Will Jacob Hollister Maintain Roster Spot with Seahawks?
With training camp slated to begin sometime next month, the Seahawks are expected to have a loaded tight end corps in 2020 and could be forced to make a tough decision with one of their pass catchers.
Following the signing of veteran tight end Greg Olsen, Seattle also selected Colby Parkinson in the fourth round of this year’s NFL Draft. In addition, the team signed undrafted free agents Tyler Mabry and Dominic Wood-Anderson shortly after the draft ended, adding them to the mix as well.
Since Luke Willson, Jacob Hollister, and Will Dissly are all returning for another season in Seattle, the team currently has seven tight ends signed to the 90-man roster heading towards camp. Even with rosters expanding to up to 55 players for game day, the Seahawks will still be forced to trim a few players from this unit before the regular season begins.
After Seattle carried two tight ends (three once Tyrone Swoopes was activated off the practice roster) on their 53-man roster throughout the majority of this past season, they’d likely prefer to increase that number to three or four during the 2020 campaign. With that in mind, it seems like Olsen, Dissly, and Parkinson should all be safe from the waiver wire this summer.
Unfortunately, that likely means the Seahawks must choose between Willson and Hollister for one of the final spots on their roster. While this will be a difficult decision for general manager John Schneider, he could decide to part ways with the more expensive player.
As a result of Hollister’s non-guaranteed $3.259 million price tag for next season, the fourth-year pro immediately jumps out as a potential cap casualty. Still, despite being more expensive than Willson, there's plenty of reasons why the Seahawks could choose to keep him, especially considering durability issues for players like Olsen and Dissly.
Though he's not known for his blocking prowess, Hollister was on the field for 130 rushing snaps and he produced just a single blown block (tied for second-fewest among all tight ends with at least 100 rushing snaps). Among all tight ends with at least 40 pass blocking snaps, the Wyoming product also finished with a single blown block, according to Sports-Info-Solutions.com.
Along with the 26-year old’s unexpected blocking numbers, his ability to create a ton of separation in the passing game will likely be an attractive quality for his case against Willson next season.
Overall, Hollister averaged 6.8 yards of cushion off the scrimmage line (most among all tight ends in the league with at least 43 targets) this past season. In addition, the former Patriot also finished tied with the sixth-most average yards of separation (3.5), according to Next-Gen-Stats.com.
While the former undrafted free agent struggled to perform effectively at times during key moments in 2019, including a pair of drops in the playoffs, Hollister was still able to produce the best statistical performance of his career during his first season with the Seahawks.
In total, Hollister played in 11 regular season games for Seattle and caught 41 of his 59 targets (69.5 percent catch rate) for 349 yards and he produced three touchdowns – including his game-winning score during overtime against Tampa Bay in Week 9.
In comparison, while considered the better blocker, Willson only caught eight balls for 79 yards after Seattle signed him prior to Week 4. Injuries kept him off the field for several games and he rarely contributed in that capacity.
Following his promising results as a starter, the Oregon native would likely get picked up quickly if he were released by the Seahawks, eliminating the chance to keep him on the team’s practice roster for the second consecutive season. His receiving skills would be a good fit for a number of offenses.
With Olsen and Dissly expected to provide Seattle’s offense with a one-two punch in 2020, Hollister will likely be limited to a reserve role on offense along with a job on special teams if he makes the team. At this point, it seems his future in the Pacific Northwest could be determined by whether the Seahawks will require additional cap space to potentially pursue an impact free agent before training camp begins.
