Jaguars Place Tenders on Wide Receiver Keelan Cole and Linebacker Austin Calitro

Two of the Jacksonville Jaguars' key role players from the 2019 season will return in 2020 after the team announced Tuesday that they had applied tenders on wide receiver Keelan Cole and linebacker Austin Calitro.

The Jaguars placed a second-round tender on Cole, who has spent the last three seasons with the Jaguars since signing with Jacksonville as an undrafted free agent in 2017. Cole was set up to be a restricted free agent this offseason.

According to OverTheCap, the value of a second-round restricted free agent tender is $3.259 million, a nice payday for Cole, who has started 18 games and played in 48 games for the Jaguars.

Cole has flashed big playmaking ability for the Jaguars in the last three years, though he has also fought through bouts of inconsistency that have limited his playing time. In three seasons with Jacksonville, Cole has caught 104 receptions for 1,600 yards and seven touchdowns. Among players with 100 receptions, Cole's 15.4 career yards-per-catch average is the highest in Jaguars' history.

Most of Coles' production came in 2017 when he played a big complimentary role in the Jaguars' offense as a rookie. He caught 42 receptions for 748 yards and three touchdowns, but he regressed in 2018. In his sophomore season, Cole caught only 38 receptions for 491 yards and one touchdown.

In 2019, Cole struggled to find much playing time due to the presence of D.J. Chark, Chris Conley, and Dede Westbrook, resulting in him catching 24 receptions for 361 yards and three touchdowns. He played a career-low in snaps, on the field for only 370 snaps (34% of offensive snaps). It was the first time in Cole's career that he played fewer than 680 snaps in a season.

With the Jaguars placing a second-round tender on Cole, they are eligible to receive a second-round pick if another team signs Cole to an offer sheet and the Jaguars decline to match.

The Jaguars also placed an exclusive rights tender on fourth-year linebacker Austin Calitro, who signed with the team last year before the 2019 season began.

Calitro has played in 29 games with nine starts during his three-year (2017-19) NFL career. The former Seattle Seahawk played in 13 games for the Jaguars last season and started at weakside linebacker for the team's final three games. The veteran depth player recorded 38 tackles (28 solo), including four tackles for loss and 1 sack last season.