Jacksonville Jaguars TE eager to get back on the field in 2020

Jacksonville Jaguars tight end James O’Shaughnessy hopes to be back on the field for the first week of the NFL season in 2020.

The Jacksonville Jaguars have not been able to keep their tight ends healthy the past two seasons. The position was nothing more than a revolving door with players moving in and out of the lineup, losing time because of injuries, and becoming a virtual non-factor in the passing game.

Rookies and veterans alike suffered the same fate, spending more time on the injured list than on the playing field.

It was almost as if the coaching staff and players on the roster needed a scorecard to tell who was lining up to help in pass coverage or in a rare opportunity, catch a pass across the middle of the field.

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That all may change this season as the team hopes for good health and the additions of Tyler Eifert, who is familiar with the team’s offense from the time he spent with Jay Gruden in Cincinnati before the Jaguars new offensive coordinator became the head coach in Washington.

Everyone appears to be on board with Eifert making a major impact this season. Gruden has even commented when he met with the media this week how important the tight end position is to what he is trying to get accomplished in Jacksonville. But Eifert isn’t the only player looking to come in and help immediately

Before he was injured in Week 5 of the 2019 season, James O’Shaughnessy was having his best season in Jacksonville. But an ACL injury ended that and the chance for the tight end position to become relevant for the Jaguars once again.

Also, the coaching staff is hoping second-year player Josh Oliver is fully healthy and ready to assume his role as a pass-catching tight end with speed to burn.

Suddenly, if all the players in the tight end room are healthy, this worrisome area prior to the start of free agency could now become a strength.

"“I’m doing well even with all this craziness of the coronavirus going on, it didn’t interrupt my rehab schedule very much if at all,” O’Shaughnessy said when he spoke on 1010XL sports radio. “I’ve still been working since the end of the season to get back healthy and it looks like I’ll be right on time and if the season starts on time, I’ll be ready to go Week 1.”"

That would be a solid start to the season and a real boost for the Jacksonville Jaguars passing game. The Jaguars finished 31st in the NFL in 2018 and 2019 in red-zone efficiency. Something must happen to make that change. The use of the tight end in passing situations could help.

For the abbreviated season, O’Shaughnessy had 14 receptions for 153 receiving yards and two touchdowns. He looked to be the answer to the Jaguars’ need for a reliable set of hands at the position.

With Gruden’s passing offense geared to short and intermediate passes that move the ball down the field in rhythm, that could be the case where the tight ends will play a bigger role as the field gets shorter. O’Shaughnessy also told the guys on XL Primetime he is excited about working with Gruden this season.

"“I’m a big fan,” O’Shaughnessy said. “I’ve had a West Coast background earlier on in my NFL career when I was with Kansas City, so I have an idea of what the system can be. It’s a lot of different personal groupings, it’s going vertical and I can’t say enough about how happy I am to play in this system.“Hearing from guys like Tyler Eifert and Chris Thompson, guys that have played in it, they talk about how much they have enjoyed it."