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FILE – Houston tight end Tanner Koziol (15) runs a drill at the NFL football scouting combine in Indianapolis, Feb. 27, 2026.<\/p>\n
Michael Conroy\/AP<\/p>\n
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) \u2014 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.<\/p>\n
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General manager James Gladstone said it was part of a leaguewide trend to get more tight ends on the field at the same time.<\/p>\n
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Now, though, the Jaguars are heavy at the position \u2014 and still need to sign starter Brenton Strange to a long-term contract.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s Tanner Koziol in the sixth, No. 164 overall.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe definitely got tougher,\u201d Coen said.<\/p>\n
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Gladstone said \u201cheavier tight end sets\u201d have become a trend and \u201csomething that got prioritized.\u201d 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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe felt certainly a heavier tight end run throughout the course of the back end of the second into the third, and typically that\u2019s a window where the wide receiver run is really occurring,\u201d Gladstone said. \u201cI think that certainly showed itself. But he was the one we were hunting up, and we weren\u2019t going to allow that to ever be something that we risked.\u201d<\/p>\n
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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.<\/p>\n
His career highlight came while blocking former Colorado cornerback\/receiver Travis Hunter in a game in 2023. Boerkircher, playing at Nebraska, bullied Hunter for more than 15 yards before Hunter ripped off his helmet.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s his demeanor,\u201d Gladstone said. \u201cThat is a great visual for how he operates. \u2026 It was certainly something that caught our attention and led to why we ended up choosing him.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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He was one of 17 tight ends drafted in the first five rounds.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, it\u2019s awesome to see tight ends get the love,\u201d Koziol said. \u201cThe position has been undervalued for a little bit and \u2026 it\u2019s been going up and up in trends that you\u2019re seeing in offenses. How many tight ends, how much more they\u2019re getting on the field and more bigger sets in the run game, it\u2019s really cool to see and I\u2019m really excited where the position continues to go.\u201d<\/p>\n
A tap-dancing nose tackle<\/p>\n
Third-round pick Regis credited his tap-dancing skills as the main reason he’s so light on his feet as a 317-pound nose tackle. He starred in the musical \u201cNewsies\u201d in high school and still believes he could put on a show despite now wearing size 16 shoes.<\/p>\n
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A guy with a knack for special teams<\/p>\n
Fourth-round pick Wesley Williams, a 6-foot-4, 256-pound defensive end from Duke, blocked five kicks (punts or field goals) during his time with the Blue Devils.<\/p>\n
\u201cHonestly, I would say simply because I care,” he said. “A lot of people take that as a play off, and it\u2019s kind of just not how I was taught to play the game. You\u2019d be surprised how many extra plays you can find just by always being on.\u201d<\/p>\n
A \u2018unicorn\u2019 on the field and in the weight room<\/p>\n
The Jaguars chose Baylor receiver Josh Cameron in the sixth round. The 6-foot-1, 224-pound Texan caught 69 passes for 872 yards and nine TDs last year. He also squats a whopping 528 pounds.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThat is very real,\u201d he said. \u201cFrom me, you\u2019re going to get a physical, tough receiver, someone who likes to do the dirty work, someone who likes to do it all and someone who is really a unicorn. I\u2019m not your stereotypical receiver body-type-wise.\u201d<\/p>\n