6’5” – 243 lbs. – 4.73
Caught six passes as a freshman, then stepped into a major role the following season, catching 32-408-5 (12.8). Production escalated to 45-662-4 (14.7) as a junior, and then finished with a monster campaign of 65-1,004-7 (15.4). Although his height is in line with typical pro requirements, hands and arms are on the short side for a tight end. Flex tight end who takes snaps in the slot, as an H-Back, and inline, in roughly that order of frequency; almost used as a big receiver a lot of the time. Has simple but effective outside releases at the line of scrimmage. A pretty smooth mover who glides through his routes without needing to gear down much, but who doesn’t have a lot of snap or acceleration at the route stem. Runs a lot of hitches and in routes over the middle of the formation, but also releases into the flats on flares out of motion or sometimes from the slot. Overall speed is at least adequate and does a pretty good job of getting leverage on opposing defenders to create throwing room down the seams. Doesn’t offer the widest radius for a tight end, and while he made some impressive grabs with a defender in-phase, can sometimes struggle to come down with contested throws; would like to see more aggressiveness and initiative to work back to the ball and use his body to shield defenders. Made a concentration drop during the games reviewed and may have some trouble adjusting to throws away from his frame. Run blocking leaves a little bit to be desired, although he handled somewhat diverse responsibilities and offers decent effort most of the time. Does a pretty good job of engaging from a solid foundation and with proper arm extension, but lacks contract strength and can be knocked off-balance by bigger defenders. Can sometimes struggle to line up opposing defenders in space when blocking from motion or from the slot in the screen game. Inconsistent ability to keep his balance and sustain his blocks. Looked better on the snaps in which he was in pass protection, but was only rarely retained. On those snaps, however, shows good lateral quickness and active hands to help protect the edge. Enjoyed a very productive season catching the ball in 2019; he is a smooth, reasonably big, and reasonably athletic flex tight end who gives adequate effort as a blocker but whose functional strength is a little bit lacking and who doesn’t present the widest catch radius relative to some of the other tight ends in the class. Looks like more of a mid-round option.
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