Jaguars rookie Jonah Monheim stayed centered when he came off the bench against Kansas City

JACKSONVILLE — Another offensive lineman was injured, but another backup was more than willing and certainly able for the Jacksonville Jaguars. 

With a hamstring injury to starting center Robert Hainsey during the Jaguars’ 31-28 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs on Monday Night, seventh-round rookie Jonah Monheim from USC stepped in and played the last 17 offensive snaps of the game, all but one in the fourth quarter when the Jaguars scored 10 points on their final two possessions. 

Monheim didn’t miss a shotgun snap and did his part in keeping the Chiefs off quarterback Trevor Lawrence, with only one of the three sacks they had in the game coming when Monheim was on the field. 

Jaguars coach Liam Coen was the one who pointed out that two seventh-round draft picks, Monheim and running back LeQuint Allen Jr., were on the field during the most crucial offensive plays of the game in the final period. 

“You got two seventh-round rookies playing on the last final drive of the game on Monday Night Football against Kansas City Chiefs and those guys are helping us win,” Coen said. “We're not winning in spite of them, which is a pretty cool deal.” 

Monheim has the Jaguars staff's faith

Coen said the coaching staff has confidence in Monheim should he have to play in Hainsey’s place on Sunday against the Seattle Seahawks (1 p.m., FOX). 

Coen said one play in particular stuck out for him about Monheim: Lawrence’s 33-yard completion to Brian Thomas Jr., on third down during the winning touchdown drive. 

“He [Monheim] had [Chiefs DT] Chris Jones one-on-one and he was holding his own ...he wasn't getting beat. Everybody's got a lot of confidence in Jonah. He's earned it. There really was no flinch.” 

Coen said it only took a couple of snaps on the sideline with Lawrence for Monheim to loosen up and be ready. 

“Those guys got a couple of snaps on the sidelines, communicated ... there were no issues with Jonah at all,” he said. “I don't think that there was anything that you could take away that he hurt us or wasn't ready for the moment or the stage. He's got a lot of respect from the players in this locker room.” 

Jaguars traded Luke Fortner after Monheim's camp

Monheim, who impressed coaches enough in camp for them to move on from Luke Fortner, a third-round pick in 2022, said he leaned on his camp and preseason game performances to hit the ground running. 

“Just tried to take a deep breath and do my job,” he said. “We have a great group of guys here, super-supportive and it was one play at a time and trust my coaching.” 

Monheim said backing up a five-year veteran in Hainsey certainly helped. 

“It’s been great to watch Rob, learn from Rob, both on the field and in the meeting rooms,” Monheim said. “You just watch what he does, watch what it takes to be a starting center in this league.” 

Monheim: Lawrence 'willed the ball' into the end zone

Monheim was also part of the play of the game, likely to be remembered throughout Jaguars’ history, Lawrence’s 1-yard slip-and-fall (twice) touchdown with 23 seconds left to win the game. 

“He was on the ground, has the ball and is running, so I knew something went bad,” Monheim said of the sequence of events, which started when right guard Patrick Mekari stepped on Lawrence’s right foot at the snap. “I wasn’t sure what but it did a great job of willing it into the end zone.” 

Monheim made a key block on the play. After the snap, he engaged Chiefs defensive tackle Jerry Tillery until Lawrence was able to get up and run to the end zone. Tillery broke away from Monheim but he was a half-step too late.

Monheim is the third offensive lineman to be pressed into service this season because of injuries. Chuma Edoga came in for Mekari and Cole Van Lanen spelled Anton Harrison against San Francisco. 

It can’t be an accident that the Jaguars are 2-0 when starting offensive linemen go down during a game. 

“We have a really good room,” Monheim said. “I think we gel well together and it’s just constantly striving to get better, regardless of who’s in there.” 

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jaguars rookie Jonah Monheim was more than ready when he was needed