The Jets signed tight end Tyler Conklin to a three-year deal ahead of the 2022 season and he caught over 50 passes in each of the past three seasons as their starting tight end. However, that deal is now coming to an end, so the Jets will have to decide whether to try and keep him in the fold.

So, should the Jets bring Conklin back?

Why Conklin should be back

Conklin was a reliable performer for the Jets over the past three seasons. He only missed one game and that was a late-season game this year when his wife went into labor. That durability has been valuable for a team that didn’t have much depth at the position this season and was forced into multiple offensive line changes over the past few years.

His hands are also reliable, as he dropped just one pass this season and a total of just seven on 170 targets during his three seasons with the team.

Conklin prides himself on being a complete tight end with his 6-foot-3, 248-pound frame giving him adequate size to line up inline or to run routes and produce from the slot.

Although he fell short of his stated goal of making it to the Pro Bowl for the first time in 2024, Conklin has established himself as a starter-level player over the last four seasons following a slow start to his career in Minnesota.

If the Jets do let him walk, they don’t have much left at the tight end position so it would create a hole. They were probably hoping that 2022 third-round pick Jeremy Ruckert and 2023 seventh-round pick Zack Kuntz would have proven themselves worthy of a bigger role by now, but this hasn’t been the case for either of them.

Why Conklin shouldn’t be back

Although Conklin was a dependable contributor in 2024, his production was inconsistent during the period after which Todd Downing took over the playcalling. Over the next eight games, he had just 136 receiving yards on 19 catches. While he had a couple of productive games down the stretch, much of this production came in garbage time.

Although Conklin prides himself on being able to line up anywhere, his blocking has typically been inconsistent. He’s been employed increasingly less often in pass protection over the past few seasons, suggesting they don’t really trust him in that role, and his run-blocking grades according to analytical sites like Pro Football Focus have been poor while showing no sign of improvement.

Conklin also isn’t a dynamic big-play threat. He doesn’t break tackles and averaged just 8.8 yards per catch in 2024, the lowest number he’s posted since 2019. While he did catch a career-high four touchdown passes, he hasn’t typically been much of a red zone threat in his career with just seven touchdowns in the previous six seasons.

Any talk that he’s an ascending player with Pro Bowl aspirations hasn’t really manifested itself so far in terms of any improvements in production or consistency so, as Conklin is about to turn 30, he would seem to be a player with limited upside.

Verdict

Conklin offers a steady presence and will no doubt sign a starter-level deal with someone during the offseason and play a significant role for them in 2025 and beyond. Whether that’s the right move for the Jets at this time is questionable.

Unless he’s viewed as an ideal scheme fit for the new coaching staff and the Jets are able to sign him to a deal that doesn’t exceed his previous $7 million per year deal contract, this feels like a situation where the Jets will allow him to hit the open market and aim to get younger and more dynamic at the tight end position.

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