Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Austin Seferian-Jenkins a key to offense
In the 2015 season, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers offense showed that it has the potential to be one of the league’s best units in a couple of years, and by retaining both Dirk Koetter and Doug Martin this offseason, the Bucs have ensured that the sky remains the limit for this Jameis Winston-led attack.
The three biggest stars on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers offense are top-three RB Doug Martin, second-year sensation Jameis Winston, and elite wide receiver Mike Evans, but the offense goes beyond just those three players. Due to injuries, Martin, Winston, and Evans, for the most part, carried this unit in 2015, but for the Buccaneers to truly reach their potential on that side of the ball, the health of players like Austin Seferian-Jenkins and Vincent Jackson will be critical.
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Of those two players, Seferian-Jenkins might be the bigger key, and it’s for two reasons. Firstly, getting production out of the tight end position would be massive for the Buccaneers offense, and, secondly, ASJ is ten years younger than Jackson and qualifies as a “building block” type of player.
Unfortunately, Seferian-Jenkins appeared in even fewer games than Jackson last season due to injury, as he missed more than half the season (nine games) with a shoulder injury. His health will be a concern until he can prove that he can play in a full 16 games, as he has only featured in a combined 16 games through his first two seasons.
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Despite the injuries, the former John Mackey Award winner and second-round steal out of Washington has shown that he can be an impact player in this league. Excellent pass-catching tight ends aren’t easy to find, and the division rival New Orleans Saints showed us the value of the position by signing Coby Fleener for more than $7 million per year this offseason.
Seferian-Jenkins has better physical tools than Fleener, and he certainly showed it in glimpses last season with four touchdowns in just seven games and a whopping 16.1 yards per reception. Those are tremendous numbers for a young tight end, and they reenforce the notion that ASJ is a player blessed with elite physical tools.
Heading into his third season in the NFL, Seferian-Jenkins won’t turn 24 until the end of September, which means he has a perfectly tantalizing blend of talent, experience, and upside. Winston’s aggressive style of passing, his ability to play with big receivers (ASJ is 6’5″, after all), and Koetter’s “get after it” mentality should all serve the man with a 37.5-inch vertical and 4.56s wheels well.
Playing with Evans and Jackson on either side of him will have its benefits, especially if Seferian-Jenkins can get into a groove for an entire season. Remember, he had 110 yards on seven targets and two TDs in Week 1 against the Tennessee Titans and caught two of three targets for 29 yards against the New Orleans Saints in Week 2 before his season was disrupted by that slow-to-heal shoulder injury.
The Buccaneers know how valuable ASJ can be for them going forward, and I’m sure that’s part of the reason why they eased him into his return. There are fewer third-year breakout candidates who are as appealing as Seferian-Jenkins, and if he can stay healthy, then he could be the man that pushes an offense that was fifth in yardage put just 20th in points over the top.
Seriously, he’s that gifted (just look at his measurables again), and his average of 8.7 yards per target last season can’t be glossed over either. Seferian-Jenkins fits in perfectly as a starting tight end and No. 3 option in this offense’s passing game, and if you throw in Martin and Charles Sims, particularly the latter, catching passes out of the backfield, then you can see why Winston is in good hands. Heck, if the Bucs can add a productive No. 3 receiver early on Day 3, perhaps someone like Rashard Higgins if he falls, then the rest of the NFC South is definitely on notice.
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Tight ends often have a difficult time setting the world on fire in their first couple of seasons, but the only reason for Seferian-Jenksins’s middling production is injury. Based on his production last season from a TD and YPT standpoint, ASJ could have been a top TE in 2015 without that shoulder injury, and all that’s missing is the consistency that comes with experience and health. Essentially, it’s injuries that are standing in his way of making a big mark on this offense and on the league as a whole, and it feels like stardom is creeping on his door, ready to bust it open any day now.