Jets TE Look Ahead | This Position Finds Itself on the Way Up

No Longer with Team: Cager

POTENTIAL FREE AGENTS IN ’23

’23: Stability and Growth
One construction job that GM Joe Douglas and HC Robert Saleh undertook with gusto in the offseason was the rebuild at tight end. Ryan Griffin, Tyler Kroft and Trevon Wesco departed. Arriving in free agency were two veteran blockers/pass catchers in Tyler Conklin from Minnesota and C.J. Uzomah from Cincinnati. Ohio Stater and Long Islander Jeremy Ruckert was selected in the third round of the draft. The steadiness was there, game to game. The production was good, could be greater, and should continue to rise in the unit’s second season together.

Conklin (58 catches), Uzomah (21) and Ruckert (1) combined for 80 receptions in 2022, the most in a season by the Jets’ tight end position since 1995, when Johnny Mitchell (45), Kyle Brady (26), Fred Baxter (18) and Tyrone Davis (1) produced 90 TE receptions. And the rushing game in one- and two-TE formations was decent, and before rookie Breece Hall’s injury in Game 7 at Denver, it was outstanding with an average of 5.01 yards/carry.

“I’m really excited about Jeremy,” Saleh said of Rucker before the Miami finale. “I know he hasn’t had a lot of action this year, but that’s more a testament to Conk and C.J. The excuses I can make for him is that he missed all of OTAs and he missed all of training camp so he’s just kind of been behind the eightball. If he can put together a really good offseason, I think people will see a damn good tight end.”