Friday afternoon, the watch list for the John Mackey Award, which goes to the best tight end in the nation, was released with Wisconsin tight end Jake Ferguson on it for the second year in a row.
Top tight end?
Better believe they found room for our guy Ferg on that list.
👀 @JohnMackeyAward 👀#OnWisconsin pic.twitter.com/hCLWWyEf5G
— Wisconsin Football (@BadgerFootball) July 17, 2020
Ferguson had a little bit of a down year last season because of limited targets in the red zone, and the excellent play of Quintez Cephus. In 2018, Ferguson had 36 receptions, 456 yards, and four touchdowns because he was the security blanket for former Wisconsin quarterback, Alex Hornibrook.
Despite Ferguson not having an amazing season last year, Pro Football Focus ranked the Madison, Wisc. native as the fifth-best tight end in this year’s positional rankings for the 2021 NFL Draft. Ferguson has shown that he is a consistent playmaker for Wisconsin in the last two seasons, and he needs to get the targets that a tight end of his caliber deserves. The loss of Jonathan Taylor to the NFL Draft will force this Badger’s offense to be more balanced and should translate to him seeing more targets than in his first two seasons. These added targets could set up a true breakout year for Jake Ferguson, and he could have a big role for Wisconsin this season.