Tanner

Koziol

Per Shipley, Koziol “will earn reps” in the regular season if he keeps making plays. The Jaguars drafted Koziol in Round 5 and fellow TE Nate Boerkircher in Round 2 this year, but Shipley believes it’s been a ‘relatively quiet offseason for Boerkircher,” and Boerkircher missed Thursday’s practice for an undisclosed reason. He missed a practice last week as well. Koziol has shown “a real ability to make plays on the ball.” He is unlikely to garner a fantasy-relevant workload playing behind TE1 Brenton Strange, but Koziol is a name to know moving forward.

Shipley said the Jaguars drafting Texas A&M TE Nate Boerkircher and Houston TE Tanner Koziol in the 2026 draft does not mean the Jaguars coaching staff has a smaller role planned for Strange, who last season 46 catches, 540 yards, and three touchdowns as the team’s TE1. Shipley expected Strange’s pass game involvement to grow as the Jaguars deploy more tight end-heavy offensive sets. The Jaguars, Shipley said, are “clearly hoping that injecting the [tight end] room with talent should allow Strange to produce at an even higher level than before.” Last season Strange was targeted on 21 percent of his routes, which ranked 25th out of 58 qualifying tight ends. Though he’ll likely be the team’s third or fourth option in the passing game, Strange should be a viable fantasy option in 12 and 14-team leagues this season.

Boerkircher sat out on Monday, but we do not yet know why. Koziol looks “smooth in space” and took the advantage of his opportunities. His stand out showings as a pass-catcher have “helped him make some real progress at the start of OTAs.” Kozial was a bit of a dynasty darling in this season’s rookie draft cycle. We do not expect him to be relevant in re-draft this season, but these reports are encouraging for his long-term outlook.

Koziol (6’6.5/247) spent three seasons at Ball State honing his skills. He led the Cardinals with seven touchdowns as a rookie. While his three touchdowns in 2023 don’t pop off the box score, Koziol was the only player on the team to score more than one touchdown through the air. He then put it all together in 2024 with 94 receptions for 839 yards and eight scores. Having thoroughly dominated the MAC, Koziol got called up to the Big 12 for his final season of college ball. He led the conference with 74 receptions in his lone season at Houston. Koziol turned that into 727 yards and six scores. Despite his gaudy counting stats, Koziol has several limitations. He is a non-factor after the catch, averaging just 3.5 YAC per catch over his career. He’s also a lumbering route runner, leading to an inflated number of his targets being contested. All in, Koziol looks like a rim finisher in the red zone, but a high-leverage TE2 role may be his ceiling. The Jaguars double-down at tight end this draft, adding more of a receiving threat in Koziol after selecting a blocking tight end in Nate Boerkircher in the second round.