Josiah
Deguara.
Josiah
Deguara.
Cincinnati· 6'2"· 242 lb· 4.72s 40
"A 242-pound H-back with the most career catches by a tight end in Cincinnati history, drafted less for what he caught than for how many places an offense could hide him."Pre-draft read
Deguara is a 6-2.5, 242-pound move tight end who is really a modern H-back: undersized for the in-line job but tough enough to do it in bursts, and athletic enough to align in the backfield, the wing or the slot. He is a violent blocker for his size, finishing with attitude rather than mass.
The second trait is reliable hands on the intermediate routes. He caught 77 passes over his final two seasons at better than twelve a catch and finishes through contact over the middle. The arms are short at 31.6 inches and the speed average, so he will not win at the catch point or stretch a defense. The signature is versatility: he can be moved anywhere in a formation without tipping the play.
A shift-and-motion outside zone offense that uses an H-back on sift and lead blocks and releases him into the flat and across the middle off play action.
Year 1 H-back and core special-teamer handling 25 to 30 snaps a game, with a ceiling as a 45-catch move tight end in a motion-heavy scheme.
A pass-first offense that asks its tight end to line up in-line every snap and win one-on-one against safeties down the seam.
Cincinnati TE Josiah Deguara Highlights
Career reel covering the blocking temperament and the intermediate receiving work.
American Spotlight - Cincinnati TE Josiah Deguara
Conference feature on his senior season, the year he made first-team All-AAC.
One-on-One at the Senior Bowl: Cincinnati TE Josiah Deguara
Senior Bowl week interview, the all-star setting where teams confirmed the H-back projection.
Deguara is from Folsom, California, and grew into the role at Cincinnati across four years. He played all twelve games as a freshman with four catches, then saw action in seven games as a sophomore with eleven catches for 98 yards, still mostly a blocker in a run-heavy offense.
The junior season changed the picture. He caught 38 passes for 468 yards and five touchdowns, second on the team in receiving and the best year by a Bearcats tight end since Travis Kelce, and earned second-team All-AAC honors. As a senior captain he added 39 catches for 504 yards and seven touchdowns, made first-team All-AAC, won the school's most valuable player award and became only the second tight end in program history to pass 1,000 career receiving yards. His 92 career receptions are the most by a tight end in Cincinnati history.
The evaluation was scheme fit over measurables. He was a Senior Bowl invite who tested reasonably, running 4.72 with 25 bench reps and a 35.5-inch vertical, but he measured 6-2.5 with 31.6-inch arms, small enough that most teams filed him as an H-back rather than a Y. Green Bay, which had just used a first-round pick on a quarterback and was building a run-heavy Matt LaFleur offense full of shifts and motion, took him at 94 to be the chess piece.
- 01
Formation versatility
Can align in-line, in the backfield, at the wing or in the slot, giving an offense the same personnel group in four different looks.
- 02
Blocking temperament
Plays with real violence on lead and kickout blocks, and finishes through the whistle despite giving up size to linebackers.
- 03
Reliable intermediate hands
77 catches over his last two seasons at better than twelve yards a reception, with the strength to secure balls through contact.
- 04
Program-best production
The most career receptions by a tight end in Cincinnati history and only the second there to top 1,000 receiving yards.
- 05
Functional strength
25 bench reps and a 35.5-inch vertical, athletic testing that supports the blocking role at his size.
- 01
Undersized for the Y
At 6-2.5 with 31.6-inch arms he cannot anchor as a true in-line tight end against NFL defensive ends.
- 02
No vertical threat
Average long speed and a limited catch radius, so he never threatens a safety or wins outside the frame.
- 03
Late production curve
Just fifteen catches across his first two college seasons, with the entire receiving resume built in his last two years.
- 04
Level of competition
AAC defenses rarely tested him against the kind of length and speed he would face on Sundays.
Relative Athletic Score (Kent Lee Platte) benchmarks combine/pro-day numbers against every measured prospect at the position since 1987. 10.00 is elite; 5.00 is average.
— — — positional median (p50)
- 40 yd
- 4.72sp50
- Vertical
- 35.5inp50
- Broad jump
- 115inp50
- Three-cone
- 7.15sp50
- Shuttle
- 4.35sp50
- Bench
- 25repp50
| Yr | Team | G | Rec | Yds | TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Cincinnati | 12 | 4 | 47 | 0 |
| 2017 | Cincinnati | 7 | 11 | 98 | 0 |
| 2018 | Cincinnati | 13 | 38 | 468 | 5 |
| 2019 | Cincinnati | 14 | 39 | 504 | 7 |
| Career | — | 46 | 92 | 1117 | 12 |
Season figures from Sports-Reference include bowl games and sum exactly to the 46-game, 92-catch, 1,117-yard career totals confirmed by Cincinnati's own release and Tankathon. He also scored one rushing touchdown in 2019, which is why some sources list thirteen career touchdowns; only receiving scores are carried in these keys. CFBTrack splits bowl production into separate rows and lists lower 2016 and 2017 game counts, so its table is not used.
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
A blocking and special-teams piece who sticks around a decade without ever being a receiving threat.
The ceiling: a versatile H-back who becomes indispensable to a scheme and gets paid above the position market.
A tweener tight end who bounces between rosters as a rotational blocker with occasional catches.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
The rookie year barely happened. He played two games and tore his ACL in Week 2, ending the season before he could learn the role. He returned in 2021 and posted his best year, 25 catches for 245 yards and two touchdowns while playing the LaFleur H-back role on shifts, sifts and lead blocks. The receiving numbers shrank from there: thirteen catches in 2022, eight in 2023, both seasons spent mostly as a blocker and special-teamer.
Green Bay let him go after four years and he has extended his career as a depth piece, catching three passes for Jacksonville in 2024 and three more with a touchdown for Arizona in 2025, and he remained on an NFL roster into 2026. Through six seasons he has 77 games, twelve starts and 53 catches for 471 yards. In hindsight this was a lot of draft capital for a blocking H-back. He has had a real NFL career, longer than most third-rounders from this class, but the pick was made on the idea that the versatility would produce offensive snaps, and it mostly produced a special-teams and short-yardage role.
Data note: Imported from Wikipedia 2020 NFL draft player selections table.