With all the signings Jacksonville made in free agency to address weaknesses on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball, there was one glaring area that was left largely unchanged: the tight end spot. The team made the decision to bring back James O’Shaughnessy while also adding Chris Manhertz from Carolina, who had just six catches during the 2020 season.
There were several high-profile free agent options available, like Hunter Henry and Jonnu Smith, but the Jags didn’t make a play at either. Now, entering the draft, tight end is the team’s biggest area of need (aside from quarterback, which should be mediated in the draft with the selection of Trevor Lawrence). Not only is it the biggest need for Jacksonville, but the team’s hunger for a long-term answer at tight end is one of the largest needs in all of football, according to a breakdown from Pro Football Focus of the weakest position groups for the entire league.
Jacksonville removed Tyler Eifert and Josh Oliver from its 2020 group at tight end and added former Carolina Panthers tight end Chris Manhertz. Those moves don’t give the team any kind of additional receiving threat at the position. Manhertz’s 52 receiving yards this past season tied for a career-high in his six-year NFL career, and that modest total came despite playing 502 offensive snaps.
“That was a high priority,” Urban Meyer said of the Manhertz signing, per Jaguar Report’s John Shipley. “We have two different styles of tight ends, one is a ‘Y’, which is — on the line, basically an extension of your offensive line, a very good blocker, but also very functional in the pass game.”
To that point, Manhertz did come away with a career-best 69.0 run-blocking grade in 2020 and has improved there every year in the NFL. The Jaguars still lack any kind of receiving threat at the position, though. James O’Shaughnessy stands out as the top option, but he’s coming off just a 57.6 overall grade and 28 catches this past season in Jacksonville.
With Eifert’s departure, Jacksonville can’t afford to enter the 2021 season without adding at least one more player at the tight end position, and that move will likely be made in the draft. There’s a potentially transcendent tight end prospect available in Florida’s Kyle Pitts, but unfortunately for the Jaguars, he’s projected to go in the top-10 according to most mock drafts.
But Penn State’s Pat Freiermuth, who is considered the No. 2 tight end in the class, will likely be available a bit later. He’s projected as a Day 2 pick according to most big boards, and with two picks in the second round, the Jaguars have an excellent chance of coming away with him if they decide to target him. They pick at 33rd and 45th, but they’d be chancing another team selecting him if they waited until their second pick, so it seems likely that the Jags would pull the trigger on Freiermuth with the first pick in the second round, assuming he’s available.
There’s a significant dropoff after Freiermuth, and if the Jags fail to come away with him, tight end will be a position of great concern in 2021, to say the least.