The Jacksonville Jaguars will have a representative at the league's newest gathering of the best tight ends the sport has to offer.
Travis Kelce, George Kittle, and Greg Olsen have bonded together to form 'Tight End University' this offseason, a summit in Nashville in which the league's top tight ends will come together to bond and share tools of their trade. Now, it appears Jaguars' tight end Chris Manhertz will be joining the group.
Manhertz is the first Jaguars tight end to have his attendance at the event confirmed. Other tight ends in the NFL who are set to attend include Mark Andrews, Darren Waller, Irv Smith, Austin Hooper, Marcedes Lewis, Evan Engram, Hunter Henry, O.J. Howard, Jonnu Smith, Kyle Pitts, and more.
"The tight end room, everybody loves each other. Everybody watches each other's film and I think it's going to be cool to get everybody in the same building to truly try and make this position a staple in every single offense," Kelce told CBS Sports about the summit this week.
The Jaguars signed Manhertz to a two-year $7.2 million deal this offseason. It isn't surprising to see him extended an invitation to the summit considering his reputation as one of the NFL's best blocking tight ends, along with the fact that he played in Carolina with Olsen.
In 70 career games, Manhertz has caught 12 passes for 142 yards (11.8 yards per catch) and one touchdown. Manhertz' best season as a receiver came in 2020 when he started 12 games for the Panthers and caught six passes for 52 yards.
"Yeah, he was a guy that we [identified] early in the free agency process. You say, okay, ‘How do you help a young quarterback?’ Number one, is [to] have a solid running game," Jaguars head coach Urban Meyer said about Manhertz on Thursday.
"And we had him as one of the top blocking tight ends in the NFL. He’s a guy that didn’t play high school, didn’t play college football, so his [best] football is ahead of him. We think he can be a functional receiver as well. But he’s highly respected throughout the NFL as a blocker. We’ve talked to people who have gone against him, we’ve talked to people who that coached him and he’s even been better than advertised, since he’s been here. So, that was the number one reason, was to be able to extend the line of scrimmage which helps a young quarterback. That was the reason and we went and got him and we are happy to have him.”
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