What Other Tight End Options Do the Jaguars Have Before the Draft?
The Jacksonville Jaguars have added a lot of pieces to their team in the last two days, but one glaring roster hole still takes center stage as they march through the offseason.
In short, the Jaguars still have a tight end problem.
The Jaguars made one addition to their tight end room this week with veteran Chris Manhertz, but Manhertz has just 12 career catches in 70 games. He is more of a blocking tight end and depth option than an answer to a tight end room that had a combined 14 catches among four players entering the offseason.
Jacksonville can, and likely will, opt to use the draft the fix the tight end position for 2021. But could they look to add another veteran who isn't Manhertz? If they want to go that direction, there are a few different options that remain available to them.
Sign Gerald Everett
This should be priority No. 1 for the Jaguars at the tight end position. Paying tight ends can be fools gold sometimes, but the Jaguars needed to add a starting-caliber veteran at the position to keep the week from being a failure in terms of rebuilding the tight end room. Now with both Jonnu Smith and Hunter Henry in New England, Everett is the clear-cut top tight end on the market.
Everett wouldn't fix all of Jacksonville's tight end woes; he is more of a jumbo receiver than he is a blocker. He also was more of a role player with the Rams, never recording more than 41 catches or 417 yards receiving. Projecting him to a larger role in an offense, especially a non-Sean McVay offense, is an adjustment. But he has great hands, good speed, and is terrific after the catch. He would be a solid seam stretcher for Trevor Lawrence and, at this point, the Jaguars should go all out to bring him in.
Trade for Zach Ertz
This option isn't near as appealing as just signing Everett, but veteran tight end Zach Ertz is the second-best tight end "available". The hangup is that he isn't a free agent and would cost the Jaguars draft picks to acquire. With that said, the Eagles have reportedly been openly shopping him for some time and it is hard to imagine it would take a king's ransom to bring Ertz in after the 30-year-old had by far the worst year of his career in 2020.
Ertz looked like a shell of himself last year, catching 36-of-72 targets for 335 yards and one touchdown, giving him just 4.7 yards per target. It is hard to put up worse numbers than that through 11 games, though Ertz was hamstrung by arguably the league's worst quarterback performance via Carson Wentz. Ertz is a smart veteran with a ton of experience and the best-case scenario would be that going from turnover-prone Wentz to Lawrence would give him a chance to tap into his old magic. He has shown more than any other tight end available, but the Jaguars would have the be confident they could get that kind of production again.
Sign Kyle Rudolph
Kyle Rudolph is the best free agent veteran tight end option after Everett. The 31-year-old tight end spent 10 years with the Vikings but was released earlier this offseason in an attempt to create cap space. Rudolph wouldn't be the most athletic and high-upside option, but he would likely have at least a bit of a higher floor of production than Eifert last season solely due to the fact the Jaguars will have a better quarterback.
Rudolph didn't miss a start for five seasons from 2015-2019, but he ended up playing in 12 games last year due to a foot injury at the end of the season. Rudolph has recently produced as a low-volume target, producing six touchdowns and a 81.3% catch rate on 48 targets in 2019. Rudolph was having another solid season in 2020 as well, recording a career-high 11.9 yards per catch, a career-high yards per target of 9.0, and still catching over 75% of his targets. He may not be overly dynamic but he is a safe, high-floor option.
Trade for David Njoku
If the Jaguars want to try to find a young, high-ceiling option who isn't currently a free agent, then David Njoku is the next best option. Njoku will only be 25 when the season begins, is a former first-round pick, and has flashed the upside to entice teams in need of an athletic pass-catcher at tight end. He has only one season of solid production as a starting tight end, but the potential to put up big numbers as a red-zone and threat up the seam is still there.
The issues here are that Njoku would likely have to be someone the Jaguars invest in twice. First by sending draft picks to the Cleveland Browns, and second by extending him following 2021 -- as long as he produces, that is. He is in a contract year, so there is always the chance he could be a rental. Then there is the fact that he has missed 15 games the last two seasons and has caught only 24 passes for 254 yards (10.6 yards per catch) and three touchdowns. He was more of a role player with the Browns in 2020 due to their stacked tight end room, so viewing him as a starter requires projection.
Reunite Darrell Bevell or Brian Schottenheimer with a former tight end
The lowest upside but perhaps one of the more likely options the Jaguars have at tight end is to reunite one of their top two assistants with a former tight end. The Jaguars have already added numerous players that offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell and passing game coordinator Brian Schottenheimer have ties to, and they have also prioritized finding value deals in free agency so far. Finding a cheap tight end with connections to their staff would be right in line with what they have done to this point.
The two options here would be Jesse James and Jacob Hollister. James played 32 games in Bevell's offense in Detroit the last two years but only caught 30 passes for 271 yards and two touchdowns, while also not exactly dominating a blocker. Hollister caught 66 passes for 558 yards and six touchdowns in 27 games in Schottenheimer's offense in Seattle over that same span, giving him the advantage in terms of production. Hollister makes the most sense, though he would be more of a depth piece than a starting option.
