Heading into his third NFL season, Brenton Strange now sits atop the Jacksonville Jaguars’ tight end depth chart. Internally, the Jaguars are extremely bullish on Strange and his potential, especially within Liam Coen’s offense.

As offensive coordinator Grant Udinski highlighted during minicamp, the confidence that the organization has in Strange comes from his work ethic and the well-rounded skill set he brings to this offense

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“His work ethic, first and foremost, is hopefully a leadership attribute that the guys can model and see what he does on a day-to-day basis,” Udinski said. “But from a leadership standpoint and just from a player standpoint, you see a guy with a lot of potential to just continue to grow, whether it’s in the pass game or the run game.

“A guy with a lot of physical traits that can be that balanced tight end and do a lot of different things that this offense will ask him to do.”

In terms of opportunities and production, Strange took on a much larger role in 2024, totaling 54 targets, 40 receptions, and 411 receiving yards along with two scores, according to PFF.

However, within Coen’s offense, there is potentially a lot more out there for him in the passing game. During Coen’s one season as the offensive play caller in Tampa Bay last year, tight end Cade Otton had 84 targets, which were tied for the ninth-most among all tight ends.

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In addition to what Strange can offer through the air, he also further established himself as a blocking presence in the run game.

When an offense has a tight end who can fill a do-it-all type of role, impacting the run and passing games, along with being able to line up across the formation, there is a layer of unpredictability that this unit now gains.

Defenses cannot simply get a beat on what’s coming based on who is on the field or where players are lined up, in part, because that tight end can fill a variety of roles.

This well-rounded skill set helps elevate the multiplicity component that Coen wants to have present, as it allows for the offense to run a variety of plays from just a few personnel groupings, which helps create mismatches that can be exploited.

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Strange is going to play a key role in helping to make this new-look Jaguars’ offense go, and with his role expanding, his opportunity for additional growth and to impact the game will expand as well.

“I think the encouraging thing is the type of guy he is and the way he works, and if he continues to work at it, you see the potential and you see the opportunity for growth,” added Udinski. “Not just this spring but hopefully into training camp and beyond.”

This article originally appeared on Jaguars Wire: What Grant Udinski is seeing from Jaguars TE Brenton Strange