Jeremy
Ruckert.
Jeremy
Ruckert.
Ohio St.· 6'5"· 250 lb
Ruckert is a true in-line Y tight end who lines up with his hand in the dirt and blocks like it matters to him. He fits up defensive ends on down blocks, works combinations to the second level and finishes with a mean streak, which is why Ohio State kept him attached instead of flexing him out. The frame is thick through the chest and he plays with the leverage and grip strength the position demands.
As a receiver he is a reliable short and intermediate target with soft hands and a big catch radius, dangerous in the red zone where he uses his body to box out safeties. He is not a seam-stretcher and will not separate against man coverage, so the value is tied to the blocking floor plus dependable hands on play-action.
A play-action, gap-scheme run offense that keeps two tight ends attached and asks the Y to win at the point of attack before he releases.
Year 1: the base-down blocking tight end who plays 400 to 500 snaps and catches 20 passes. Ceiling: a full-time starting Y who blocks at a plus level and contributes 40 receptions with a handful of red-zone touchdowns.
A spread passing offense that removes its tight end from the formation and asks him to win one-on-one from the slot against nickel corners, where his lack of separation makes him a wasted body.
His floor is unusually high for a third-rounder because the blocking translated immediately; his ceiling was always going to be set by targets he could not create himself.
Highlights: Ohio State Tight End Jeremy Ruckert | Big Ten Football in the 2022 NFL Draft
Big Ten Network's draft-cycle reel of the Ohio State tape, heavy on red-zone finishes and attached blocking.
Jeremy Ruckert || Ohio State Buckeyes Tight End || 2021 Senior Highlights
His senior season, the year he set career highs in receptions and yards.
Film Quickie: Jeremy Ruckert | Ohio State TE | 2022 NFL Draft
A pre-draft film breakdown of the blocking floor versus the thin receiving production.
Ruckert arrived in Columbus as the top-rated tight end recruit in the country out of Lindenhurst, New York, and spent four years inside an offense that simply does not throw to the position. That is the central fact of his evaluation: he caught one pass as a true freshman, 14 as a sophomore, 13 as a junior and 26 as a senior, finishing with 54 receptions for 615 yards and 12 touchdowns in four years.
The touchdown rate tells you what the tape confirms. All five of his 2020 scores came inside the 20, and his best game was three catches for 55 yards and two touchdowns against Clemson in the playoff. He returned for a senior year specifically to expand his route tree and it produced his career high in receptions, but in a passing game featuring Chris Olave, Garrett Wilson and Jaxon Smith-Njigba the targets were never going to come.
Evaluators liked the Senior Bowl week, where he moved well enough in space to ease separation concerns, and several boards had him as the second tight end in the class behind Trey McBride. The Jets, drafting a Long Island kid who grew up a Jets fan, took him at 101 with an offense that needed a blocker attached to the formation more than it needed a slot weapon.
- 01
In-line blocking
Fits, sustains and finishes as an attached Y, the rare modern tight end whose run-game value is ready on day one without a snap of projection.
- 02
Red-zone hands
Twelve career touchdowns on 54 catches; he wins contested balls inside the 20 by boxing out with his frame and catching away from his body.
- 03
Catch radius
A 6-5 target with 10-inch hands who adjusts to throws off his frame and pulls in low and high balls without body-catching.
- 04
Toughness and effort
Plays with a finishing temperament in the run game and will climb to a linebacker, a trait his position coaches repeatedly highlighted.
- 05
Football character
Four-year contributor at Ohio State who returned for a senior season to develop rather than leave, and tested as a coachable, low-maintenance pro.
- 01
Limited separation
Not a twitchy mover off the line; man coverage against a quality safety or nickel eliminates him as a target on the route tree.
- 02
Thin production record
54 career receptions across four seasons leaves evaluators projecting a receiving role that was never actually stressed on tape.
- 03
Vertical speed
A 4.77 forty means he does not threaten the seam, which caps him as a short-to-intermediate option rather than a defense-moving mismatch.
- 04
Route detail
Rounds breaks and shows limited nuance at the top of stems, a product of running a narrow route tree in a run-heavy tight end role.
— — — positional median (p50)
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- 19repp50
| Yr | Team | G | Rec | Yds | TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Ohio State | — | 1 | 13 | 0 |
| 2019 | Ohio State | 14 | 14 | 142 | 4 |
| 2020 | Ohio State | 8 | 13 | 151 | 5 |
| 2021 | Ohio State | 13 | 26 | 309 | 3 |
| Career | — | 35 | 54 | 615 | 12 |
2020 and 2021 read directly from cfbstats (Ohio State team 518, player 1096300): 8 games, 13 receptions, 151 yards, 5 touchdowns; and 13 games, 26 receptions, 309 yards, 3 touchdowns. 2018 and 2019 are from the official career record; the four season lines sum exactly to the published career total of 54 receptions, 615 yards and 12 touchdowns. Games played in 2018 is not verified and is left null rather than estimated, so the career games figure is also null.
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
A dependable blocking tight end who holds a roster spot for most of a decade while never exceeding 25 catches in a season.
The ceiling is a full-time starting Y who blocks well enough to stay on the field on every down and turns volume into 50-catch seasons.
A backup tight end who bounces between rosters as a special-teamer and emergency third option without carving out a stable role.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
The Jets used him the way the profile suggested. He was a special-teamer and third tight end as a rookie in 2022 with one catch in nine games, grew into a rotational role in 2023 with 16 receptions and six starts, then became a fixture in 2024 with 18 catches across 17 games and nine starts. His 2025 season was his best: 17 games, 15 starts, 23 receptions for 179 yards and the first touchdown of his career. Through four seasons plus the 2026 opener he has 59 games, 30 starts, 59 catches and 447 yards.
That is the exact outcome a third-round in-line tight end with 54 college catches produces. He has held a real job for four years in a run-first offense because the blocking is legitimate, and he has never developed into a passing-game weapon because he was never one. Grading it as a hit or a miss depends on the expectation: the Jets got a durable starter-level blocker and a dependable third option at a premium roster cost, which is fine value at 101 and a mild disappointment for anyone who believed the Senior Bowl week meant untapped receiving upside.