Jacksonville Jaguars 2016 Offseason: Lease Marcedes for another year?
By Daniel Lago
With the Super Bowl firmly in the rearview mirror, the 2016 offseason can now take center stage – the combine, franchise tags, free agency, and the NFL Draft in May are all going to be focal points of discussion for the foreseeable future.
Without actual games to talk about however, we’ll be delving quite deep into the pool of offseason trope pieces.
One of those areas of interest is impending free agents. The Jaguars don’t have many unrestricted free agents worth even discussing as possible candidates to re-sign, but one player who has a chance to come back is longtime tight end Marcedes Lewis.
Pro Football Focus ranked Marcedes Lewis as the number 10 free agent tight end.
"Lewis declined slightly over the last two seasons, posting below-average grades as both a blocker and receiver, but prior to that was consistently positive from 2007 to 2013. He’s elusive in the passing game with an average of more than eight yards after the catch per reception over the last three seasons (9.9 in 2015) and over his career forced at least 10 missed tackles several times. His blocking has been even better, whether it’s in pass protection or run blocking. If he can regain his early season form, Lewis should provide a solid short term option in all facets and at worst can still provide value as a blocker."
Lewis hasn’t been very good for a few seasons now and his value as a blocker is riding on his reputation more than anything at this point.
Still, the Jaguars don’t really have anything at the tight end position outside of Julius Thomas. Clay Harbor is an adequate pass catcher, but you’ll never confuse him for a decent inline blocker. Lewis probably has more value to the Jaguars than any other team solely for the continuity and familiarity he has with the offense and the franchise.
I expect Lewis to come back on a team-friendly contract and an almost negligible cap number.