Trevon Wesco showed intriguing upside after the catch at West Virginia, but the New York Jets have yet to tap into his ability in that area.
That’s right – for the second time in a one-week span, we’re going to be digging into the young wild card that is the New York Jets‘ hybrid fullback/tight end, Trevon Wesco. After breaking down Wesco’s skills as a blocker at the fullback position, I wanted to take a look at his potential in the receiving game. Wesco has only three catches on five targets throughout his two-year NFL career, but is there potential for him to do more?
Based on his college tape, there certainly is.
Over 10 games in his breakout 2018 redshirt senior season at West Virginia, Wesco snatched 26 passes for 366 yards, one touchdown, and 14 first downs. He had only secured two catches for seven yards throughout the previous two seasons combined.
In a vacuum, 366 yards as a redshirt senior isn’t much to write home about, but there was one particular facet of the passing game where Wesco showed a lot of talent over that 26-catch sample: making plays after the catch.
Wesco was credited with 12 broken tackles after the catch in 2018, which ranked second among FBS tight ends and first among Power-5 tight ends. He also averaged 9.0 yards after the catch per reception, second-best among Power-5 tight ends behind future Patriots draft pick Dalton Keene of Virginia Tech.
Should Mike LaFleur look to scheme up more opportunities for Wesco than Adam Gase did? Let’s take a look back at Wesco’s elite season of elusiveness in 2018 to get an idea of what he offers as a playmaker after the catch.
Wesco did a lot of his work in the short game. In 2018, Wesco had an ADOT (average depth of target) of only 4.5 yards downfield, ranking fifth-shallowest out of 110 qualified tight ends.
The Mountaineers loved to feed Wesco with quick screen passes into the flat, giving him the chance to utilize his unique shiftiness for a 267-pounder. Wesco consistently made the first man miss to set himself free for considerable gains on designed underneath throws like this one.
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