National Football League

Jaguars rule out WR Cecil Shorts for opener at Eagles

Published Sep. 6, 2014 2:16 p.m. ET

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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The Jacksonville Jaguars will be without receiver Cecil Shorts III for the team's season opener at Philadelphia.

Coach Gus Bradley downgraded Shorts from questionable to out Saturday, shortly before the team departed for Philadelphia. The team's leading receiver the past two seasons, Shorts won't even make the trip.

Jacksonville doesn't anticipate making a roster move to replace Shorts. Instead, Bradley will go with four receivers -- including three rookies -- against the Eagles.

Second-round draft pick Marqise Lee and second-year pro Mike Brown likely will start, with undrafted rookie Allen Hurns and second-rounder Allen Robinson coming off the bench.

"They are a talented group; it's just the inexperience," Bradley said Friday. "But they're talented."

Shorts was held out of practice Thursday and Friday after feeling tightness in his left hamstring.

It's the latest injury for a fourth-year receiver who hasn't been able to stay healthy since being drafted in the fourth round in 2011.

Shorts missed more than three weeks of training camp because of a strained right hamstring and sat out most of organized team activities with a calf injury. He also missed six games with a hamstring injury in 2011, missed two games because of a concussion in 2012 and sat out the final three games in 2013 with a groin injury that slowed him all season.

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