Laycock has battled navicular problems since late last year but made his comeback with VFL affiliate the Bendigo Bombers the weekend before last.
He withdrew from last weekend's team, and Essendon coach Matthew Knights said Laycock was experiencing foot soreness again.
"He's training and was playing with discomfort," Knights said on Tuesday.
He said he would discuss Laycock's condition with club doctor Bruce Reid and high performance coach Stuart Cormack this week, but was far from optimistic about the ruckman's short-term future.
"It's not ideal. [Jason] hasn't been able to get a run at it, which is frustrating because he would have been perfect to come in," Knights said.
"We can sit down and decide to persist or we could decide that's it for the year. You've got to be mindful that you've got to make a proper decision for a young player's future, not the short-term fix.
"I don't think it's in anyone's best interests to push a player that is not able to put weight through a foot because the modern game won't allow for that.
"We'll sit down later in the week and make a decision on Jason's future for the 2009 season, which I must admit, to be frank, is not looking so bright."
Knights said the upside was that Tom Bellchambers' knee injury, sustained against Geelong on Sunday, wasn't as severe as initially indicated.
"He's got a little bit of bone and ligament damage but it's not as bad as first thought. Hopefully he might be less than six weeks, and only three to four, which is a real positive," he said.
Knights admitted the Bombers would need to be creative with the way they covered Laycock's and Bellchambers' absences, with no available big men in reserve.
"Our other ruckman in the club, Christian Bock, is a rookie and very much a development type player," he said.
Knights said Paddy Ryder would be relied upon to shoulder the brunt of the ruck responsibility against Adelaide this Sunday.
"We're going to have to be a bit creative and share the workload. It's probably far to say Paddy is going to have to do the majority of the work, but we're going to have to find him support," he said.
"We'll have a chat about that this afternoon and try to come up with a plan that will give Paddy enough support and do our best to nullify Adelaide's strengths as well."
Andrew Welsh played for the Bendigo Bombers on the weekend in his first hit-out since dislocating his ankle in a pre-season scratch match.
"He went really well. Watching his vision this morning, he surprised me with how well he moved, considering it was his first game back," Knights said.
"His movement patterns were fluent. A couple of times he favoured the ankle but that was probably natural, coming off a long layoff.
"He was better than first thought but he'll still be back post mid-season break. He's going to play a big part for us in the second half of the year."
Knights also said Courtenay Dempsey would face a fitness test later in the week, and his availability would play a part in whether Kyle Reimers, Scott Lucas or Brent Prismall earned a call up.
Lucas was rated "an even chance" after being named as an emergency last weekend, while defender Darcy Daniher remained "a few weeks away" as he found his feet in the VFL.
