Here is the third of a 10-part series breaking down the Jacksonville Jaguars' free-agency needs, position by position:
Tight end
Who is on the roster: Marcedes Lewis, Clay Harbor, Nic Jacobs, Marcel Jensen.
Players scheduled to become free agents on March 10: Fendi Onobun.
Analysis: This position has underperformed for the past two seasons and it was particularly bad in 2014. Since Lewis caught 52 passes in 2012, the tight ends combined to catch 55 passes in 2013 and just 47 this past season. There were 18 tight ends who caught more passes on their own than the entire group of Jaguars tight ends did this past season. Lewis is entering the final year of a five-year, $34 million contract that he received after catching a career high 58 passes for 700 yards and 10 touchdowns in 2010 but his production has not matched those numbers. He has caught more than 39 passes just once in the last four seasons (52 in 2012) and has missed 13 games in the past two seasons, including eight in 2014. However, he’s not a dynamic pass-catcher even when he is healthy. He is a solid blocker, but it’s not hard to find blocking tight ends. He's scheduled to make $6.65 million in 2015 and the Jaguars aren't able to rework his deal because they're not tight against the salary cap, but they could sign him to an extension that would ease that number. Lewis, however, would have to be willing to take less money than he's making now. The Jaguars also could release him and try to re-sign him to a smaller contract. Harbor is the only other tight end on the roster with more than two career catches. He has 97 in five seasons, including 50 the past two seasons with the Jaguars. He’s a move tight end who struggles as a blocker but he was productive in the passing game in Lewis’ absence last season. Harbor caught 25 passes in the eight games that Lewis missed but caught just one pass after Lewis returned in Week 12. Onobun, who has two career catches, spent the season on IR. Jacobs (two) and Jensen (one) were used as blockers as rookies in '14. The Jaguars are expected to aggressively pursue a pass-catching tight end in free agency.
NFL free agents of interest: The top candidate is Julius Thomas but other names to watch are Charles Clay, Jordan Cameron and Jermaine Gresham.
