Tight end may be Jaguars most improved position in 2022

Things weren’t much better for the Jaguars in 2019 and 2020.

In 2019 the front office brought in Geoff Swaim a free agent who had some success in Dallas and drafted Josh Oliver, an athletic pass-catching prospect. Swaim was brought in to back up James O’Shaughnessy and was released a year later. Oliver was somewhat of a draft day surprise as many thought the Jags over-reached at a position of need. He was placed on injured reserve two years in a row and was traded to the Baltimore Ravens in 2021, never making an impact in Duval.

The Jags again took a swing on a well-known tight end in Tyler Eifert in 2020 hoping he could provide some production in the passing game as he did with the Cincinnati Bengals. Like Seferian-Jenkins, Eifert had his second-year option declined by the team after not showing much on the field.

By 2021, the tight end group was seriously depleted of talent with only O’Shaughnessy showing promise at the position. When the Urban Meyer regime took over they made it a point to address the position by signing Chris Manhertz in free agency and drafting Luke Farrell. Manhertz was seen as an important addition to the team, as he is viewed as one of the league’s top blocking tight ends.

The Luke Farrell selection was probably motivated by the fact that he played for Urban Meyer at Ohio State University. He saw some playing time in his rookie season but not enough to earn a meaningful role on offense by any means. He provides depth at the position for a second-year player who has shown some upside.