The State of the Jaguars Tight End Room

The Jacksonville Jaguars tight end unit needed an anchor. They received it with Tyler Eifert, who brings stability to the young room.

When the Jacksonville Jaguars signed Tyler Eifert, the former first round free agent, he immediately brought something to the tight end room it was missing; consistent experience.

Including Eifert, the Jags have six tight ends on their offseason roster. Eifert is going into his eighth year and James O’Shaughnessy his sixth year. No other guy at the position has more than two years. General manager Dave Caldwell and the front office have taken tight ends in the past two drafts (Josh Oliver, third round 2019; Tyler Davis, sixth round 2020).

During the 2019 season, O’Shaughnessy was sixth on the team in receptions (14 for 153 yards, two touchdowns). He has bounced around over the years but after two years with the Jaguars, he became a free agent last spring. Instead of letting him go, the Jags resigned him. 

The 2019 rookie, Oliver, faced an injury-riddled season. He was inactive for the first six weeks, played four games (three receptions, 15 yards) before incurring a season-ending back injury. As Oliver was placed on the injured reserved list, the Jags brought in veteran Nick O’Leary. The Florida State alum had been cut by the Miami Dolphins, so he made a quick trip upstate and finished his year with 13 receptions for 109 yards and a touchdown.

But O’Leary wasn’t a long term option. After contributing for the final six games of the season, O’Leary became a free agent and signed with the Las Vegas Raiders. While a career reserve to this point, it’s fair to assume O’Leary wasn’t the future the Jags wanted at the position. But there was a desperate need for depth.

Enter Tyler Eifert.

Related: Presence of OC Jay Gruden Was a ‘Big Factor’ in Tyler Eifert Signing With Jaguars

Until now, Eifert had spent the entirety of his career with the Cincinnati Bengals. While in Cincinnati Eifert played only one full season—2019—due to injuries. But over the past seven years, he’s accumulated 185 receptions for 2,152 yards and 24 touchdowns. He played for Jags offensive coordinator Jay Gruden when Gruden was with the Bengals Eifert’s rookie year. That familiarity along with more than half a decade of experience will give the tight end room the steadiness for which it’s been looking.

“With this offense, just knowing all the different positions across the board from every concept to what every guy is doing because every concept—you could be in one of those different positions,” explained Eifert.

"It is just having an understanding of what is going on, being able to play multiple positions, being able to create mismatches and giving Coach Gruden the flexibility to move me around and put me in those different positions along with—I have never claimed to be a great blocker, but I have learned a lot over the seven years that I have played with different techniques and how to use leverage and what the defense is doing against us. I am willing to do whatever, and I am excited for the opportunity just to help the team and be a leader in the tight end room and the offense and play wherever they need me.”

Those blocking techniques will be crucial across the unit as they help protect a mobile second-year quarterback, Gardner Minshew II. 

Behind Eifert, O’Shaughnessy gives the Jags a two-deep roster that can help carry them through a season and provide the pass-catching role that will allow Gruden’s offense to take shape.

There are two free agent tight ends currently on the roster, but Charles Jones—heading into his second year—comes with in-game experience. When Oliver was sidelined with the aforementioned injury, Jones was promoted to the 53-man roster along with the O’Leary signing. While Jones isn’t likely to move his way up the pecking order, he now has at least a little cache if the Jags need to shuffle some roster spots due to injury in the coming season.

One of the more interesting guys in the room though is undoubtedly Tyler Davis. The only thing we really know about him production-wise is that we know hardly anything. A former quarterback converted tight end, Davis spent his first four years at UCONN, bringing in 47 receptions for 500 yards and seven touchdowns while still learning the position. Using his former skills, Davis also threw three passes for 58 yards. With his final season of eligibility, Davis transferred to Georgia Tech. 

The Yellow Jackets are in the process of emerging from the Paul Johnson era, a triple option throw back that hardly employed tight ends at all much less in the passing game. In his first season as Head Coach, Geoff Collins and staff made modern changes but using players from a past regime to give an offense a new identity requires time. 

Davis transferring in helped with that, but change is a slow process. In his one year though Davis led Georgia Tech’s tight ends and ranked third among all pass catchers with 17 receptions for 148 yards and one touchdown. With each new year under his belt at the position, Davis becomes a bit more comfortable.

Unless the Jaguars revert to an H-back heavy offense, all six tight ends won’t be on the 53-man roster come this fall but the depth is being built for when moves need to be made. And until the Jaguars can get onto the practice field and see their first and second-year players in person, they’ll likely keep an eye on the horizon for any potential veterans to bring in for extra help riding the gap. 

One of the biggest moves of the offseason though was signing Tyler Eifert—who led all NFL tight ends since 2013 with touchdowns in less than 60 games. He will help improve the room right away…even if that room is currently online.