JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Jacksonville Jaguars receiver Christian Kirk will miss the rest of the season with a broken left collarbone, according to a person familiar with the injury.
The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the team did not immediately update Kirk's status.
Kirk broke his collarbone when he landed on his shoulder while trying to make a diving catch on a deep pass in the fourth quarter of a 30-27 loss to Green Bay on Sunday. Kirk was wearing a sling in the locker room after the game.
It could end up being his final snap with the Jaguars (2-6). Kirk, who missed the final five games last season because of a core muscle injury, has one year remaining on a four-year, $72 million contract and is due to count $24.4 million against the salary cap in 2025. He had been the subject of trade rumors in recent weeks.
With no chance of moving him before the trade deadline now and Jacksonville potentially on the verge of breaking up a team that's lost 11 of its last 14 games, cutting Kirk next year would save nearly $11 million in cap space.
“He’s one of the best teammates I’ve ever had, ever been around, one of the smartest players I’ve been around,” tight end Evan Engram said. “One of the best leaders I’ve been around.
“You saw him cut up today, too. He was rolling. He was getting going. Just a very unfortunate event."
The 28-year-old Kirk has 27 catches for 379 yards and a touchdown this season and clearly has become Trevor Lawrence's second option behind rookie Brian Thomas Jr. Kirk has 404 receptions for 5,176 yards and 29 TDs in seven seasons, the first four in Arizona.
Kirk was one of six Jaguars — including all three starting receivers — injured in the game. Gabe Davis also hurt a shoulder, and Thomas left late with a rib injury that will require more testing Monday.
Jacksonville also played without cornerback Ronald Darby (hip) and guards Ezra Cleveland (ankle) and Brandon Scherff (knee). Scherff was the only one who returned to the game.
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Jacksonville Jaguars' Christian Kirk runs past Green Bay Packers' Keisean Nixon (25) after a catch during the first half of an NFL football game Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024, in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)
Jacksonville Jaguars' Christian Kirk is helped off the field during the second half of an NFL football game against the Green Bay Packers Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024, in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)
BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO on Monday confirmed that North Korean troops have been sent to Russia to aid in its almost three-year war against Ukraine and that some have already been deployed in Russia’s Kursk border region, where Russia has been struggling to push back a Ukrainian incursion.
“Today, I can confirm that North Korean troops have been sent to Russia, and that North Korean military units have been deployed to the Kursk region,” NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte told reporters.
Rutte said that the move represents “a significant escalation” in North Korea’s involvement in the conflict and marks “a dangerous expansion of Russia’s war.”
His remarks came after a high-level South Korean delegation including top intelligence and military officials as well as senior diplomats briefed the alliance’s 32 national ambassadors at NATO headquarters in Brussels.
Rutte said NATO is “actively consulting within the alliance, with Ukraine, and with our Indo-Pacific partners,” on developments and that he is due to talk soon with South Korea’s president and Ukraine’s defense minister. “We continue to monitor the situation closely,” he said.
Adding thousands of North Korean soldiers to Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II will pile more pressure on Ukraine’s weary and overstretched army, as well as stoking geopolitical tensions in the Korean Peninsula and the wider Indo-Pacific region, including Japan and Australia, Western officials say.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is keen to reshape global power dynamics. He sought to build a counterbalance to Western influence with a summit of BRICS countries, including the leaders of China and India, in Russia last week.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, citing intelligence reports, claimed last Friday that North Korean troops would be on the battlefield within days.
He previously said his government has information that some 10,000 troops from North Korea were being readied to join Russian forces fighting against his country.
Days before Zelenskyy spoke, American and South Korean officials said there was evidence North Korea had dispatched troops to Russia.
The U.S. said around 3,000 North Korean troops had been deployed to Russia for training.
Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
FILE - NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, left, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, speak to journalists during a news conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Oct. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte delivers a statement, after a meeting with a high level South Korean delegation including top intelligence and military officials as well as senior diplomats briefed NATO diplomats, at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Monday, Oct. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte delivers a statement, after a meeting with a high level South Korean delegation including top intelligence and military officials as well as senior diplomats briefed NATO diplomats, at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Monday, Oct. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte delivers a statement, after a meeting with a high level South Korean delegation including top intelligence and military officials as well as senior diplomats briefed NATO diplomats, at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Monday, Oct. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte delivers a statement, after a meeting with a high level South Korean delegation including top intelligence and military officials as well as senior diplomats briefed NATO diplomats, at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Monday, Oct. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
FILE - Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un smile during their meeting at the Pyongyang Sunan International Airport outside Pyongyang, North Korea, on June 19, 2024. (Gavriil Grigorov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte delivers a statement, after a meeting with a high level South Korean delegation including top intelligence and military officials as well as senior diplomats briefed NATO diplomats, at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Monday, Oct. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
