I personally don't anticipate the Jags going after a TE early in the draft given the focus on the trenches and the run game, so I'll be watching the 5th-7th round prospects as potential targets. 

 

 

With this in mind, I'll look at Jonnu Smith first. For starters, watch this video...


 

https://youtu.be/lktdncD-Xgo

 

This happened last Halloween, and ended his college career at a point when he was 3rd all-time in TDs. His girlfriend was reportedly jealous of all the attention he was getting and wanted him to pay more attention to her. Because of this, there's not really any film to watch on Jonnu.


 

At 6 2 5/8", 245, the guy must be solid rock, and you learn quickly reading his bios that Jonnu has consistently been very productive throughout his record-setting college career. Reading his strengths at nfl.com makes me seriously think about drafting him in round 5...


 

 


Strengths
Plays with urgency and looks to squeeze the most out of each play. Flashes an electric burst up the field and into his routes. Seam buster with ability to race over top of the linebacker and into a throwing window quickly. Plays fast. Talented, competitive runner after the catch. Mashes the gas and can run away from linebackers. Loose hips with slick lateral side step after the catch. Has ability to work on all three levels. Competitive high school weight lifter with good functional strength as a blocker. Shows willingness to handle the heavy lifting as zone scheme blocker. Uses good angles and timing in his combination blocks.

 

His weaknesses relate to drops calling him a body catcher, and to areas where he can improve his route running. A little coaching up there could go a long ways considering he's otherwise an ideal TE. Because of his drops he's considered more of a blocking TE despite being a tad undersized. He's a very polished blocker with a fully developed frame.

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At 6 2 5/8", 245, the guy must be solid rock, and you learn quickly reading his bios that Jonnu has consistently been very productive throughout his record-setting college career. Reading his strengths at nfl.com makes me seriously think about drafting him in round 5...


 

 

His weaknesses relate to drops calling him a body catcher, and to areas where he can improve his route running. A little coaching up there could go a long ways considering he's otherwise an ideal TE. Because of his drops he's considered more of a blocking TE despite being a tad undersized. He's a very polished blocker with a fully developed frame.

 

Interesting prospect. Seems like a guy Caldwell would like late in the draft.  Coughlin... not so much. But, who knows? 

 

Will be interesting to see how he performs at his pro-day and combine. 

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I'm going to sneak another one in here strictly because I ran across his highlight reel and found it impressive. Check it out...


 

https://youtu.be/2EFFndLf5m4

 

Cole Hikutini is typically ranked soon after Roberts and Sprinkle around #12 to #14, and is projected as a 6th or 7th round pick in this TE-rich draft. Interesting, one site -- Draftek -- has Hikutini at #9 with Gerald Everett at #12. Meanwhile, another site - Draft Wire -- has Hikutini at #7 just ahead of Everett at #8.


 

Cole is expected to run a 4.8 40 at 6' 4 1/8", 248, and he was a semi-finalist for the Mackey Award. Hikutini is talked about as a refined route runner with soft, natural hands that snag the ball out of the air. As a blocker, he has the needed skill-set and frame, but he's said to lack toughness.

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'02

As I look over the TEs that I've covered in this thread so far, what's striking is that there are several very dynamic WRs in the passing game, but not many that project all that well as blockers. Looking over the list, only three stood out for their blocking, and that's Michael Roberts, Jeremy Sprinkles and Jannu Smith. While the idea is to replace Julius as a pass catching TE, we also have to consider that Marcedes isn't getting younger and we're going to want our new TE to be a capable blocker as well.


 

Among these names, Roberts is a tad slower and doesn't really offer that deep threat, but he's got excellent hands and can do damage in the short-to-intermediate range and especially in the red zone. Jannu excited me as a being very talented both as a blocker and as a catcher although I wonder about him having already filled a somewhat smallish frame along with him recording too many drops. Of all these TEs, Jannu probably has the worst hands.


 

This leaves Jeremy Sprinkles who I'm finding more and more intriguing. Sprinkles is big enough for the part at nearly 6-5. 260 with additional room in his frame to fill. Meanwhile, he takes pride in his ability to block and along with Roberts is easily among the best blocking TEs in the class. As a receiver he has good speed as I can picture him pulling off a 4.72 in Indy. He tends to be more of a short-to-intermediate and red zone threat, but with that speed could develop into more of a deep threat.


 

With this in mind I thought I'd look even deeper. There's a clip of his college head coach explaining how he does a little bit of everything for them... he'll play Y-TE, WR, FB, H-back, and every Special Teams unit. He's certainly worth keeping an eye one.

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'02

<b>...</b>

 

This leaves Jeremy Sprinkles who I'm finding more and more intriguing. Sprinkles is big enough for the part at nearly 6-5. 260 with additional room in his frame to fill. Meanwhile, he takes pride in his ability to block and along with Roberts is easily among the best blocking TEs in the class. As a receiver he has good speed as I can picture him pulling off a 4.72 in Indy. He tends to be more of a short-to-intermediate and red zone threat, but with that speed could develop into more of a deep threat.


 

With this in mind I thought I'd look even deeper. There's a clip of his college head coach explaining how he does a little bit of everything for them... he'll play Y-TE, WR, FB, H-back, and every Special Teams unit. He's certainly worth keeping an eye one.

 

 

Jeremy Sprinkle in the 5th round would be a nice addition to Lewis/Koyack/Sterling IMO. 

first page of the thread ^

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Has Jags02 even looked at Saubert yet? He's hands down my favorite day 3 day.

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Evan Engram and O.J. Howard are my favorites in this class, but I don't view TE as enough of a need to warrant selecting them where they are slotted to go. I've only seen highlights of the Shaheen kid from Ashland, but he really intrigues me. If we trade down and add some additional picks, I might consider drafting him in the later rounds. Most likely, I'd target an UDFA and the most talented guy that I think is likely to go undrafted, (simply because of the overall depth of the class,) is Cole Hikutini. I saw him a couple times this past season and he is a really good receiver. 

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Evan Engram and O.J. Howard are my favorites in this class, but I don't view TE as enough of a need to warrant selecting them where they are slotted to go. I've only seen highlights of the Shaheen kid from Ashland, but he really intrigues me. If we trade down and add some additional picks, I might consider drafting him in the later rounds. Most likely, I'd target an UDFA and the most talented guy that I think is likely to go undrafted, (simply because of the overall depth of the class,) is Cole Hikutini. I saw him a couple times this past season and he is a really good receiver. 

 

I agree that Hikutini is a good late round or UDFA option.

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Evan Engram and O.J. Howard are my favorites in this class, but I don't view TE as enough of a need to warrant selecting them where they are slotted to go. I've only seen highlights of the Shaheen kid from Ashland, but he really intrigues me. If we trade down and add some additional picks, I might consider drafting him in the later rounds. Most likely, I'd target an UDFA and the most talented guy that I think is likely to go undrafted, (simply because of the overall depth of the class,) is Cole Hikutini. I saw him a couple times this past season and he is a really good receiver. 

Our TE depth chart right now is Marcedes, Koyack, and Sterling...after maybe guard that's gotta be the worst looking position on the roster. 

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Our TE depth chart right now is Marcedes, Koyack, and Sterling...after maybe guard that's gotta be the worst looking position on the roster. 

 

I'm sure that DC/TC/DM came away from their roster evaluation knowing they need to add to the TE group, but they may see the need as a much lower priority than you do. It's very conceivable that they like Koyack and Sterling more than you do. They both put some good work on tape in 2016.

 Even if those two aren't "destined for greatness" they may allow the F.O. to prioritize other needs ahead of TE in 2017. 

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I'm sure that DC/TC/DM came away from their roster evaluation knowing they need to add to the TE group, but they may see the need as a much lower priority than you do. It's very conceivable that they like Koyack and Sterling more than you do. They both put some good work on tape in 2016.

 Even if those two aren't "destined for greatness" they may allow the F.O. to prioritize other needs ahead of TE in 2017. 

I like Koyack and Sterling, but trusting what they did in meaningless games down the stretch would be pretty silly at the same time. What positions do you think are weaker than TE? I think it's a very short list. 

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I like Koyack and Sterling, but trusting what they did in meaningless games down the stretch would be pretty silly at the same time. What positions do you think are weaker than TE? I think it's a very short list. 

Guard, Safety, Cornerback and a viable back up QB would all go ahead of TE on my list. 

 

Evaluating Koyack and Sterling's play in regular season NFL games is not "pretty silly."  Not at all. 

 

Should we just "not trust" anything that happened after week nine since it was all meaningless?

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Sheesh, that's lolsy as the kids would say.

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Sheesh, that's lolsy as the kids would say.

Brilliant argument.  "lolsy"  

 

There's no starting left guard on the roster. There's no starting SS on the roster. There's no #2 CB on the roster outside of an undrafted guy and a 4th rounder that's better in the slot. 

 

Why is TE more important than any of those right now?

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Brilliant argument. "lolsy"


There's no starting left guard on the roster. There's no starting SS on the roster. There's no #2 CB on the roster outside of an undrafted guy and a 4th rounder that's better in the slot.


Why is TE more important than any of those right now?

I don't think he means tight end is the most important in terms of need.


More so saying in terms of position strength as whole tight end is probably the weakest. So at the moment you have Gibson and Cyp at safety, at guard you have Cann, Omameh and Albert if needs , at CB, you have Ramsey , Prince , Colvin , House at the moment. Where as at TE you only have Koyack and Sterling+ Lewis.

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Brilliant argument.  "lolsy"  

 

There's no starting left guard on the roster. There's no starting SS on the roster. There's no #2 CB on the roster outside of an undrafted guy and a 4th rounder that's better in the slot. 

 

Why is TE more important than any of those right now?

How do you debate someone who honestly thinks a depth chart of Ramsey, Colvin, and House is worse than Marcedes, Koyack, and Sterling. Hell, the #4 CB Josh Johnson has shown every bit as much as Koyack and Sterling.

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I don't think he means tight end is the most important in terms of need.


More so saying in terms of position strength as whole tight end is probably the weakest. So at the moment you have Gibson and Cyp at safety, at guard you have Cann, Omameh and Albert if needs , at CB, you have Ramsey , Prince , Colvin , House at the moment. Where as at TE you only have Koyack and Sterling.

I'm not even counting Prince cause technically we don't have him right now, but we will have him or someone better almost assuredly. 

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I don't think he means tight end is the most important in terms of need.


More so saying in terms of position strength as whole tight end is probably the weakest. So at the moment you have Gibson and Cyp at safety, at guard you have Cann, Omameh and Albert if needs , at CB, you have Ramsey , Prince , Colvin , House at the moment. Where as at TE you only have Koyack and Sterling.

Cyp is a FA.  Prince too.

 

At TE you have Lewis (who looked very good when healthy last year and had his lowest ever drop percentage) and then Koyack and Sterling. 

 

Does the position group as a whole look thin and unproven? Sure. 

 

But would you rather have Koyack and Sterling as your top two TEs if Lewis was hurt again   -- or House and Colvin as your starting corners if Jalen was injured?

 

The TE group might not look great on paper - but I'd trust those guys (plus a mid-late pick) to get it done for a year while I addressed the O-line and secondary issues first.

 

 Because I don't trust Sample, House, Johnson etc. to the degree I trust the TEs we have. 

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How do you debate someone who honestly thinks a depth chart of Ramsey, Colvin, and House is worse than Marcedes, Koyack, and Sterling. Hell, the #4 CB Josh Johnson has shown every bit as much as Koyack and Sterling.

 

It's about the drop-off after Ramsey.  There was no drop-off when Thomas and Lewis were hurt. 

That wouldn't be the case if Ramsey went down.  The drop-off would be monumental.

 

Johnson is a good example of the unproven factor that Sterling and Koyack share with him. 

 

But which position group scares you to throw "unproven" out there on the field more?  TE or CB? 

 

I'd start an unproven TE over an unproven corner all day long and twice on Sunday. 

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Cyp is a FA. Prince too.


At TE you have Lewis (who looked very good when healthy last year and had his lowest ever drop percentage) and then Koyack and Sterling.


Does the position group as a whole look thin and unproven? Sure.


But would you rather have Koyack and Sterling as your top two TEs if Lewis was hurt again -- or House and Colvin as your starting corners if Jalen was injured?


The TE group might not look great on paper - but I'd trust those guys (plus a mid-late pick) to get it done for a year while I addressed the O-line and secondary issues first.


Because I don't trust Sample, House, Johnson etc. to the degree I trust the TEs we have.

Personally I think guard is our weakest position group. Cann flashes here and there but isn't great , Omameh flashed too but was also pretty bad at times. Two below average guards at the moment, with Albert who can potentially play there but probably won't.


Its a critical spot to get right for next year too. We can fix so many spots on the team but if the OLine is bad next year we havn't a hope.

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