Jay Gruden's Plan for the Jacksonville Jaguars Tight Ends
Plenty of times, individual players can get labeled a quarterback’s best friend. A running back, a dependable receiver, a brick wall of a left guard—they all do something to help out their quarterback and in each difference circumstance it can apply to a number of different guys dependent on what that person is bringing to a team that season.
Yet it’s a good tight end that is always deserving of the title. A good tight end can be everything a quarterback needs and can help change the game. There’s only one on the field at any given time—except for those times there are two or even three in a play but the unwritten rules are fluid here so just go with it—but their presence can be game changing. Just ask Jacksonville Jaguars offensive coordinator Jay Gruden.
Jacksonville Jaguars tight end James O'Shaughnessy (80) pulls down a touchdown catch early in the first quarter against the Tennessee Titans at TIAA Bank Field Thursday, Sept. 19, 2019 in Jacksonville, Fla. © George Walker IV / Tennessean.com
“You can double receivers all you want to; it’s hard to double tight ends and tight ends really are a key component down there in the red zone and on third down, and they’re a quarterback’s best friend.”
From their position, a tight end can be a tenacious blocker, as Gruden alluded to with the inability to double them, and they can also be a significant part of the passing game as quarterback Gard. The stance of a lineman and the hands of a receiver is a multi-tool player that can open up the middle of the field. Gruden knows first hand from his time as both offensive coordinator and the Washington Redskins head coach what having a productive tight end can do for an offense.
“If you look at our successful teams in Cincinnati and in Washington, when Jordan Reed and Vernon Davis played with the Redskins, we were pretty good on offense, really, especially on third down and in the red zone. When those guys didn’t play, you were asked to replace them with some younger guys who aren’t quite as athletic or gifted as those guys. It’s difficult down there.”
The Redskins averaged 403.4 yards per game in 2016 and both Reed and Davis were in the team’s top five receivers that season. Reed spent more than half of the following year injured but when the two were back together in 2017, the team averaged much less at 299.7 yards per game but both remained in the team’s top six as they became a veritable threat wherever Gruden lined them up each time.
Tight ends are larger than receivers which is why it’s so difficult to bring them down—George Kittle man-handling three New Orleans Saints players anyone?—but if their hands are solid, it’s more than just the middle of the field open to the quarterback. While all to the position are generally shorter, dump off passes, a variety can still keep the defense honest.
“You know, the passes don’t have to be 25 yards down the field,” explains Gruden.
“They can be option routes, choice routes, inbreaking routes, you know, quicker type element passes if you have that tight end.”
For the Jaguars, Gruden feels they now have that tight end.
“I think that adding Tyler Eifert, he’s done that, he’s run the option route with a fly, he’s lined up outside. He makes the defense show their hand a little bit. Who’s covering him? If it’s man to man, the safety’s got him, you know. So, the quarterback knows if this is man to man, I know where to go with the football. We can work a matchup either to DJ [Chark Jr.], or Chris [Conley], or Dede [Westbrook], or even Tyler [Eifert], or the running back. So, having a tight end is critical. And I know that when you don’t have one, times are tough. Believe me, it’s tough and I think Josh Oliver showed a lot of promise as a rookie. Unfortunately, he had injuries.
You know, James [O’Shaughnessy] did some good things, but then he got hurt. And then Charles [Jones], the rookie, has shown he has a chance to be a good ‘Y’, he’s a physical kid. We drafted Tyler Davis to be an athletic guy. He can play a little fullback, he can play tight end, he can run, so we are excited to see what he can do. But it’s a key position, and I think Tyler’s going to be a great add for us in getting these guys all on the field and see what they can do. It’s going to be exciting.”
Dec 15, 2019; Cincinnati, OH, USA; Cincinnati Bengals tight end Tyler Eifert (85) goes for the pass as New England Patriots strong safety Patrick Chung (23) defends during the fourth quarter at Paul Brown Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Joe Maiorana-USA TODAY Sports
Gruden coached Eifert in Cincinnati when the former was the OC for the Bengals and the latter was a rookie. During that season, Eifert tallied 445 yards and two touchdowns on 39 receptions, averaging 11.4 a game.
“He is a great weapon,” says Gruden of Eifert.
“When you have a tight end in the back that can do some work in the middle of the field, it really opens things up for guys like DJ [Chark Jr.] and hopefully Laviska (Shenault Jr.) and Chris Conley and some of these other guys, Dede Westbrook. It makes everybody better. Not only to that but the running game as well with Leonard [Fournette]. It is great to have those guys [Eifert and other Gruden product Chris Thompson] in there to have experience and knowledge of the system, not only that but they are great guys and great players.”
O’Shaughnessy was 23rd amongst league tight ends in 2019 in average yards per game (30.6) before suffering a knee injury in Week 5 that sidelined him for the rest of the season. He was on pace for just under 500 yards on the season which would have been in the Top 15 for tight ends league wide. He’ll return this fall, entering his sixth season. In bringing in Eifert—the former first rounder—as a free agent, the Jaguars have signed a more prototypical pass catching tight end who brought in 43 receptions in 2019 on 63 targets for 436 yards and three touchdowns.
This is a unit Jay Gruden wants to see effectively brought in to the Jacksonville Jaguars offense. If the production continues to grow along with development of the promising rookies, then it has potential to be a unit truly worthy to be called their quarterbacks best friend.
