Before he became the Jets’ offensive coordinator, Brian Schottenheimer was an assistant in San Diego, where the Chargers’ passing game revolved around its tight end, Antonio Gates. So it’s a bit of a surprise that seven games into his tenure in New York, Schottenheimer has focused the passing game almost exclusively around wide receivers, while the Jets’ tight ends rarely hear their numbers called.

Starting tight end Chris Baker caught just one pass for 16 yards in Sunday’s 31–24 victory over the Detroit Lions, and that was actually an upgrade over his usual contributions this season. In the Jets’ six previous games Baker had been held without a catch once and had 15 or fewer yards three other times.

But the low productivity out of Baker isn’t his fault. In fact, even though the 6-foot-3, 258-pound Baker is seen mostly as a blocker, he has actually been quite effective with the few opportunities he has had, catching 14 of the 18 passes thrown his way, for 115 yards and two touchdowns. Of the 43 tight ends in the NFL who have been thrown more than 10 passes this year, only Tampa Bay’s Alex Smith (78.9%) and Cleveland’s Kellen Winslow Jr. (78.6%) have caught passes at a higher rate than Baker’s 77.8%.

So why does the Jets’ offense so rarely involve the tight end? The Jets have approached the passing game with two goals that seem contradictory: Create big plays, but throw short passes that won’t tax quarterback Chad Pennington’s surgically repaired shoulder. To get big plays off short passes, the Jets want the ball in the hands of their fastest receivers, Laveranues Coles, Jerricho Cotchery, and Justin McCareins, not the relatively slow Baker, or his equally slow backup, Sean Ryan, who has caught only four passes this year.

Even if it makes sense for Pennington, the failure to involve the tight ends in the passing game is a longtime frustration for Jets fans, given the plentiful resources the team has devoted to getting good tight ends on the roster in recent years. Notwithstanding a rich history of tight end flops on draft day (see: Brady, Kyle; Mitchell, Johnnie),the Jets selected Anthony Becht in the first round in 2000, and he averaged less than 250 receiving yards a year over five seasons with the Jets. Last year, the Jets engineered a trade with the Oakland Raiders shortly before the draft that sent their firstround pick to Oakland in exchange for tight end Doug Jolley, as well as later picks in the draft including the second-round pick that the Jets used to select kicker Mike Nugent. Jolley never seemed to fit into their offense, and Baker surprisingly beat him out for the starting tight end position. Jolley ended his 2005 season with just 29 catches for 324 yards. When it became clear during this year’s training camp that Jolley wouldn’t be any more useful under the new coaching staff, the Jets traded him to Tampa Bay, where he joined Becht. The two have combined for just 10 catches this season for the Buccaneers.

The Jets also selected tight ends in the draft in each of the last two years, taking Jason Pociask of Wisconsin in the fifth round this year and Joel Dreessen of Colorado State in the sixth round last year. Pociask is on injured reserve and Dreessen caught five passes last year but didn’t make the team this year. The Jets took Baker in the third round of the 2002 draft, and that is their only recent move involving a tight end that the Jets can call a success.

Still, Baker’s contributions have been more as a blocker than as a receiver. Baker will never be a top-notch receiver like Giants tight end Jeremy Shockey, but there’s no reason he can’t be a regular contributor to the passing game. When Pennington has thrown to him this season, Baker has delivered. It’s time for Schottenheimer to have Pennington throw to him more often.

Mr. Smith is a writer for FootballOutsiders.com.