Free Agency 2019: Tight Ends

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February 4, 2019

by Steve Thomas

Welcome to the start of free agency season, everyone!  The Super Bowl is over, the Patriots won again, good for them, blah blah blah.  If the Redskins are going to get back to a Super Bowl for the first time since 1992, it’s going to take no less than a monumental, wide-scale reorganization of the entire operation.  That obviously isn’t going to happen, but the least the team can do – and the least they probably will do – is to participate in free agency.  Whether they do it in a smart, forward-thinking way is anyone’s guess, but our job here at The Hog Sty is to proceed with our annual free agency series with the vain hope that the team will use free agency effectively.

Without making any cuts (which they will do), the Redskins have approximately $20M in available cap space for next year; that’s not a ton of room, but it’s not nothing, either.  Therefore, they do have the ability to spend some money and bring in quality players to fill holes on the roster.  For this exercise, I have automatically excluded every player over the age of 30.  That’s not to say that the Redskins won’t sign a player that age or older.  They probably will.  It just means that I don’t believe that a team in the Redskins’ position, a mediocre team with major roster holes that most likely isn’t going to be a serious contender next year, should be signing players that age.

This week, it’s tight ends.  Spoiler alert: this isn’t a deep free agent class unless a team is willing to bring in an older player.  The Redskins currently have Jordan Reed, Vernon Davis, Jeremy Sprinkle, and a host of young prospects.  Reed and Davis come with cap hits of $9.67M and $6.33M, respectively.  If Washington wanted to make a bold move to simultaneously shore up this position and save a ton of cap space all at once, they could cut both Reed and Davis, thereby saving a total of over $11M ($5M for Davis and over $6M for Reed) as pre-June 1 cuts, then sign a quality free agent and select a tight end from this year’s draft class, which happens to be chock full of outstanding prospects.  That probably won’t happen, but it should.  Here are this year’s free agents.

The top of the heap

1. Jesse James, 6’7” / 260, Steelers, age 24: James was a 2015 fifth round pick from Penn St. by the Steelers.  He’s had a productive four years in Pittsburgh, posting a total of 120 receptions on 173 targets for 1,189 yards and 9 touchdowns.  He’s also been healthy, playing in all 16 games each of the last 3 seasons, for a total of 56 games played and 36 started.   James’ 2018 was a bit less productive than the prior season, as measured by total receptions, with 30 receptions, compared to 43 receptions in 2017.  However, he has a solid 69.3% career completion percentage, including 76.9% in 2018.  James will be just 25 years old when the 2019 season starts.  He has traditional size and is known as a quality blocker, but also has proven receiving skills.  James has the ability to move right into a starting role and be both an asset to a team’s run game and at least some threat in the passing game, understanding that he’s been the beneficiary of a top-shelf franchise quarterback in Ben Roethlisberger.  The Redskins will probably have to overpay James to get him to leave the Steelers, so he will most likely be looking for a contract with a cap hit in the range of $4M – $5M.

The second tier

2. C.J. Uzomah, 6’6” / 265, Bengals, age 26: Uzomah was selected by the Bengals in the fifth round of the 2015 draft out of Auburn. He’s played in 45 games in 4 years, with 27 starts, 79 receptions on 118 targets, 769 yards, and 5 touchdowns.  Uzomah took a substantial step forward in 2018, mostly due to the latest in Tyler Eifert’s never-ending stream of injuries, starting 15 games and becoming the Bengals’ #1 tight end and their third-leading receiver. He had 43 receptions at a 67.2% completion percentage for 439 yards and 3 touchdowns this past season.  He has the traditional size necessary to be an effective in-line blocker and has proven competence as a receiver.  His production to date doesn’t warrant a as contract nearly as large as James, so he can most likely be signed for a reasonable rate.  Plus, even the Redskins are a more attractive option than the Bengals in many ways.

3. James O’Shaughnessy, 6’4” / 245, Jaguars, age 27: O’Shaughnessy was a 2015 fifth round pick out of Illinois St. by the Kansas City Chiefs. He was traded to New England during the 2017 offseason. The Patriots waived him shortly thereafter, and he was subsequently claimed by the Jaguars, where he’s been since that time.  In his four seasons, O’Shaughnessy has played in 53 games, starting 16, with a total of 46 receptions on 74 targets, 449 yards, and 1 touchdown.  He’s known as a blocking tight end, but his receiving numbers have suffered due to the atrocious quarterbacking in Jacksonville.  His 2018 numbers were not impressive: 24 receptions in 38 targets, for 214 total yards, but, again, Jacksonville’s quarterbacks were not up to a basic NFL level of competence.  O’Shaughnessy isn’t the next Tony Gonzales, but if given the chance he does have the ability to develop into a competent starter with skills in both blocking and the passing game.

Other potential prospects  

4. Nick Boyle, 6’4” / 270, Ravens, age 26 in February: Ravens’ starting TE.  Produced modestly in passing game but is a quality blocker.

5. Jeff Heuerman, 6’5” / 255, Broncos, age 26: Started 10 games for Broncos in 2018. Took a step forward in passing game in 2018, with 31 receptions for 281 yards.

6. Demetrius Harris, 6’7” / 230, Chiefs, 27 years old: Travis Kelce’s backup. Tremendous height.  31 receptions in 2018 vs just 18 in 2016 and 2017 combined.  Benefitted from being in the NFL’s top passing offense.

7. Tyler Kroft, 6’6” / 250, Bengals, age 26: Had a big 2017, with 42 receptions but was injured for most of 2018. Another prospect with traditional size and demonstrated receiving ability.

8. Maxx Williams, 6’4” / 252, Ravens, age 24: Blocking tight end.

9. Neal Sterling, 6’4” / 257, Jets, age 27: Has some talent despite low career statistics. Was considered to be a starting prospect heading in 2018 before being put on injured reserve due to multiple concussions. Numbers suffered from being with the awful Jets.

10. Richard Rodgers, 6’4” / 257, Eagles, age 27: Had a very productive 2015 in Green Bay, with 58 receptions for 510 yards, and had 30 receptions in 2016. Spent much of 2018 on injured reserve.

11. Geoff Swaim, 6’4” / 260, Cowboys, age 25: Deccent production in 2018 starting as Jason Witten’s replacement until he suffered a broken wrist in the 9th game of the season. Had 26 receptions for 242 yards and 1 touchdown and an 81.3% completion percentage. His 26 receptions projects out to 46 receptions over 16 games.

12. Ricky Seals-Jones, 6’5” / 243, Cardinals, age 23. Progressed from 12 receptions in 2017 to 34 receptions for 343 yards in 2018 as Jermaine Gresham’s principal backup. Is an exclusive rights free agent, so will probably require compensation to Arizona in order to bring him to the Redskins.

13. Matt LaCosse, 6’6” / 255, Broncos, age 26: Good size. Produced 24 receptions in 2018 as Jeff Heuerman’s backup.  Started 5 games in 2018.  Is an exclusive rights free agent, so will probably require compensation to the Broncos to bring him to Washington.

Please stay away  

Tyler Eifert, 6’6” / 255, Bengals, age 28: Eifert is a frustrating player.  He has natural talent and ability on a par with Travis Kelce and Jordan Reed, but just can’t stay healthy.  He is one of the NFL’s elite modern tight ends when he’s on the field; his problem is that he’s always injured. Eifert has played in just 43 of 96 regular season games in his 6 year career, which is 44.8%.  For comparison’s sake, Reed has played in 65 of 96 games.  Eifert has suffered a dislocated elbow in 2014, a back injury in 2016, another back injury and a cyst in his knee in 2017, and a broken ankle in 2018.  Eifert sounds like an intriguing replacement for Reed and/or Davis, but simply can’t be trusted.  There is no point letting Reed go to replace him with someone who is even more injury-prone than Reed.  Some team will probably gamble on Eifert, but hopefully it won’t be the Redskins.

Hypothetically, as I mentioned above, if the Redskins cut Jordan Reed and Vernon Davis, they could sign Jesse James to a long-term deal at a value something less than Vernon Davis’ cap hit, then draft a tight end and continue to develop Jeremy Sprinkle.  It would leave the team with slightly less capability than they had in 2018 – at least when Jordan Reed is healthy, which is always a roll of the dice – but better off in the long term.  That surely won’t happen, but it’s a nice thought.

Do you have any thoughts on what the Redskins should do with their tight end group?  Let me know in the comment section.