With all the roster tinkering and moves that the New York Jets and Joe Douglas made in the off-season, it’s hard to argue that the sum of the parts stands on much more solid footing. The rebuild of the roster is well into the second full season, and Jets fans have rejoiced at the almost-finished product.
Proof of wholesale roster improvements in many different areas is evident. The Jets stripped down one position room more than any other – the tight end room. The renovation of our tight ends was a necessity.
Not only did the Jets add veteran leadership in CJ Uzomah via free agency, but they also scored what many are calling the steal of the free agent period when they signed Tyler Conklin from the Minnesota Vikings. Both players are foundation pieces to help bridge the gap in this rebuild of the tight end position.
The beautiful thing, the overhaul didn’t stop with the two free agent acquisitions. Why not throw a cherry right on top? The Jets did just that when they selected Ohio State (and Long Island’s own) Jeremy Ruckert in the third round of the 2022 NFL Draft.
When looking at the new tight end room, it is sufficient to say the Jets hit it out of the park, and Jeremy Ruckert is the one that puts us over the top. The tight end pipeline is in full effect at One Jets Drive.
Ruckert, who many argued was right up there as the best prospect in this year’s class stands at 6’5’’ tall and weighs 255 pounds. Ruckert brings an NFL-ready frame and toughness to the Jets and offers them some much needed depth at a position where the cupboard has been pretty darn bare for the past few seasons.
Known more in college for his blocking than his receiving, Ruckert does possess some untapped potential in the pass game. Although he is no Kyle Pitts, he is athletic enough to get up the seam and smart enough to move around – which enables him to easily find the soft spots of the hook/curl zones.
A former high school wide receiver with extremely strong hands, Ruckert uses high-level body positioning to wall off would-be defenders with general ease.
With all that said, why were his receiving numbers so mediocre in college?
Well, it was not for a lack of skill or lack of effort – there were only so many balls to go around the Ohio State offense that had names such as Chris Olave, Garrett Wilson and Jaxon Smith-Ngjiba on the outside catching passes.
The sky is the limit for Ruckert, and he literally fell into the perfect situation here with the Jets.
That being said – Jets fans, lets pump the brakes.
Before we talk more in depth about the tight end position as a whole, let’s paint a picture in a very metaphorical fashion…
Close your eyes and envision this – you make the decision to spend some money and you purchase a horse – it’s a big horse – a thoroughbred if you will. As a an owner of horses in the past, you are very familiar with the breed, but this one is special – this one is different. Your staff takes the horse home and treat it very well.
There are some glimmers of hope from your horse in his practice trots. There is a buzz around your horse amongst others in the horse racing field. Plenty of good press about your horse, too.
Unfortunately, in its first race, your horse sputters out of the gate. Your horse is used to running on softer, greener pastures at a much different pace slower. Your horse is no longer the big thoroughbred in a little stable.
Do you give up on the horse? The answer is probably “no” – especially since you invested time, money and sweat equity into the horse. You are going to give this investment some time to get its legs, get comfortable and (hopefully) reap in the rewards once it fully understands its place and role.
The NFL tight end position is very similar to the thoroughbred discussed here. For reasons yet undetermined, the transition for the tight end from the college game to the NFL is one that takes time to develop.
As you can see from the graph below, tight ends generally take a few years to develop. While just 19 total peak seasons took place before a tight end hits the quarter-century mark, 25-year-old tight ends accounted for 23 of the peak seasons.
On the average, the peak season for tight ends falls between ages 25-27. Tight ends come into the league from college between the ages of 21-24.
Looking deeper, more tight ends have achieved a peak season at 31 years old than at 24 years old. We can only speculate the reasoning for that, but clearly, it takes some time for tight ends to develop in the NFL.
What makes the position so hard to adjust to?
Most tight ends come into the league one of two ways: with the ability to perform as a blocker but lacking the athleticism necessary to be a big part of the offense or as pure pass catchers who have to hone their craft as blockers in order to be reliably inserted into an NFL line-up.
NFL offenses are more intricate. Much more complex blocking assignments and line calls to digest. Coaches in the NFL ask the tight end prospects to run a totally different and much more in-depth route tree as well.
Tie in the fact that most rookies need to learn some sort of combination of playing in-line, flexed out as the move TE or in the backfield as an H-Back. It tends to be a daunting task for most rookies, whose heads are already spinning by just being in the league.
Reality is, many pass catching tight ends never have to do much pass blocking in college, so NFL coaches have to throw them to the wolves once they reach the pros. And that puts coaches in a precarious position:
Do you risk the pass protection (and the well-being of the QB) by testing a tight end who is not quite ready? Or do we ease that tight end into the lineup, and hope that slowing down the game and process produces results down the road?
Then you have the players who are plus blocker, but lack the chops to move the needle in the pass offense. In college, these players are known by a different name – they are offensive tackles.
All jokes aside, even the best of blockers at the TE position in college need to learn new, more complex blocking schemes, new offensive vernacular and in-line calls. Plus, they now line up against elite level defensive athletes play after play.
Jeremy Ruckert has something very positive in his favor – going for him in year one is that there is no pressure. With the two established veterans signed as free agents in the off-season (Uzomah and Conklin), the Jets can bring Ruckert along slowly and let him grow and learn the nuances of playing the position.
Lack of pressure, that is the key.
Ruckert is coming off of a foot injury that occurred in the Senior Bowl, which put him about three weeks behind. Not ideal, but as stated earlier a lot easier to swallow with the vision of Ruckert is more pipeline player than immediate contributor.
This will allow him to get some much-needed time in the weight room adding some mass to his lower half, which will ultimately help him to continue to be the vicious in-line blocker his reputation already holds.
Not rushing Ruckert also gets him some extra TLC with our favorite positional coach, Ron Middleton. The time to get stronger & work on his mechanics under the tutelage of one of the best positional coaches in the game – what could be better to a young mans development?
More than likely, Ruckert will learn to play and manage the H-Back role this season. The Jets cut Trevon Wesco and Nick Bawden is on season ending IR, fullback/H-back suddenly becomes a need for the team. For the record, Ruckert did it in college less than 10% of the time.
The developmental trajectory of tight ends in the NFL is such that they rarely make an instant impact upon entering the league, regardless of how highly they are taken. The complexity of the position at the pro level towers the college game. As such, virtually all the best tight ends in the league take at least 2 to 3 years to come into their own.
When you take into the account all these factors – from a solid core of veteran players already on the roster, to his foot injury just to name a few, Joe Douglas and the Jets can afford to take their time in developing Jeremy Ruckert.
What does that mean? It means that Jets fans need to temper their expectations here in year one and look toward year three or four for the true Jeremy Ruckert break out.
Allow me to repeat – the sky is the limit for this kid. He possesses so much potential that Ron Middleton and the rest of the Jets coaching staff are going to have to tap into.
The Jets are finally catching up to the upper echelon of the league in building depth so you can have a true pipeline or “Next Man Up” mentality.
People say that pressure forms diamonds, but it can also burst pipes. Now that we are forming our own pipeline of talent let’s try to take this one slow – this thoroughbred is going to be special.
How dark it was before the dawn…
Let’s go Jets…
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