H-back or TE? Where will Josiah Deguara fit in Packers offense?

Josiah Deguara is listed as a tight end for the Green Bay Packers on their roster. He is in the tight end meeting room and goes through many drills with that position group. However, from a technical standpoint, he is actually an H-back.

Ideally, I imagine Matt LaFleur wants Deguara lined up as an H-back, which plays an important role within his offense, more often than not. In addition to going through drills with the tight ends, Deguara has been off to the side, with undrafted rookie and fullback Henry Pearson doing drills of their own. But with such a young tight end room overall, will the Packers have to rely on Deguara to handle more of those traditional tight end responsibilities, at least early on this year?

An H-back will spend most of their time lined up in the backfield, either behind the quarterback or outside of the offensive tackles like tight ends, but a few steps off the line of scrimmage. These players are versatile and often used as blockers, but they can be reliable pass-catchers as well.

Having an effective H-back in the offense can keep defenses off-balance. This player’s ability to move around the formation can create mismatches for not only themselves but others in the offense. Play callers are also able to get creative with how they utilize H-backs in the passing game, and because this player can affect both running and passing games, it makes it more difficult for defenses pre-snap, or even as the play unfolds, to determine what might be taking place.

"“When we go out there in a game, they’re all out there and playing different roles,” said tight ends coach John Dunn. “Jo(siah) is no exception to that. He does a phenomenal job. He’s really smart. He’s a hard worker, and he does a great job of being able to play all those roles. So something you might not see, we might not get to it in a game, but he’s been really valuable in terms of all the different hats he wears for us and all the different things that he can do with his skill set.”"

Deguara is entering his fourth NFL season, making him the most experienced player among this position group, although he did miss most of his rookie year in 2020 with an ACL injury and has averaged just 325 offensive snaps over the last two seasons. He’s been on the field for 278 run-blocking snaps, according to PFF, and has caught 39 of his 50 targets at 9.5 yards per catch with two touchdowns.

Green Bay added two high-upside, athletic, and “all-around” tight ends, as Brian Gutekunst put it, in the draft by selecting Tucker Kraft and Luke Musgrave. Both will certainly play big roles as rookies–the Packers simply do not have the luxury of bringing them along slowly, given the makeup of the tight end room. But, as LaFleur has mentioned several times this offseason, outside of the quarterback position, the steepest learning curve for NFL rookies is at tight end.

This challenging transition is in large part due to all of the responsibilities that come with being a tight end. Specifically in the LaFleur offense, tight ends are moved around the formation frequently. On top of that, they have to be able to know route concepts like a receiver, along with blocking assignments and technique, in both the run and passing games, like a tackle. History says that most tight ends, even early-round picks, won’t make a significant impact until year two or three.

In general, when speaking about the rookie class, several of Green Bay’s position coaches have mentioned wanting to give the young players very specific roles and responsibilities early on, having them prove that they can handle those tasks before dumping more on their plates. If the Packers take this approach with Musgrave and Kraft, we could see Deguara taking more tight end-specific reps as he fills in those gaps.

Based on what I saw during offseason programs, for Kraft, his early role could be as more of a traditional Y-tight end, who can be used in the passing game, but, more often than not, is lined up in-line as a blocker. Musgrave, meanwhile, fills the F-tight end role, lining up in the slot to create mismatches in the passing game. Blocking, specifically, can be difficult for young tight ends to master, but it’s an area where Deguara excelled last season.

The expectation is that Musgrave and Kraft become able to impact both the running and passing games, but Deguara, who does not have the upside or playmaking that the rookies do, does potentially have the more well-rounded skill set at this time, adding more versatility and, therefore, unpredictability to the Packers’ offense. With Green Bay potentially using more 12 personnel packages this season – or two tight ends being on the field – Deguara could compliment either Musgrave or Kraft as both find their footing in the NFL.

Musgrave spent a lot of time with the starting offense during OTAs and minicamp, but Deguara also took some snaps with that unit as well. Both rookies will see plenty of playing time this season; I’m not saying that Deguara is going to be tight end one. But rather, there are absolutely going to be ups and downs as Musgrave and Kraft adjust to the NFL, and realistically, the Packers aren’t going to expect both players to be able to do it all right away at a position that comes with numerous responsibilities. So although they may want Deguara playing primarily as an H-back, and they may want Musgrave and Kraft’s playmaking abilities on the field as much as possible, Deguara may be needed to provide some stability to the tight end position as well.

"Jo is the oldest guy in our room, but he’s a young player,” added Dunn, “and he’s going to continue to develop and develop and develop. You can see it every time we go on the field and in practices; just his development take place.”"