James

O'Shaughnessy

O’Shaughnessy looked like he had a shot to see some playing time with the Bears this season. His release opens up additional snaps for Cole Kmet, who can use all the volume he can get in what will likely be an inefficient offense. O’Shaughnessy turns 31 in January but could draw interest as a depth option on a tight end needy team.

O’Shaughnessy, 30, was (shockingly) fantasy relevant for some of the 2021 season in Jacksonville, absorbing targets as Trevor Lawrence’s go-to underneath pass catcher. An ankle sprain and a hip injury derailed a promising season for O’Shaughnessy, and Dan Arnold took over as Jacksonville’s starting tight end. O’Shaughnessy had 52 receptions in 22 games for the Jaguars over the past two seasons. His presence in the Chicago offense could pose some issues for Cole Kmet as the team’s primary pass-catching tight end. O’Shaughnessy could also be a depth signing.

O’Shaughnessy posted a quiet, 24/244/0 receiving line with the Jags last year. He was thrust into a starting role for six games because of injuries ahead of him on the depth chart. O’Shaughnessy, now 30 years old, will be a backup wherever he signs. If that happens in Chicago, he will primarily take the field to relieve Cole Kmet as a blocker.

It ends an injury-shortened season for O’Shaughnessy, who had 24 catches, 244 yards, and averaged 24 routes per game in seven appearances (six starts) in what would have been a career year had he stayed healthy. The Jaguars designed TE Dan Arnold, who missed Week 17 on the COVID list, to return from IR, but have yet to clear him for Sunday’s game. Luke Farrell will start if Arnold sits.

He missed Week 17 with the same injury. In O’Shaughnessy’s absence, rookie Luke Farrell played 72% of the snaps at tight end, catching a seven-yard pass on two targets.

The Jaguars are down to Kahale Warring as their starting tight end, who signed with the team on Tuesday. Warring is likely still getting his head around the playbook and is off the fantasy radar. O’Shaughnessy will look to return to close out his surprisingly semi-relevant fantasy season against the Colts.

Kahale Warring szn comes one step closer to existence with O’Shaughnessy not practicing and the rest of the Jags tight ends on the COVID-19 list. Please do not trouble yourself with any thoughts of using Jaguars tight ends on Sunday, even if O’Shaughnessy is able to recover enough to play.

Things were already looking bleak at tight end for the Jags with Dan Arnold, Luke Farrell, Jacob Hollister, and Chris Manhertz all on the COVID list. Jacksonville signed Kahale Warring on Tuesday and he’s the only other tight end on the roster. Still, with the current, dysfunctional state of the Jaguars’ offense, O’Shaughnessy hardly has TE2 juice if active.

O’Shaughnessy has four catches in back-to-back-to-back games but still hasn’t caught a touchdown this year. He’s little more than a TD-or-bust TE2 headed into a Week 17 date with the Patriots.

30 of those 60 receiving yards came on a fake screen where O’Shaughnessy was left wide open downfield in what would be the longest Jaguars play of the game. O’Shaughnessy vs. the Jets is such a Denny play that we’ve preemptively asked the editors to add a picture of O’Shaughnessy to the database.