Jaguars double up on tight ends in NFL draft in hopes of using more heavy sets in 2026 season

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — The Jacksonville Jaguars doubled up on tight ends and landed two very different players in the NFL draft: a bruising blocker and a bigger guy with some moves. General manager James Gladstone said it was part of a leaguewide trend to get more tight ends on the field at the same time. Now, though, the Jaguars are heavy at the position — and still need to sign starter Brenton Strange to a long-term contract. Jacksonville opened the three-day draft by selecting Texas A&M tight end Nate Boerkircher in the second round Friday night and added to the room Saturday by picking Houston’s Tanner Koziol in the sixth, No. 164 overall. Gladstone and coach Liam Coen added four guys in between, including Texas A&M nose tackle Albert Regis and Oregon guard Emmanuel Pregnon. But the team's draft class could ultimately be defined by the tight end duo. “We definitely got tougher,” Coen said. Gladstone said “heavier tight end sets” have become a trend and “something that got prioritized.” He pointed to the Los Angeles Rams as a team that used three tight-end sets throughout the season, most notable in a victory against Jacksonville in London in which L.A. was without All-Pro receiver Puka Nacua. The Jags also have made it clear they need to improve a ground game that ranked near the bottom of the league in 2025, averaging 115.1 yards rushing a game and 4.0 yards a carry. Boerkircher should help. The 6-foot-4, 245-pounder was the 56th overall choice, at least a round earlier than most prognosticators had him getting drafted. “We felt certainly a heavier tight end run throughout the course of the back end of the second into the third, and typically that’s a window where the wide receiver run is really occurring,” Gladstone said. “I think that certainly showed itself. But he was the one we were hunting up, and we weren’t going to allow that to ever be something that we risked.” Boerkircher played four seasons at Nebraska before transferring to A&M for his final year. He caught 19 passes for 198 yards and three touchdowns as a senior. His career highlight came while blocking former Colorado cornerback/receiver in a game in 2023. Boerkircher, playing at Nebraska, bullied Hunter for more than 15 yards before Hunter ripped off his helmet. “That’s his demeanor,” Gladstone said. “That is a great visual for how he operates. … It was certainly something that caught our attention and led to why we ended up choosing him.” Jacksonville added the 6-foot-7, 250-pound Koziol three rounds later. He caught 74 passes for 727 yards and six touchdowns in his lone season at Houston. He spent three years at Ball State and a semester at Wisconsin. He was one of 17 tight ends drafted in the first five rounds. “Yeah, it’s awesome to see tight ends get the love,” Koziol said. “The position has been undervalued for a little bit and … it’s been going up and up in trends that you’re seeing in offenses. How many tight ends, how much more they’re getting on the field and more bigger sets in the run game, it’s really cool to see and I’m really excited where the position continues to go.”