out since July 31 with a hand injury, was placed on the injured reserve list. Because he was not on the initial 53-man roster, he is ineligible to be reinstated to the roster this year.

Cut were tight end Caleb Blueitt, offensive tackle Malcolm Bunche, center Demetrius Rhaney, linebacker P.J. Davis, linebacker Akeem Dent, defensive lineman Tueni Lupeamanu, receivers Jamal Robinson and Larry Pinkard, tailbacks Jonathan Grimes and DuJuan Harris and cornerbacks Charles James and Dwayne Thomas.

Rivera and safety Jeron Johnson were placed on injured reserve.

Seventh-round fullback Marquez Williams was waived-injured.

The Jaguars must make 22 more roster moves before 4 p.m. today.

On Sunday, teams can sign a 10-man practice squad and claim players off waivers to the 53-man roster.

The most notable move was closing the door on Rivera.

Signed after playing four years with Oakland, Rivera worked with the Jaguars’ first-team offense throughout the off-season and was penciled in to be the “move” tight end, expected to help in the passing game. The Jaguars have Marcedes Lewis, Alex Ellis, Ben Koyack and Neal Sterling still on the roster at tight end. Rivera will count $1.75 million against the salary cap this year.

Williams started camp on the physically-unableto-perform list and re-appeared on the injury list last weekend. If he clears waivers, he will revert to injured reserve. It leaves Tommy Bohanon as the remaining fullback.

Of the 12 players cut, none played in a game for the Jaguars last year.

Bunche, Dent, Grimes, Harris and James were signed after training camp began this year.

Blueitt, Davis and Lupeamanu were among the 16 undrafted free agents signed on May 1 and 10 players from that group are no longer with the team.