In another world, Minnesota Vikings tight end Josh Oliver would have been the Jacksonville Jaguars’ long-awaited successor to Marcedes Lewis.
Instead, Oliver played just a handful of games for the Jaguars after being drafted in the third-round of the 2019 NFL Draft. Taken after the Jaguars took a cornerstone player in Josh Hines-Allen and then a four-year starter in Jawaan Taylor, Oliver was hampered by injuries until the Jaguars traded him to the Baltimore Ravens in 2021 for a conditional 2022 draft pick.
Since then, though, Oliver has made the Jaguars and former general manager Trent Baalke and head coach Urban Meyer look foolish.
“I didn’t know Josh. That was our personnel side that made that decision and ran it by me before we did it and I agreed. So, I just didn’t know a lot about him, and I know he’s had some injuries since he’s been here, and we decided to make that move,” Meyer said after the Jaguars traded Oliver shortly after he was hired.
Since then, Oliver has become one of the top utility tight ends in all of football and has signed two different deals with the Minnesota Vikings for a combined total value of $44.25 million, including a recent three-year extension.
This was a clear miss by the Jaguars’ 2021 regime, and it has been for years. Yes, Oliver barely played after Dave Caldwell invested a top-70 pick in him. But the Jaguars shipped him off for nothing in return, and he has blossomed since then.
So much so that Oliver was recently tabbed by ESPN’s Bill Barnwell as the best blocking tight end in the entire NFL. Ouch.
“The numbers back up the idea that Oliver is an elite blocker. He ranked fourth among eligible tight ends in ESPN’s run block win rate a year ago, finishing just behind a former teammate in now-Jaguars tight end Johnny Mundt. NFL Next Gen Stats credited Oliver with only two pressures allowed across 55 pass-blocking snaps, producing a pressure rate that was just about half the league average among tight ends,” Barnwell said.
The Jaguars have since amended for the mistake with the drafting and development of Brenton Strange, but this was a clear misfire made by the ghosts of Jaguars past.
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