The New York Jets training camp star has been Tyler Conklin, who has been widely publicized over the past month. Conklin is one of the team’s top offensive performers in virtually every game.
We got to see Conklin’s extensive participation in practice translate to the first preseason game when the Jets faced the Eagles.
Though he saw action on offense for 14 snaps, seven of those came while Conklin was on a route. Just 7 routes were attempted, although 4 of them were intended for Conklin. An astounding 57.1% of all routes are aimed at their intended targets.
That wasn’t just the best rating of any player for the Jets in the game; it was also the best rating of any tight end in the NFL throughout the first week of preseason.
You can count on hearing Conklin’s name uttered often this season.
Don’t get me wrong, though; Conklin won’t even get close to 57.1% during the regular season. This ridiculously high score was calculated using an extremely small data set. For example, in 2021, George Kittle and Mark Andrews both had a target/route ratio of 23.9%, which was the greatest of any tight end. In Minnesota, Conklin received a grade of 17.3 percent.
How good is Tyler Conklin?
However, after witnessing Conklin solidify himself as such a mainstay in the offense during training camp sessions, it was intriguing to see him featured so prominently in his first live game action. Conklin’s propensity to want a considerably greater diet of targets than most anticipate is beginning to appear more and more realistic.
Conklin attracted 87 targets for the Vikings in 17 games last year (5.1 per game). It put him third on Minnesota behind wide receivers Justin Jefferson (167 total; 9.8 per game) and Adam Thielen (95 total; 7.3 per game) and gave him the 11th-most targets in the league among tight ends.