There was a great deal of buzz surrounding tight end Josh Oliver when the Jacksonville Jaguars selected him in the third-round last year, but he unfortunately didn’t get to make a significant impact. A hamstring injury from training camp set him back to start the regular season off, and four games into his return, a back injury sent him to injured reserve.
In the end, Oliver exited his rookie campaign with just three catches for 15 yards throughout those four games. Despite that, however, he believes he learned a lot during his rookie campaign and feels that it will help him tremendously heading forward.
“Definitely,” Oliver said to Jaguars.com when asked if he learned any lessons in 2019. “Just those four games, I feel like I improved – getting used to the speed of the game. I think those games were crucial for me just to get out on the field. I never got to go through the preseason. I never got to go through any of the games, so actually having NFL reps under my belt – I think that’s a huge thing going forward into Year Two. I know what to expect in a game. I know what to expect when we’re traveling. I have a good feel for what’s going on. The next step is just going out there and playing.”
The experience Oliver feels he received in a short amount of time is certainly a good thing for the Jags because they will need him to take a significant step in 2020. Not only have the Jags lacked a true threat at tight end for all of Dave Caldwell’s tenure as general manager, but it was painfully clear that quarterback Gardner Minshew needed a big threat up the middle in 2019. While the team did add veteran Tyler Eifert, he’s missed 53 regular season games out of 112. Simply put, that means there is a strong chance Oliver will be counted on as a No. 1 or No. 2 tight end at some point in the upcoming season.
As for the status of his health, Oliver said he has been cleared for a while now and is 100 percent.
“At the end of the [2019] season, I was cleared 100 percent,” Oliver said. “It was awesome [to get cleared]. I was eager. As soon as New Year’s happened, I went back to Southern California and started training with the people I trained with before the draft – and I worked with physical therapy on maintenance and stuff.”
With a clean bill of health and a new coordinator who loves to utilize the tight end position in Jay Gruden, things are likely to improve for Oliver. When looking at the production his comrades from the 2019 class had like Minshew and Josh Allen, fans should be confident that Oliver could pan out, too.