As the Jacksonville Jaguars reshaped the tight end room over the offseason, a priority for GM James Gladstone and head coach Liam Coen was versatility.
Through about two weeks of training camp practices, offensive coordinator Grant Udinski has seen that element on display regularly and from several different players.
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“It’s kind of similar to the O-line room a little bit, where we have guys that have a lot of flexibility,” Udinski said after Wednesday’s practice. “With Brenton, you saw him make an unbelievable play today. He’s done some nice stuff. Hunter made a great play. Johnny Mundt’s been great when he’s been out there. Good to have him healthy.
“The nice thing about those guys is they’re versatile. They add value in the pass game, the run game, they can line up flexed out, they can line up in-line, they can line up in the wing, they can come back and go across. So there’s a lot of different things those guys can do, so the mixing and matching of them is what’s nice about that room.”
At the top of the Jaguars‘ depth chart is Brenton Strange, but under Coen, we will see our share of two tight end sets. Competing for those reps are Johnny Mundt and Hunter Long, although I’m sure we will see both throughout the season.
Up to this point in each of their respective careers, Long and Mundt have each primarily been blocking tight ends; however, the Jaguars do like the upside that each possesses in the passing game.
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With that said, while you want defenses to respect their ability to impact the passing game, TE2 will likely be a blocking-first role.
“He can block so many different run schemes in the run game,” Udinski said of Mundt. “He can line up in-line, he can line up as a wing, he can go back across the formation when he’s off the ball, he can go in motion, he can run a pretty wide route tree. That versatility is hard to guard because you can be in 11 personnel, 12 personnel, and he can do such a variety of different things.”
Having a do-it-all presence at tight end–or even better, two or three of them–adds a level of unpredictability to an offense. With that player able to fill a variety of roles, it becomes difficult for opponents to get a beat on what’s coming simply based on who is on the field or where players are lined up. This not only creates opportunities for the tight ends, but for the other pass-catchers and running backs as well.
This article originally appeared on Jaguars Wire: Jaguars training camp: Grant Udinski on play of tight end position