Jacksonville Jaguars: Understanding the tight end role in 2017

The Jacksonville Jaguars confounded many observers by not truly addressing the tight end position in the offseason, making for some confusion at the position through the offseason.

Marcedes Lewis continues to headline the Jacksonville Jaguars tight end group as he gears up for his 12th NFL season. After two years of playing second fiddle (at least in hype) to Julius Thomas, Lewis finds himself back atop the depth chart this offseason.

For those who follow the Jaguars, this seems a little odd. While Lewis has been surprisingly efficient when he gets the ball in his hands and is also a gifted blocker, he is far from his prime and never truly stepped up in a meaningful way following his 2010 Pro Bowl season.

Yet the Jaguars felt comfortable going with Lewis as the headliner of a position group that also features Ben Koyack, converted wide receiver Neal Sterling, and 2017 free agent addition Mychal Rivera. Rivera is the most curious to watch in this group outside of Lewis.

Coming over from the Oakland Raiders, Rivera has some talent to be a “Julius Thomas replacement” but has yet to deliver more than 534 yards and hasn’t topped 280 yards or one touchdown since 2015. He may factor in heavily for the offense, but he may simply be a complementary piece.

Which all fits in nicely for the Jaguars. Executive vice president for football operations Tom Coughlin values players that are versatile and values tight ends that can block. It’s a big reason why Lewis is going to be headlining this group again and it’s a big reason why Thomas was sent packing. It’s also a possible explanation for why the Jaguars opted not to target a tight end in the 2017 NFL Draft despite it being a deep group with plenty of immediate contributors.

Two months ago I called this the “tight end conundrum” for the Jaguars. It remains that way as we head into June. The Jaguars would have been wise to add other pieces and not solely count on a surprisingly good season from Rivera or a magical twilight season from Lewis. Yet the team still has those two marked down as the primary contributors.

Lewis figures to be the more prominent player. If he can have a bit of a revival, the big-bodied tight end will enable the Jaguars to create mismatches in the passing game and also work well in the rushing game as a strong blocker. The latter is no issue. The former will be impressive if the Jaguars can get it right.

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That may come in form of being a safety valve for quarterback Blake Bortles, per Aaron Resnick of Pro Football Focus. With Lewis’ ability to pick up yards after the catch (top-12 at his position each of the last four seasons, per PFF), Lewis still has the ability to operate as a valuable receiver for a quarterback that has forced throws to a few productive wide receivers (i.e. Allen Robinson and Allen Hurns) for disastrous consequences in recent years. One more option with reliable hands and a big frame should make that easier.

No matter how it shakes out for Lewis, however, it will be worth watching. Rivera could end up forcing Lewis to play second fiddle again or someone like Koyack could come out of nowhere to jump up the depth chart (he’s got a short highlight of his own already). At this point, it’s tough to make sense of the Jacksonville Jaguars at the position still. We’re months away from real football, but the current understanding looks a lot like a return to the old with Lewis leading the way.

That isn’t necessarily a bad thing.