The tight end position is one many Jacksonville Jaguars fans will be watching closely this year because there are a lot of questions to be answered. Most were especially eager to see second-year tight end Josh Oliver return to the field as he offered great upside as a pass-catcher, however, those plans will have to be put on hold after he recently broke his foot.
One player tight end coach Ron Middleton clearly believes could be the guy is veteran Tyler Eifert, who was one of the team’s top free-agent additions. In his meeting with the media Tuesday, he spoke highly of Eifert’s receiving skills and made it clear that he’s going to be heavily used in the passing game.
“We’ve got to be smart, as coaches, to put him in the position where’s he going to best serve or best give us the most that he’s got to give,” said Middleton. “We didn’t bring him here to put him in the backfield and lead up on linebackers. We expect him to be split out, running those routes that we know he can run and doing those other things that make him such a valuable part of the offense. I’ve been very impressed with him.”
With Jay Gruden becoming the new offensive coordinator and Doug Marrone stressing putting the players on the roster where they can thrive, Middleton’s statements make sense. It also makes sense from the perspective of giving quarterback Gardner Minshew II more weapons to thrive.
However, the key for Eifert will be to remain healthy as he’s missed over 50 regular season games in his career. If there is one positive to make fans believe he can, it’s the fact that he was available for every game last season.
In a league where a solid receiving tight end separates the good offense’s from the bad, the Jags have long needed to find that guy at the position. While Eifert’s history states that fans shouldn’t have the highest expectations, registering 400 to 600 yards and five touchdowns could be a huge help for the Jags’ offense.
Heading forward Eifert’s name will be one to watch in camp as we get closer to the season. If he can get some momentum going within the next couple of weeks that would be huge for the Jags’ offense when considering they already have threats in the run game and the perimeter in Leonard Fournette and D.J. Chark, respectively.
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