Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Locked On Patriots April 18, 2018 - Looking at TE Draft Options

Episode Date: April 18, 2018

Mark Schofield looks at TE options at each spot in the draft for the New England Patriots. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Good morning, welcome into Locked On Patriots for Wednesday, April 18th, 2018. We are now getting closer and closer and closer to the NFL Draft. Mark Schofield here with you, as I will be every day this week, five days next week, probably into the weekend as well, breaking down what happens in the 2018 NFL Draft. Reminder to follow me on Twitter at Mark Schofield. You can follow the work over at InsideThePylon.com where I'm one of the lead writers. Counting down my top 20 quarterbacks in this draft. I got quarterbacks 20 through 16 up. Quarterbacks 15 through 11 are next. Then my top 10 going to roll out as we get closer and closer

to the NFL draft. What we're going to do today, we're continuing our sort of draft board previews here, going position by position, identifying a potential Patriots fit at each of their picks in the NFL draft at a given position each show. Today we're going to talk tight ends. Tight ends are somewhat of an intriguing position to think about with the New England Patriots this offseason, given the question marks over our own Roberto Gronkowski. Whether he is all in or not. And if you've listened to me, if you've listened to the show, know my work.

I'm not huge on sort of getting into the off-the-field speculation, stuff like that. But certainly, it's been an interesting off-season when it comes to Robert Gronkowski. Patriots also have some options as well behind him. They do still have Dwayne Allen on the roster. They've added Troy Nicholas from the Arizona Cardinals. They do have Will Tai, who they added, Jacob Hollister. So they've got five guys in the tight end room. So it might not be a position that they address early in the draft, but this has turned out to be a rather interesting tight end class.

There are many people who thought that this was going to be perhaps one of the better positions in the entire draft, but it seems as we get closer and closer to the draft itself, people have started to perhaps sour on the draft class a bit at the tight end position. There are still, I think, some good options up and down the board. Some guys I think that the Patriots could consider. And again, I don't know if they necessarily address it early, but I do anticipate the Patriots addressing the tight end spot at some point in this draft. Let's kick it off though with perhaps a bit of wild-eyed speculation. Those two picks in the first round at 23 and 31, some tight ends that would fit there. And I'll admit the guy I'm going to mention first at 23 is

a player I'm probably higher on than perhaps everybody else is. And that's Mike Giusecchi, the tight end from Penn State. He's probably not going to be a guy you'll hear come off the board at 23, but I like him the best out of this group. And it's for a couple of reasons. Studying Trace McSorley, quarterback from Penn State, both in studying perhaps for this draft and already getting some work in on him for the next draft, got a good sense of Mike Giusecchi, the player, Mike Giusecchi, the tight end, Mike Giusecchi, the athlete. And he, you know, was utilized as a focal point of Penn State's offense. And when I studied it and when I wrote about it, I almost called it a new triangle offense between him, Saquon Barkley, and McSorley. Where they would use him as one option,

setting up sort of a triangle with the quarterback, the running back, and the tight end, sometimes in the flat, sometimes vertically. Giusecchi didn't run an extended route tree at Penn State. But then when you get a chance to sort of see him down at the Senior Bowl, down in Mobile, the real Mike Jacek showed up. I remember sitting with Mike Tenere and Matt Waldman watching the first day of practices,

and Mike Tenere just being like, wait, who is this guy? Because this isn't the guy I remember watching at Penn State. Mike just said he had an incredible senior bowl week. It really sort of helped himself. And, you know, obviously I reference a lot the Inside the Pylon draft guide. He was our tight end three over there. But in terms of the performance he put on the combine, elite athleticism is at least expressed by Kent Lee Platt, who's at Mathbomb on Twitter, his relative athletic score, 9.97, which puts him in the elite category.

Nicholas Macaron was our lead scout on him. His basic snapshot on Jaceki, his hands and athletic ability make him a weapon, particularly in the red zone, but struggles in blocking technique technique keep him from being an all-around contributor. And that's incredibly accurate. But with the caveat that if you're using him as a blocker, I'm not sure that's the best way to use him. And I'm flashing back right now to one of the nights down in Mobile. And one of the great things about the Senior Bowl experience

is interacting with other guys that you know, other men and women, other writers that you know, and getting their input on people. And I remember not just the practice, but even after the practice is when you can just watch film set up over at the hotel and watching some practice tape with the guys over at NDT Scouting. And they were showing some pass blocking reps from the tight end group, including Mike Giusecchi, and he got beat. And Kyle Krabs was going to get a drink of water, walks away from the table, but basically

as he was leaving said, if that's how he's being used in the NFL, that's the wrong way to use him. He's not a blocking tight end. He's not an all-purpose tight end. But he's a weapon in today's offense. And another insight into how highly I value him, I'm currently doing a team builder mock with some guys like Chris Burke and Eric Edholm,

Luke Easterling, Sigmund Blum, a lot of smart industry types. Jaceki was the first sort of offensive weapon I drafted. I'm looking at him as a potential X-type guy, a move-type tight end. And with the guys that you have currently on the roster and the guys that you might have to replace, you're not going to find another Rob Gronkowski.

Guys like that don't grow on trees. But Mike Jacecki is a guy I think can come in and be a move tight end. And so I'd look at him in the 23 spot. Again, he was our tight end three over at ITP. But I'm higher on him on most perhaps. And maybe I'm the outlier, and that's okay. Going down a little bit to that pick at 31. Obviously, another guy that we've talked about on this show,

Hayden Hurst, the tight end from South Carolina. Has a bit of an age concern there. He's a little bit older. We had Jeff Rizdan on to talk tight ends a while ago, and he mentioned Hayden Hurst, somebody he really liked. Nicholas Macaroni, our lead scout on him over at ITP, promising receiving tight end who wins with athletic ability,

route running, and quickness, but needs to improve play strength to factor in the blocking game. Now, he is 24 right now, so again, a little bit older because he has the baseball background. But a player that shows very good athletic ability, good change of direction, good elusiveness, very good hands, elusiveness after the catch, didn't have quite the athletic profile that Mike Jacecki showed at the combine, but still a very good prospect at the tight end position. The issue with them is Wallace Juseki is blocking. He displays marginal lower and core body strength on zone blocks,

shows marginal angles when trying to get to the second level in pass protection, marginal anchor ability versus edge defenders, often gets collapsed into the pocket, leading to the quarterback having to scramble or evade and vacate. But, you know, he's two years older than Mike Jacecki, and that matters a little bit. And so for me, I prefer Jacecki to Hurst. But I think, look, both of these guys,

I think are going to be good tight ends in the National Football League, especially with the direction of the game right now. And if the Patriots address tight end in the first round, those would be the guys I'd look to. Up ahead, we're going to talk more about this tight end class work through the remainder of the Patriots picks in the 2018 NFL Draft. That's ahead with me, Mark Schofield, and Locked on Patriots. Mark Schofield back with you now working through this tight end class as it pertains to the New England Patriots in the 2018 NFL Draft. Went through the two first round picks, Mike Jusecki, Hayden Hurst. Some options there.

Let's look at the second round picks now. And two guys that sort of stand out there, Dallas Goddard, Ian Thomas. These are sort of, at least with Goddard, a smaller school guy. Some people have him as tight end one in this group, and I think he's certainly potentially the tight end one in this class. I do have some question marks on him. Ryan Dukarm was our lead scout over at ITP, described him as an athletic football championship subdivision tight end

with a hand, speed, and contested catch ability to become a receiving weapon in the NFL, although he currently lacks the strength and blocking ability to play a more traditional tight end role. So again, as we've seen with these first guys up, blocking is going to be an issue. But you're looking at these guys as move type tight ends in the National Football League. With Goddard, you get a very good athletic ability with elite acceleration and speed. He has the speed to work vertically down the seam. You can stress defenses down the field. Shows rare acceleration in space. Soft hands, elite contested catch receiver with elite body control to catch passes well outside his frame. Now, that's sort of an interesting sort of way to describe a guy.

With wide receivers, I saw somebody say this recently, if you're describing a wide receiver as a contested catch receiver, it just means that they're not good at separating, you know, because they can't get separation on their routes. It's a little bit different here with tight ends because you're, you know, working in traffic more. So I think that's something good to have. And Goddard is a good route runner as well. But the question here is, again, one of strength, one of run block, and those are some issues there. When we looked at him, we sort of looked at scheme fit. It seemed like he could fit in sort of any kind of offense.

And so I think that's something that sort of plays to his strength. Whereas a guy like Hayden Hurst, when we looked at him, a tight end that would live out in the slot in a pass-oriented offense. So that could work as well. Same thing with Jaceki. Pass-oriented offense that utilizes his athleticism and leaping ability in the short levels of the field.

So all these guys would fit. You know, I just have them ranked Jaceki, then Hurst, then Goddard. You could go interchange these guys basically any way I think. But that's kind of how I have them. Next is Ian Thomas, the kid from Indiana, who

there were some impressive, shall we say, halves of games. And I think Ian Thomas had something like that this season against Ohio State. Same thing with Richard Lago, the quarterback.

They had an impressive first half against Ohio State, but then things kind of went south. Thomas coming from more of a spread offense. He was primarily used in the slot, out wide, and in the wing. Wasn't really used as a true wide, in-line

tight end. But a very athletic kid, another elite sort of athletic score from Kent Lee Platt, Math Mom on Twitter of 9.27. Anything above 9 is considered an elite by that metric. Tom Meade was our lead scout

on him over at ITP. Described him as an athletic tight end with the tools to be a receiving weapon, but will need to smooth out rough edges in his blocking and route running and improve his play strength to reach his potential. He's been catching some buzz in the past couple weeks. I know Dane Brugler is high on him. Strengths on him, athletic ability, football intelligence, toughness, play speed, route running, hands as well as contested catches and pass blocking,

which is something we didn't see with some of the other guys. But when you're looking at him as a pass blocker, he's shown the ability to hold his own against defensive linemen in a one-on-one situation and a quick pass in offense. When he's facing a power rush, he can set up an offensive lineman using a kick slide squaring his hips and shoulders to the inside of the half of the defender while playing patiently and he uses solid hand placement and hand reset to counter the defender so he's a raw player overall but somebody that can contribute more in the blocking scheme, at least in pass protection, than some of the other guys. So Ian Thomas, an intriguing name, perhaps at pick 63 overall,

that second pick in the second round. When we get to the third round now, another player that's caught some buzz, Dalton Schultz. When we're looking at that pick in the third round that pick 95 overall Schultz a tight end out of Stanford more pro style run orientated type of offense Ryan Dukarm again our lead scout on him described him as an intriguing athlete and route runner with the potential to outproduce his meager college receiving numbers in a more wide open offense. He'll need to improve his play strength and blocking technique to contribute on every down. But some of the things that stand out when you watch Schultz

on tape. Good athletic ability, good change of direction, acceleration and explosiveness. Good explosiveness off the line of scrimmage. Good route runner displaying excellent ability to sink his hips to cut quickly and maintain speed out of the break point. And the run game shows excellent ability to work combination blocks against 4-eye techniques that are looking to two-gap the offensive tackle. Tracks very well to the second level being quick off the line, takes good angles to linebackers and safeties.

Good play strength as a run blocker, anchors well against powerful defenders, and shows the ability to stalemate in most one-on-one situations at the point of attack and against back seven defenders. So if you're looking into more of the, you know, blocking type tight ends, Thomas and Schultz, these guys we're talking about sort of here at the end of day two, these might be some guys to keep an eye on. Now Schultz does have some weaknesses. His hand usage, particularly more as a blocker, and sometimes he struggles to come down with tough catches outside of his frame.

Sometimes he makes the wrong decisions against zone coverage. You'll see him sit down when he should run, run when he should sit. And so there's going to be some development that's going to have to take place. But when you're talking about a late day two tight end, you'd expect things like that. But I think, again,

Schultz might be a guy to keep in mind even if the Patriots don't address tight end early and they start to do it at this area of the draft. Ian Thomas, Dalton Schultz, two guys to definitely keep in mind for the Patriots don't address tight end early and they start to do it at this area of the draft, Ian Thomas, Dalton Schultz, two guys to definitely keep in mind for the Patriots if they consider tight end. Up next, we're going to talk about some day three options,

some later round options at the tight end position. Got three more names for you. That's ahead with me, Mark Schofield, and Locked on Patriots. Mark Schofield back with you now, working our way through the 2018 NFL Draft. Each Patriots pick with a tight end at each spot. Doing a little recap here of the tight end group.

Some guys to keep in mind as we get now into day three of the draft. And here's sort of a sleeper for you at the tight end spot. One of the great things about the Inside the Pylon draft guide, getting to work on it, is sort of identifying guys that really fly under the radar. And here's one here, Dion Yelder, tight end from Western Kentucky, not getting a ton of buzz right now, wasn't even invited to the combine.

But when we studied him, Nicholas Macaron, lead scout on him, a sleeper who produced only one season, wasn't invited to the combine. But when we studied him, Nicholas Macaron, lead scout on him, a sleeper who produced only one season, wasn't invited to the combine, but shows the explosive athleticism and excellent hands to become a mismatched weapon as a move tight end. Will need to refine his route,

running and blocking. And we have trade grades on all of the players. And it's rare to see one, which is the highest grade we would give, you know, on know mid-round player but we see that here with play speed gets a grade of one which we define basically as a lead and as nicholas describes him he has athletic excellent athletic ability with rare explosiveness burst very good change of direction and lateral agility his first step and fluidity allows him to win at

the line of scrimmage. Rare change of direction where he maintains excellent play speed before sinking his hips. Changing direction with ease to create separation versus off or zone coverages or at the shorter intermediate levels of the field. Finds to seem very well. Bends his routes away from zone defenders. Does not shy away from oncoming defenders. Excels in scramble drill situations. He's able to secure the ball throughout contact. Now you might be saying he's gonna have weaknesses right? And sure like some players we've already talked about pass protraction is an issue. Control getting up to the second level as a run blocker. He's sometimes out of control or he attempts to go too quickly

from his first block to his second, leading him to basically be out of position to make the block where he fails as well to finish the initial block. So he's going to have to work on that. Tough to get a sense of his overall athleticism because we don't have combined numbers on him. So we don't have a relative athletic score on him, but the film screams athletic tight end. So he's definitely an interesting player to sort of watch and keep an eye on. You know, and if you're talking about project tight ends, you know, when you get now into the sixth round, which is where we'll be, you know, there's a guy to keep in mind. Another guy to keep in mind, Durham Smythe, another sort of project-style tight end from Notre Dame, a dominant run blocker as described by Ryan Dukarm,

and a good pass blocker who can become a very good role player and solid emergency starter with development in the passing game. Two-year starter in Notre Dame's offense that relied heavily on pin-pull sweeps, outside zone runs, and combo blocks on the edge. That sounds a lot like New England. Excellent run blocker, excellent use of hands, has good timing and strength to work combination blocks, very good football intelligence,

has the football intelligence to settle underneath in zones, does a good job setting up defenders with double moves, has good hands in the passing game, pulls in passes well within his frame, was not afraid to go over the middle and dive for catches, even with contact imminent, shows good ability to haul in contested catches. So he's another player to watch.

Not the athlete that some of these other guys are. You know, lower relative athletic score of 6.05 than some of these other guys are. Lower relative athletic score of 6.05 than some of the other guys or all the other guys we've talked about. So there's some issues there. But I think, look, you could slot him in as a role player early in his career with the ability to develop

into a better receiving threat. He might not become Rob Gronkowski. He might not become a true threat in the pass game, but he gives you at least the block and that we don't see from some of the other guys in this group. Finally, another name to talk about here before we go, Ryan Izzo from Florida State. This is contemplated him,

maybe that first pick in the seventh round, a tough, aggressive, and consistent blocker who could serve as a check down option, lacks the explosiveness hands and route running to carve out a bigger role in the passing game very good run blocker shows good physical toughness and play strength as a run and pass blocker and pass protection he uses a good base leverage and anchor and very good hands against power moves while continually adjusting to counter the rusher. He's more of a body catcher guy. Makes body catches on lower passes.

Instead of using his hands, will make double catches away from his body. Shows you that he doesn't perhaps trust his hands as much as he should. Tough to separate in man coverage situations. He's only an adequate route runner. Lacks acceleration out of his break. You know, so again, similar to Smythe,

he's more of your traditional in-line blocking type tight end. But if the Patriots feel they want to address that, perhaps upgrade over a Will Tye or Troy Nicholas, who they've just added, Izzo and Smythe might be some options later in the draft. Some other names that we didn't talk about, guys that you should also know at least a little bit about, Tyler Conklin from Central Michigan, probably in that sort of day, we'll say early day three, late day two range.

Soft hands, good athletic ability, needs work work getting separation with the route running mark andrews is a player that a lot of people are high on a very productive college tight end he's a bit of a tweener we talked about this with jeff risen a couple of you know weeks ago he was essentially a slot receiver for the sooners in oklahoma but he has stiff hips for a move tight end in the nfl not the best blocker so you do wonder about a positional fit for him. Will Disley from Washington. Big time play strength blocking. Shows, you know, very capable with the ball in his hands.

Lack of speed and athleticism might sort of relegate him to a TE2 type role. But those are some tight ends to keep in mind for the New England Patriots tomorrow. We're going to look at wide receivers and work our way through the draft board. Until then, keep it locked right here to me, Mark Schofield, and Locked on Patriots.