Is Jacksonville Jaguars’ veteran tight end Hunter Long on the outside looking in following the 2026 NFL draft?
Of the Jaguars’ 10 selections, two of them were used to select tight ends, taking Nate Boerkircher and Tanner Koziol.
Boerkircher was a blocking-first tight end at Texas A&M and could compete directly with Quintin Morris for playing time. Tanner Koziol, from Houston, could be direct competition for Long, potentially pushing him off the roster.
Why is Hunter Long’s roster spot potentially in jeopardy?
While Morris is facing competition, I still expect him to make the team. For one, he emerged as TE2 during the second half of last season. In addition to that, even if Boerkircher earns playing time, I anticipate that we will see more three-tight-end sets from Liam Coen this season.
With Long, however, he and Koziol both fit that pass-catching-first mold. Not to mention that Long appeared to be falling out of favor late last season, not seeing any offensive snaps from Week 15 on.
And while cap savings won’t be the driving factor behind this decision, it’s worth noting that the Jaguars will save $1.382 million in cap space for the 2026 season by moving on from Long.
Between Brenton Strange, Morris, Boerkircher, and Koziol, that is already four roster spots accounted for. And although there is nothing stopping the Jaguars from rostering five tight ends, that isn’t the norm around the NFL, and doing so would force the Jaguars to go light at another position. At times last season, the Jaguars were comfortable carrying only three tight ends on the 53-man roster.
Not helping Long’s case for a roster spot is that he and Koziol could end up filling similar roles within Coen’s offense.
This article originally appeared on Jaguars Wire: Is Jaguars veteran TE on outside looking in after NFL draft?
Reporting by Paul Bretl, Jaguars Wire / Jaguars Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
