The Jacksonville Jaguars have a variety of needs but one of their most pressing without a doubt is at tight end. It seems as though they’ve been trying to address the position for much of Dave Caldwell’s career as general manager and he’ll once again be left looking for answers at the position in 2020.
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Caldwell’s first big attempt at fixing the position came when the team signed Julius Thomas to an expensive five-year, $46 million contract in 2015. However, injuries held him back and he was eventually traded to the Miami Dolphins within two seasons.
In 2018, the team released longtime veteran Marcedes Lewis and tried to replace him with tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins. That approach didn’t pan out either as he didn’t have the second year of his contract picked up.
Last offseason, the team took a different approach and used the draft to pick up a tight end by selecting Josh Oliver in the third-round. Unfortunately, just like their other attempts at the position, it didn’t pan out although the young tight end has plenty of time to blossom into a starter in the future.
Now, with an important offseason coming up, the Jags once again don’t know who their starter will be at the position in 2020. Three of their eight tight ends are set to hit free agency in April in Seth DeValve, Nick O’Leary, and Ben Koyack.
Additionally, veteran Geoff Swaim could be a cap casualty, which could leave the Jags with just Oliver, Charles Jones, James O’Shaugnessy (a favorite target of Gardner Minshew), and Matt Skol. Clearly, that means the Jags could look to add a No. 1 at the position this offseason, even with the returns of promising players like O’Shaugnessy, and Oliver.
When looking at the Jags’ failures to find a No. 1 at the position regardless of their approach, the big question fans will have going into 2020 is whether they should look to get a No. 1 out of the draft or free agency. Upon looking at the options this offseason, it appears the answer may be to try and land a veteran as the tight end free-agent class for 2020 is set to have several stars.
Per Over the Cap, some of the marquee names who will hit the market include Indy’s Eric Ebron, Hunter Henry of the Los Angeles Chargers and Austin Hooper of the Atlanta Falcons. All three are under the age of 28 and are currently in their primes, which could make them perfect to lead the Jags’ tight end group.
If the Jags are looking for experience, Ebron could be intriguing as 2020 will mark his sixth season, giving him the edge over Hooper and Henry, who will be entering their fourth seasons. The Jags also might be intrigued by Ebron because of their familiarity with him as he’s put up some big-time numbers against them while at Indy. That was especially the case when looking at his 2018 season as he caught 66 passes for 750 yards and 13 touchdowns, all of which were career-high figures.
With Colts general manager Chris Ballard stating that the team will “probably move on” from the veteran, it appears the Jags are guaranteed to have an opportunity to sign Ebron, but of course, they’ll have to get their cap situation right. Once that happens, it’s a given they’ll start trying to add weapons for whoever the 2020 starter at quarterback is and coordinator John DeFilippo, who really needs some production at tight end for his scheme to flourish.
As for Henry and Hooper, both are young and will be coming off career years. Hooper finished the 2019 season with nearly 800 yards and six touchdowns and hasn’t had a season with less than 500 yards since his rookie year. Meanwhile, Henry will be coming off a 2019 season in which he accumulated 652 yards and five touchdowns. He’s also at least accumulated 478 yards or more since entering the league, which like Hooper, marks the kind of production the Jags haven’t had at the position for a while.
Of course, granted the age of all of the aforementioned players, none of them may come cheap and that may be a problem with defensive end Yannick Ngakoue needing a new deal. However, Caldwell and cap specialist John Idzik have been solid in making space for free-agents, so there may be a solution for them to get one big free agent and sign Ngakoue, too.