There was a time when DJ Chark had Sunday’s Detroit Lions game against his old team, the Jacksonville Jaguars, circled on the schedule. After missing the better part of two months with an ankle injury, Chark said the game is no longer unique in that regard.
“I’ve missed six games, so at this point every game is circled on the calendar,” he said Thursday. “I just want to get out there and show myself what I can do. I’m happy that I was able to get back in time to play in this game, but yeah, for me really every game’s the same. It’s the season’s coming to an end, we have a chance to push further, we’ll see how that goes, but I just want to go out there and showcase my talent and help this team win cause we can.”
A second-round pick from LSU by the Jaguars in 2018, Chark will face his former team for the first time Sunday at Ford Field.
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Chark spent four seasons in Jacksonville, made the Pro Bowl as the team’s leading receiver in 2019 and said he harbors no ill will over the way his time with the franchise came to an end.
Chark broke his ankle early in the Jaguars’ tumultuous 2021 season and finished the year on injured reserve. The Jaguars spent big money on replacement receivers Christian Kirk and Zay Jones in free agency, while Chark signed a one-year, $10 million deal with the Lions.
“I needed a change in scenery,” Chark said. “Coming up here, just bringing my family up here, meeting new people, I’ve learned a lot in this however many months I’ve been here. Great people, so I think obviously like I said, it was tough with the missing games and being out so long, but I definitely was able to get my swag definitely in training camp and those first few games, and I’m starting to feel better and better now.”
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Chark has been limited to five games this season because of recurring problems with the ankle he injured last October.
He has nine catches for 114 yards, but did score his second touchdown of the season in last week’s loss to the Buffalo Bills. And he said his main goal the rest of the season is “being on the field with these guys no matter” what.
“I know he’s ready to go, I know he’ll be ready to go,” Lions quarterback Jared Goff said. “I think he came back last week and he was kind of getting his feet underneath him a little bit and I think this week he’ll be kind of more himself and be ready to go, and hopefully I can get him the ball.”
Chark, the Lions’ top vertical threat when healthy, said he remains close with several players on Jacksonville’s roster, including quarterback Trevor Lawrence and ex-Lions receiver Marvin Jones, as well as much of the team’s support staff.
He reached out to Lawrence this week to plan a jersey swap after Sunday’s game, and said he’s proud of how his old team has emerged from last year’s Urban Meyer-induced haze and appears to be trending in the right direction entering the homestretch of the season.
The Jaguars (4-7), coached by Doug Pederson, have won two of their past three games and are coming off a 28-27 upset of the Baltimore Ravens, which they won on a two-point conversion with 14 seconds to play.
“It’d be good to see those guys and be able to compete against them,” Chark said. “I’m proud of how that team is much better than what (they were) the past few years. Similar situation to here as far as competing and being in games, so I think it’ll be a good game. It’ll be fun.”
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.