The NFL is turning into a league of tight ends.
And while that might seem counterintuitive to the trends of football in recent years, it’s true. The data backs it up.
And near the front lines of this change are the Jacksonville Jaguars and second-year head coach and offensive guru Liam Coen.
Maybe the simplest way to sum this up is to look at how much the Jaguars used 13 personnel in Week 1. They were third in the NFL in their usage rate, at 17.9%.
This post from Bill Barnwell shows those rankings as well as the overall upward trend in the NFL:
Teams were in 13 personnel 8.1 percent of the time in Week 1, up from 4.5 percent in Week 1 a year ago. Teams who used it most often this week:
Bills (40.4%)
Rams (36.8%)
Jags (17.9%)
Jets (17.5%)
Bears (15.7%)
Ravens (15.6%)
Cards (15.3%)— Bill Barnwell (@billbarnwell) September 14, 2026
It’ll take more time to know just how serious the Jaguars are about this, but so far, they definitely seem into the idea.
What’s 13 Personnel in NFL?
The personnel number for an offense in the NFL refers to the running backs and tight ends, in that order.
So 13 personnel means there is one back and three tight ends on the field.
It’s not that common for teams to use three tight ends at once, but when they do, it’ll usually be in 13 personnel (which also includes one wide receiver, which doesn’t get a number designation in the name).
Jaguars’ Tight End Usage
Given that the Jags went TE-happy in the NFL Draft, it’s not a surprise they used their tight ends this much in the first week of the season. It was clear with their strategy that they wanted to make an impact at this position and potentially follow the 13 personnel trend.
In Week 1, that meant the use of three different TEs extensively for Jacksonville.
Brenton Strange led the Jags’ tight ends with 39 snaps, which was 68% of the offensive plays.
The rookie Nate Boerkircher got out there for 38 snaps, just behind Strange at 67% of the 57 offensive plays.
Then there was the free agent signing from Buffalo, Quintin Morris. He was on the field for 24 offensive plays (42%).
These numbers might be just slightly skewed by the fact that the Jags blew out the Browns, were up 34-3 at one point and pulled a lot of their starters early. They likely used less 13 personnel down the stretch when the game was well in hand.
If anything, these tight end usage numbers could rise a bit going forward if Coen sees success out of these alignments.
It certainly will get more and more common in the NFL to see tight ends being used this heavily, and the Jaguars appear happy to be a part of the trend.
Jaguars Near Front Lines of Major NFL Change