NFL Stock Exchange: An NFL Draft Podcast - 258. Ranking 2025 NFL Draft Tight End (Summer Scouting)

Episode Date: June 25, 2024

Trevor Sikkema and Connor Rogers continue their Summer Scouting Series and coverage of the 2025 NFL Draft by ranking the draft-eligible tight ends for the 2025 NFL Draft. The two bring you each of their top 5s with strengths, weaknesses, player comps and projections

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It's awesome. Sign up now at youtube.com slash BS, device and content restrictions apply. Local and national games on YouTube TV. NFL Sunday ticket for out-of-market games excludes digital-only games. Welcome to the NFL Stock Exchange podcast. In this episode, back to the summer scouting series, we're talking about tight ends. Now, okay, every year could be a little hit and miss with the tight end position when it comes to the NFL draft. This one's good. There's a lot of fun names to know in this tight end class

including a guy that we think could be a first round caliber player i'm trevor sikama with me as always is conor rodgers let's ring the bell welcome to the opening bell of the nfl stock exchange podcast i'm trevor sikama that is connor rogers joining y'all for another edition of the summer scouting series today we're talking tight ends i know the position can sometimes be a little bit up and down but there's some good players to talk about in this class i think we're gonna have a fun conversation here i know it's not everybody's favorite episode but we're gonna have a good time previewing what is the 2025 tight end class. Anyways, Connor, how the hell are you, my friend? I'm good, man. Listen, another position group down always tight ends. Interesting. Like if you're here watching or listening somewhere, I would say this is the

episode you're the you're definitely a diehard. And I'm not telling people to skip this because a lot of tight ends get drafted every year a lot of tight ends from the fifth round hold on to nine-year NFL careers like this is a position that matters so so much and I think it is not hard to scout but hard to find who to scout because Trevor I was joking with you off the air I mean I watched players that had under 300 yards last year. Right. It's like, oh, maybe something's here.

Like college teams don't traditionally use the tight end as much as, you know, obviously NFL teams. And you just have to, you know, you have to cut a little deeper. So I just want to give a little appreciation to those diehards that are on this episode. And I think I think you're totally right, because tight ends to me are real football players you know not that not that there's other positions that aren't real football players but tight ends have to be tall big strong fast catch block run routes do they have to tight ends have to do everything so right like these are the true football players. And like you said, it's not as easy to just go to the stats column and see, you know,

a bunch of catches, a bunch of receiving yards, and then you get to fully appreciate tight ends. This episode is truly going to be, you got like, you got to watch, you have to watch tight ends to really kind of know what you're talking about here.

So I'm excited to hear the back and forth between everybody as we kind of get into the comments after this episode is over. So I'm excited to get to that. Look, and I'm not going to lie. Well, we'll do full transparency first. I'll start it by saying that currently as this episode is out, your boys enjoying a little bit of time on the beach with some family. I'm enjoying a little bit, by the way. What'd you say? Well-earned, well-deserved, by the way. It's about damn time. Thank you. Thank you.

No, so I'm on PTO right now as this episode is dropping. And so you and I are recording a little bit early. So we had less days to watch a certain amount of these players. And we're like, all right, tight ends, okay? I thought I was going to go into this list thinking that most of these guys were just going to be organic, grass-fed, wagyu, 45-day dry-aged cheeks. Oh, man. And you know what?

They're not. No. They're not. It's actually a fun class. So today we're talking about the top fives, and we're going to talk about, obviously, as you guys know, some players outside of our top fives as well. I was before we get into it. I was pleasantly surprised by this group. I really was.

I was, too, because it's one of those where you go in and like to take you behind the curtain. I don't know how you do it as I'm watching them. I'll slot like my rankings tab by position is just next to my master doc, which is where I write all my notes, heights, weights, every bit of information about these players, too much information about these players. Then the next tab is by position rankings. And if I like a guy a little bit, I'll throw him on there. And then I start to copy and paste and move them around after I've watched 10 plus where it gets crazy. And I got a little nervous because it didn't start off so well i watched like seven or eight i think i had like two guys on there and i'm like oh man i don't know jim and uh and then and then

all of a sudden i just hit my stride where i ran like three in a row that i was like it was either a mismatch player or a really good balance player. And I think it's one of those classes that is definitely volume over the quality, but the volume was, you know, really well-rounded here. Yeah. I really didn't want to get that text from you yesterday. Like, Hey buddy, I don't know if I could fill an entire episode with these guys. Which I do often send. So we avoided that. So we avoided that here, which is good. But like I said, there's so many different ways to evaluate the tight end position you know some guys you you can tell they're calling card at the nfl level it's going to be blocking but that's okay you know like there are it's like

even for teams that emphasize tight end more than others the ones that don't emphasize tight end at all i mean these guys are special teams guys you need to be able to play 12 13 personnel once you get into goal line short yardage formation so it's every team in the nfl whether you emphasize tight ends a lot in the receiving game or a little you have value or you have a spot on your roster for whatever archetype these kinds of players are and so that's what makes them very plentiful when it comes to the nfl draft and that's why evaluations for them can be so fun when we get into, especially a season like this with summer scouting,

where a lot of it is projection and what we hope these guys can be. So I will let you kick it off with number five here. We will go back and forth as we always do with our top fives here for the tight end position. Who you got first? Number five for me is Terrence Ferguson from Oregon. And I feel like it's been a very heavy summer scouting the last two weeks we had a couple receivers from Oregon on that episode now

I start I start with Terrence Ferguson who uh is just all around very solid and getting better over the years and I think with him he was ironically the last tight end I watched when I went back to that rant I had where he was the last last tight end I watched when I went back to that rant I had where he was the last guy I watched I didn't know if I'd get to him I was like damn maybe I should have prioritized him I think he should get a little bit more hype last year 414 yards on 42 catches six touchdowns somebody to me that okay he's not overly explosive or overly fast but really uses his size and catch radius in the red zone to climb the ladder and make plays. Some of his catches in 2023 were spectacular.

One was a one-handed catch in the end zone. There's a couple where he could just, once again, climbing the ladder over the coverage or adjusting back to the ball. Someone to me that really took care of the targets he got by catching the football. I think there's obviously at the tight end position, you have some guys that they're just not natural pass catchers or they're not comfortable. They're carrying a lot more mass where it's harder to adjust.

I thought he was somebody to me that seemed pretty smooth. And now there's a track record here with him where six touchdowns in 2023, five touchdowns in 2022, another year where he almost got to 400 yards as well, where he's not a target monster. I mean, he's only made it to 50 targets once, but the fact that he's making the most of the targets, I think he's pretty urgent with the ball in his hands where he was able to pick up yards after the catch. And obviously there's space in this offense, because this is an offense that usually has really good receiving talent that can open the middle of the field for him.

I mean, just last year, 263 of his 414 yards were after the catch. So is he the most creative runner in the world? No, but he understands how to kind of go from pass catcher to runner and get up the field and, you know, try to make the most out of it. And I think he actually is pretty good at breaking tackles as well. I mean, 13 missed tackles forced last year as well, 27 first downs. So somebody that Bo Nix can rely on. I thought the blocking got a lot better last year too.

I think this is someone that is helpful in pass protection, is adequate in run blocking, although continuing to improve. I have him at 6'5", 25 55. So you really like the size with Ferguson. He's just a, he's just a rock solid tight end. He could play. I'd like him on the line of scrimmage, honestly, at the next level. There's other guys I watch where I'm like, damn, these guys are explosive, play them standing up off the line, move tight. And I think these are traditional wide tight end. So Terrence Ferguson was someone that definitely surprised me a little bit and just, he's just a rock solid football player yeah so i did not watch ferguson he's he's one of the couple of guys that you watch that i

that i haven't gotten to yet and so i just hearing what you're saying of him i was looking him up just pulling up his numbers from the pff database that we have they're nice man i mean this is somebody who i'm going to watch very very quickly because i want to get him into the mock draft simulator i want to make sure that people who know about him can draft him once we kind of update that bad boy. So, you know, it is funny, just real quick. So the PFF Ultimate database that we have, it is the player profiles are linked to the school profiles. So the height and weight that the school lists you as

auto-populates in our database. So we can see it pretty easily. Oregon, put your players height and weight on the damn website. Stop being cowards about it. I've run into this more. I don't know about you more than ever this year. I'm starting to run into this beyond Oregon. Now I think it's i think it's a a tactic and i i have a sheet where i had him on it and i had him i had him verified at what i said um i had him verified pretty close 65255 but it's like you have to go the extra mile to get that you know when they go into scouts go in in the spring and they can get a lot of that but you're right it's they are staying away from it publicly. Put this shit on the website.

I know. It's crazy. Come on. Also, what does he have to hide? You're 6'5", 255. He's 6'5", 255. Who was the receiver last week that we talked about that was 160? Tez.

Tez Johnson. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Tez Johnson I get. Right. It's okay. Let Tez Johnson bulk up to 175, then put it on the school. But for Terrence Ferguson, he's done the work. He's been there for a couple years.

You don't have to hide anything. You could even be selective with it if you wanted to. Just give me the ones where I need to get the information. All right, so you don't want to put 160 next to Tez's name. It's fine. I'm sure that Texas didn't want to put 400 next to Devondre Sweat's name if he was ever playing a 400 at Texas. But they still put it up there.

I mean, they probably lied about it. Instead 400 in texas but they still put it up there i mean they probably lied about it but instead of weights when they don't want to put it they should put items that are equivalent to the weight so you have to go the extra mile like filing cabinet in parentheses but no no but the word but the word uh about like about five filing cabinets and then you got to do the work to Google the standard weight of a filing cabinet. And then, of course, you got to convert it from the metric system over to our system, you know, so. 72 and a half PS5s. And then you're really like doing the homework.

That's what schools should do if they really want to be like that about it. We'll do the work. That's why we're here. No, actually, I don't want to do the work. That's actually how this rant started. Put it on the damn website so we can link it here. So I haven't watched Ferguson, obviously, but that's somebody who, man,

I'm just looking at his PFF athletic scores right here on his ultimate profile. And over the last three years, so 2021, 2022, and 2023, he had an athletic percentile above 90 every single year. 92 in his first year, 96 the year after, and 94.3 in 2023. So this is obviously somebody who moves very, very well, especially you mentioning him at 6'5", 255.

Those are really good athletic scores for a player who's pushing 250, 255. There are players that we're going to talk about here that are lighter in weight, and it's a little unfair because their athletic percentiles are going to be higher, but then you have to be able to marry that information with their height and weight because if they're,

especially if their weight, if their weight percentiles are lower, then actually, yeah, you better see athletic percentiles a lot higher or all of a sudden we got somebody who might not make it in the league off of an athletic baseline alone. So Ferguson,on somebody that i still need to watch yeah like i said it's not

like you missed like a blue chip player necessarily but i think because of the nature of how much talent that oregon offense has produced the last couple years he's just this guy that's flown under the radar and it's it's definitely his time and look back at it now, and they did a good job convincing him to come back to school for one more year. Is Benjamin Urisek in your top five? He's not, but I did watch him again, and I'm pretty sure he's been on summer scouting now for three years, right? Well, yeah, he's been draft eligible for three years.

And he had a monster year at Stanford a couple of years ago, and it has not gone that way since is he five for you so he is five for me right because if if he was in your top five then I was going to get a little bit nervous because I think we'll probably have most of the same top five pretty close but if you would have had Ferguson at five and your sec would have been higher then all of a sudden one of the guys I really like wasn't even going to be in your top five. And I was going to be floored by that. So we avoided.

We might. Maybe. You never know. Huh? I think four might surprise you a little bit. And then I thought my top three were not chalky but they're like relatively household names okay well i have somebody in my top three who is not a household name cool all right let's rock and roll we get the fight later that's great yes all right so benjamin urasek you mentioned

tight end from stanford he is number five on my rankings going into the season so he is entering his red shirt senior year he was in the 2020 recruiting class so one two three four yeah it's got to be red shirt senior year so he was at stanford got a ton of playing time while he was at stanford he was a three-year starter from 2021 all the way through 2023 now he is at georgia as. As if Georgia didn't have enough. Insanity. Tight ends. He now goes to Georgia. And, you know, it's, I don't want to spoil anything because I'm going to talk about another Georgia tight end at some point later in the show. But it's just an embarrassment of riches over there. And, you know, it's not fair. And as a Florida Gator grad, I think that somebody should step in

and I feel like the NCAA should just give them the death penalty for doing whatever they're doing. Yeah, you have a cap on just recruiting and transfer portal tight ends. So, Juracek, he is 6'4", 243 pounds. This is a guy who, like I was mentioning, is a little bit smaller. Now, we talked about this last year during summer scouting.

The tight end position is, I think, going through a big transition period where it used to be, if you weren't 250 pounds, you really weren't getting on the field as an NFL tight end. That's just not the case anymore. Like we're seeing at the wide receiver position, you can have players who you don't want to bet on these outliers, but there's so many smaller wide receivers that are making it in the league. And I'm not just talking about like the tank Dells, like the super small players. Like I'm even talking about guys who are 170, 180, who are now playing in the league and much more common than they used to be. So when you see Benjamin Urasek's measurables at 6'4", 243, and that's 38th percentile and 12th percentile, you go, okay, those are obviously really low percentiles for the position. But if you divide up the tight end group into inline blocking tight ends and

receiving tight ends, then I think that that percentile would go up for your sec because he is more of a move receiving tight end. And furthermore, if you take away the data from, let's just say 2015 and, and, and, and years past, like if you only go from 2015 on, that percentile probably goes up. So you'll hear us reference some of the height and weight percentiles, just because we like to give you guys full context of who's in the league. But ultimately, if you are a receiving tight end, I still think that you can make it at 6'4", 243,

even though you're 12th percentile. So anyways, just wanted to kind of put that as a caveat, because there's going to be a couple other guys that we talk about there a little bit later or later in size. So Juracek was a three-star tight end when he was coming out in the 2020 recruiting class. He actually played tight end and outside linebacker in high school, won a state championship in football his senior season

by playing both sides of the ball. Also won a state championship in basketball, averaged more than 14 points per game in 11 boards. Out here averaging a double-double. Let's go, baby. Committed to Stanford out of high school. Like I said, played there for four years. Was a starter from 2021 all the way through 2023.

Missed a lot of that 2023 season last year due to a shoulder injury, and then he transferred over to Georgia. Got quite the family athletic background. Father played football at Colorado State. Mother played volleyball at colorado state mother played volleyball at colorado state and connor i think you mentioned this last year his grandfather is credited with inventing the baby carrot that is correct his grandfather is fully credited for inventing the baby carrot 100 credited my dog. My dog thanks the Urasek family. Dude, my dog loves carrots.

Yes. My dog smacks on carrots. Yep. Harder than any treat that we give him. Yep. Loves it. Thank you, Uraseks. Anyways, Urasek, I think he is a good player.

This is one of those guys who I think could be, you know, back end of day two, kind of a guy, at least right now. Um, I don't know how much more he's going to be able to show at Georgia because it's a super crowded room, but I still think, you know, he's like mid round potential guy. That's what's interesting. Right. And I think you're going to talk about Oscar dealt. You kind of hinted at, I am going to talk about it. I'm fascinated because I think the usage for them, you would project the same way, but obviously that can't be the case. Yeah.

And they all have another, they have a really good freshman. He's a four star tight end. And he was playing last year when Bowers was hurt. Yes. It's again, the NCAA needs to step in. Somebody's got to step in.

And it's not going to be the NCAA. We know that. No. No. Okay, so strengths for your set, who I think is a good receiving tight end. Well, I'll list some of the weaknesses first because I think there's more strength. At 243, despite kind of everything that I said,

giving these guys a little bit of the benefit of the doubt with the style that they're playing. To me, he lacks the mass to be a full-time inline tight end at the next level. I think that you can get away with it. I think he's competitive. I think that he has some pride in blocking, right? I mean, like, I think that he's not going to just get,

look lost or whiff out there when he's in the line or in line, but you're not going to want him as like tight end one attached to the line of scrimmage, really taking defensive ends one-on-one. That's not what you want. Instead, this guy's going to be a move tight end for you, athletic enough to play wide receiver spots, both outside wide receiver and in the slot. I think he's very quick out of his three point stance. So if you have him in line,

he could really get up and into, into the field, up the seam. I think he's good vertical stretcher, especially up the field. He's got strong, reliable hands, very few drops over the last couple of years. And I think the flexibility is pretty decent for him to have a diverse route tree. And that's important for a guy who's going to play in the slot or the outside. And I think the flexibility is pretty decent for him to have a diverse route tree. And that's important for a guy who's going to play in the slot or the outside. So I noted this in my film watch of him. He is the out and up or wheel route king, especially when they get him in motion.

It's why I call him that move tight end because when they get him on the move, he is going out to the line of scrimmage and he's going out to the sideline and boop, he is going out to the line of scrimmage. Or he's going out to the sideline. And boop, he is going immediately up the sideline. And there are very few linebackers or safeties that can get from in between the tackles, in the box, to catch up with him. Especially when you add that change of direction there. So a lot of his big plays were on those out and up routes and on those wheel routes.

Because he's got some good flexibility to be able to do it. So I think he's a really solid receiving type of tight end. Again, not somebody that you're going to ask to block defensive ends one-on-one, but somebody who you can get away with him being in 12 personnel, have him as a wingback off the line of scrimmage. He can block linebackers at the second level. He can block slot defenders. But where he's really going to make his money for you as a receiver in the passing game. So I did like Juracek. I felt like he was a top part of the mid-round, so third-round type of a player right now in his current state.

Yeah, I'm with you. He's not in my top five, but I watched him and thought mid-round player. I mean, not much has changed since we really liked him over the years. And I know he had a shoulder injury last year that really, really held him back, obviously, when he just Googled the production. But definitely an interesting player because it feels like in that Georgia offense, he can get back to what he was at Stanford a couple of years ago, where from a production standpoint, he explodes. All right. So number four for me, or do you want to go right to number four for you? Is it? No. Oh, OK. Never mind. All right. Four for me. We'll get there.

Wow. I like that. Four for me. Is that a surprise? Is four for you Delp? No. Delp was six for me. Okay.

Yeah. I had Delp at five and the last guy I watched was Terrence Ferguson. All right. I might be a sicko. So number four for me is Tyler Warren from Penn State. Okay. When watching Tyler Warren, who's about 6 watching Tyler Warren who's about 6'6 really close to 6'6 260 when watching Tyler Warren all I could think about was the meme from Moneyball where Jonah Hill is at the whiteboard talking to Brad Pitt and he and it's like Billy this is

Tyler Warren he could be one of the best tight ends in this entire draft. The only problem is he doesn't always catch the football when he's wide open. It's crazy. There's a lot of good about this guy. Number one, he's huge. He's massive. How bad is his catch percentage? It's not.

I didn't watch him. It's that he has the highlight reel level drops. Is Penn State? Penn State, yeah. He was the other tight end with him and Theo. And he still had over 400 yards, 34 catches, caught seven touchdowns. And honestly, it could have been more. He had six drops, and I swear two or three of them were like,

like he's still thinking about it. Like one of wide open, he just, it's just times where it's like his brain i'm gonna watch him right you gotta watch them it's like his brain kind of shuts off and it's like dude i know you can catch that because he has production he can catch the football he can be an effective receiver there's just a couple drops or i'm like no way like absolutely no yeah dude it's it's i'm telling you when and the fact that i have him as the fourth tight end tells you how good the rest of the film is tells you how good the rest of the film is he oh you got this guy behind delp oh man yeah are you ahead of delp

oh yeah i just watched the wheel route one versus massachusetts where he's wide open you'll never have an easier touchdown in your life that one i, I think he smacks his hands against his helmet. So I'm pretty sure he, I think he played quarterback in high school. So let's give him a little bit of a pass here. He also played basketball and baseball. He was an all-state baseball player. So this guy is like a really good multi-sport athlete and obviously massive. His dad played football at Richmond from 1987 to 1990s.

Grandfather played football at Wake Forest. The sister played softball at East Tennessee. So, I mean, the whole thing. And I think the aunt played soccer somewhere. Like everybody in this family played D1 sport. And it's multiple sports across the way. And like I said, with Tyler Warren, he played three sports in high school at a really high level.

I think he was all region basketball, all state baseball. And I'm pretty sure I don't want to mix this up because a lot of tight ends are high school quarterbacks. I'm pretty sure he was a high school quarterback. So I already said excellent size, but mass. A lot of these guys are tall and they're still filling out. He's already got the mass. Wide frame.

Two sixes is good. He's a junkyard dog as a run blocker. Like it's the, I'm on the line of scrimmage. When I climbed to the linebacker, I'm going to bury the linebacker. They're totally different mentality as a blocker, man blocker, inside zone. I mean, he can, I'm not ready to give him that like classic sixth offensive lineman label, but I think it's there. I think there's a chance in a year where we look at Tyler Warren as a prospect

in the first three rounds of the draft and we're like, oh, I'd like him as my sixth offensive lineman that can also hopefully impact the receiving game. And I thought he can handle run blocking duties in any scheme. He's athletic enough if you run zone. He's still going to factor in as a run blocker. It just goes back to me, the six drops he had, just kind of stabbing at the ball, lacking concentration at times. But I think if you're looking for maybe the best potential wide tight end

in this draft, Warren has a chance Y tight end in this draft. Warren has a chance to compete for it this year. He just has to get over the inconsistencies in his game. I was pretty excited about him. I just, it's just, if he's the same guy in a year from now, when we talk about him as a prospect with that limits his receiving, he's more of that fourth rounder, maybe overachieves like a tip Ryman and goes earlier

yeah but if his receiving game goes up a notch or two and it's a little more consistent I think he's somebody that could fight to to be a top 100 pick yeah I mean he sounds just the way you're talking about him sounds like a tip Ryman type of player and Ryman went third round right I think you went top 100 yeah and and that was earlier than I thought he was going to go but it was that size speed strength combination that clearly the Arizona Cardinals were like I mean we we would love to get another player like this on a roster and it sort of makes sense for them I do think that he was a little bit overdrafted but for the blocker that he is now you could free up trey mcbride to do a lot

more stuff in the passing game he had the highest receiving grade on the team last year so you want to just allow him to be more flexible and getting tip ryan allows you to do that i think there's certainly a world i'm just kind of looking at his pff numbers just as an overview i haven't watched him but for warren 65th percentile in run blocking, positively graded run blocking plays, which is one of the highest percentiles that I've seen of any of the guys that I went through. So that, again, just speaks to... That's just bread and butter. It's like, you know, true on the line of scrimmage tight end in an era of football that...

Few and far between, man. And it's going to keep playing. And I'll tell you why it's going to keep playing. Because I can't remember who pointed this out to me initially, but the Chiefs were running a ton of 13 personnel last year. And there were a couple other teams that were running a lot of 13 personnel. But they were passing a lot out of 13 personnel. Now you could say, well, that's a product that the Chiefs didn't really have receivers that they trusted.

And I could see that. I could definitely see that but i also wonder if andy reed and the chiefs are kind of on the forefront of maybe where the game might be going a little bit because you remember you remember back in like 2017 when mcveigh first got the job with the rams he sort of took the league by storm when he was running a lot of different plays out of few formations right right it was it was a lot of the same look but they could run out of it they could pass out of it they could run different passing plays out of the same look he lived in 11 that really but they lived in like a condensed 11 you know the white like it was 11 but the wide

receivers were close to the line of scrimmage so they could say well not only can we throw different passing plays at you from this formation we can also run the ball from this formation block right we've got those wide receivers closer to the line of scrimmage bill belichick in the super bowl that year was their kryptonite because bill went oh okay we're just gonna put six guys on the line of scrimmage we're gonna put six defensive linemen on the line of scrimmage and We're going to put six defensive linemen on the line of scrimmage. And then I don't care how many wide receivers you have close to the, right. I don't care.

I don't care how many wide receivers you have close to the, to the line. They're not going to be able to block a defensive lineman. So I think things have kind of evolved since that point. I wonder if a extension or evolution of that philosophy that McVay brought in 2016, 2017, I can't remember exactly which year it was, is passing out of 13 personnel, getting sort of the same thought process of, okay, we can run or pass out of any of these formations, but instead we're doing it with tight ends out there. And these are guys who are 250 260 not just 200 pounds like wide receivers

would be so but but we've got so many crazy athlete tight ends that are coming through if you stockpile a lot of these guys which the chiefs kind of have a little bit certainly travis kelsey is at the top but no gray is somebody that they've been able to rely on a little bit now obviously they're drafted jared wiley They had Irv Smith Jr. I wonder if Tyler Warren, getting it back to this conversation here, is sort of a piece in that evolution for a team whenever he comes through of this guy who is mainly a blocker, but he's also athletic enough to where you have to account for him. You can't just say, oh, there's multiple tight ends on the field. Oh, Tyler Warren's on the field. Let's get the extra linebacker in here. Let's

get the heavier personnel in here for defense. You've got to be able to cover these guys as well. So I wonder if that's kind of where we're going and he might be a piece for that. Yeah. I feel like, you know, we've seen the Bengals probably kind of thought that when they took Drew sample in the second round, um, that Raiders this year will be a team like that. Everybody's like, how do you draft Brock Bowers after you took Michael Mayer the year before? Well, you're going to play both of them, and Michael Mayer is way bigger than Brock Bowers,

so they could do different things for you. So, yeah, I'm with you. Absolutely. All right. So, number four for me, somebody who I got to think is in your top three now at this point, Luke Lachey, the tight end from Iowa. I'll never quit him.

No, and you shouldn't. If he went up for adoption, I'd be the first in line. We'll never quit him. He doesn't even have to play any games, and I still put him in my top five the next year. Instead of like a rescue dog, you're just rescuing Luke Lachey. For no reason he's like i have a great family leave me alone yeah he's number three for me so this is perfect

who was i was i talking with you about the who was i oh man where was i listening to this i was talking with somebody the other day uh and will smith like try to adopt the dog from i am legend but like you remember you remember the movie right i mean like he's got the dog in the movie whatever he tried to adopt that dog but that dog like already had a family like the dog like no it's just an actor it's just an acting dog you don't just also get the dog hey we're letting you use the dog now where you'd like to leave right and also like screw you for asking to adopt our dog okay so is okay this is really dark is there a price for marvel no no it's will smith no he could offer you 10 million dollars no no no i would never give up gracie

the answer is no because even though the answer could be yes the answer is actually no the answer is no the answer is absolutely no no price tag comment below is there a price for your beloved fur baby this is actually this is actually yeah I want to I want to know I want to know what the price is people say that there's a price for everything my price is no for Marvel uh Luke Lachey is the he is a redshirt senior now at Iowa, I believe. He was in the 2020 recruiting class, so he must be a redshirt senior. Yeah, no, that's how math works.

Iowa, another one in the royal line of Iowa tight ends. Last year, they had Eric All. They had Luke Lachey. The year before, they had Sam Laporta. It's, again, like an embarrassment of riches at that position, but they're churning out so many of these dudes in the NFL. If they could just get some semblance of any sort of passing attack at all, maybe they'd be good on offense in college as well before they got to the NFL.

But look, I think that Lachey, we talked about a little bit last year because he was draft eligible. He ended up coming back because he got, he had a broken ankle last year, I think is what it was. He did, yeah. Season-ending surgery on the right ankle.

Yeah, three games into the season, he ended up having a broken ankle. High school, he played wide receiver. He played tight end. He played defensive back. So he played a lot of different positions. His father, Jim Lachey, played offensive tackle for 10 years in the nfl he's with the chargers the raiders the redskins um a number 12 overall pick for in the 1985 draft

he was three-time all pro so we've got former first round nfl bloodlines here with this dude and um i mean he does he does feel like he plays like somebody who's got some nfl influence on him he's got a really good size for the nfl uh at the at the position he's six foot six which is 86 percentile 253rd percentile in or sorry uh 253 pounds which is 52nd percentile reading is difficult really good size for the nfl as i mentioned straight line speed i think is well above average i think it's something that could be really effective at the NFL level, especially if you put him in a vertical offense, you allow him to get going. I think he's got some nastiness to the run game. I think he's more of a receiver than he is a blocker, but he's got some

nastiness in the run game when he goes up against the linebackers. You know, Connor, his separation percentage versus single coverage is way worse than I thought it would be. Seventh percentile. I thought it'd be a lot better because I think he's a really good linear athlete. But he just, he does. I'm watching the film and it's like, I feel like he should be separating a little bit better from these receivers because I feel like he's got the athleticism to do it. But I guess he's still just kind of learning how to fight those guys off and get the nuance of route running down.

I feel it can be in the cards for him because of how athletic he is. But I just feel like he's really solid all around tight end. I don't think he's a world beater. I think he is somebody who, again, like Juracek, like I mentioned, can be a nice day two pick, probably a third round pick at this point. But he does a lot of stuff well. I think there's a world where a fully healthy season from him can be the best

that we've seen yet as a pass catcher can maybe be even better as a pass blocker and i think that he just has a pretty high floor as a tight end somebody that'll be at the very least a tight end two at the next level i'm with you all the way with lachey i know he basically missed last year he only had 10 catches through the three games you know you brought up his dad who was a three-time first team all pro but you just watch the tape when he does play he's long i think he's the separation score is interesting and i do think he's more of like a four sevens kind of guy at the position rather than a sub four seven kind of player but i still think he has length and athleticism catches the ball over coverage i mean on third down it feels like you see big flashes it's like third and ten it's like go find luke lachey and when they could actually get him the ball over coverage. I mean, on third down, it feels like you see big flashes. It's like third and 10.

It's like, go find Luke Lachey. And when they can actually get him the ball, he makes a big play. So let's see how he is coming off that season ending ankle surgery. Let's continue to watch his blocking develop. But tight end three for me and somebody that I'm really excited for him to be healthy this year. Yeah. Above 96% catchable passes caught percentage in 2022. I mean, like everything that touched his hands in 2022 was Corral.

I mean, he was bringing it in for a big catch, whether it was on third down or not. To me, it's easy tight end two at the next level. Maybe he develops into a tight end one. So maybe that's somebody that's a solid date too big okay so that was tight end four for you yep yeah that was three for me so back to you for three which I think is gonna be Oscar we're still going okay wow Mitchell Evans from Notre Dame is Okay, not in my top five, but I did watch him. Really? Yeah. Whoa, hold on now.

Who do you have at two? Nesbitt. Oh, okay, okay. Yeah, from North Carolina. Yeah, I'm not the biggest Nesbitt fan. You don't think he's a tight end? Yeah, yeah, basically. I get it. I just don't think he's a tight end yeah yeah yeah basically i get it i i just don't opinions on him are gonna be all over the place i don't really think that he's a tight end yeah it's it just depends how you use him i mean he's he's 230 pounds talk to me talk to me about

nesbit because we'll we'll bounce back to mitch Mitchell Evans. I'm sorry if we're bouncing around on the pod, but I want to hear your thoughts on Nesbitt, because Nesbitt was seven for me. This is really interesting, because Delp is six for me, and I feel like we're getting close to that kind of flip. Okay, so Nesbitt, I have him 6'5", 230. Senior tight end at UNC. He had 585 yards on 41 catches

in five touchdowns last year. He had 507 yards with 35 catches in four touchdowns the year before. He just has speed and length at the position. Like if you need a big slot. He's a mismatch that I saw him. Have explosive plays.

I mean, he got seven of his 15 targets at 20-plus yards. He's the only tight end I watched where he was creating massive chunk plays down the field. And yeah, it's nice when Drake Mays is your quarterback. Right, right. It does help. He is very efficient over the intermediate middle of the field as well. Caught eight of his 12 targets for 126 yards and a touchdown. He has no fear of getting absolutely crushed over the middle of the field as well. Caught eight of his 12 targets for 126 yards and a touchdown. He has no fear of getting absolutely crushed over the middle of the field.

Like he constantly works over the middle of the field, whether he's running the seam, running the post route, and he will get popped in the middle of the field and get back up. And I get it. He's 230 pounds, right? And I think they list him 235, but he's 230 pounds. He's a massive liability when they ask him to help him pass pro. Right. And there's times where he body catches which ruins his transition from being a pass catcher to runner

because keep in mind this guy's fast so if he catches the ball cleanly and starts to run he's galloping i wonder i wonder what his top speed is because i know you know what the top speed is good i just i don't know man i i felt like his speed was way more buildup than it was twitchiness. But he runs real routes. So that is my favorite part of Bryson Nesbitt. He's running wide receiver route tree. And I get it. You go, well, he's a big wide receiver.

If he's really good in the slot or slightly off the line of scrimmage or working across the formation, that is a real position in the slot or slightly off the line of scrimmage or working across the formation, that is a real position in the NFL. And I actually think his perimeter blocking when he's blocking in the slot in outside zone is good. He can block corners. He could block safeties. He could block smaller outside linebackers. He is terrible when they throw him on the line of scrimmage and go, Hey, handle the defense bend coming at you one-on-one. He's going to get killed. He's going to get killed. So it's like you have to accept what he is,

and if you like that kind of player, you'll like him. But I totally understand your viewpoint of why it's hard to wrap your mind around him being a tight end. Yeah. Yeah, it was the blocking categories really take things down from his overall grade for me. But I thought the build-up top speed for him was good. I didn't think that he was super...

How do I say this? I don't know. There are plays where he looks fast, and there are plays when he just looks like he's running in mud. And I don't know what to do with that. I don't know like i just he there are plays where he looks fast and there are plays when he just looks like he's he's he's just a guy mud yeah and i don't know what to do with that i don't know what to do i don't know he's he's a really unique player that i just don't quite understand the projection for maybe he is just that big slot player and maybe you're using him in a specialized role and maybe that role is going to be successful in the nfl because they're just going to put him in this streamlined role which is you're going to play in the slot. You're going to line up against smaller

defenders and you're going to catch over the top of them, or you're going to go up the seam. And if they do that, I can understand a role for him at the NFL level, but it's hard to watch a lot of these other tight ends, even good receiving tight ends who are better in line, better blockers overall, who might have a little bit more quickness to them, a little bit more elusiveness. And it's hard for me to really stack him up above these other guys. I get the size with the height because he is like, what is he?

Six foot five, six foot six. And he's got long arms. He does have very long arms. And I want to say he is, he has the best route running IQ. I think of any of the tight ends that I watched. I mean, I'm watching him get off the line scrimmage with an actual purpose and actual release. And there were times when he'd like, he'd have like a triple break in his route and he'd be like,

all right, I'm going here. No, I'm going here. Oh, I'm just kidding. I'm turning around. It's like, okay, I see you. And so I scored him very highly in those categories i just was not convinced about the rest of his game i don't know man i i i was the same way last year with him as well a lot yeah we already did this road really pumping him up and i just i i was i'm not as bullish on him with this transition to the next level i get it yeah it's gonna be interesting to see what he does in that offense this year but i think he has two years of being a productive pass-catching tight end. And there weren't a lot of guys in this group that have that on their resume right now. That is true.

That is true. And, I mean, do you want to just talk about who my number two is then? Well, we got to do three is Mitchell Evans for you, right? Three is Mitchell Evans. Yeah, three is Mitchell Evans. We should talk about him quickly. I'll just give you my, like, number one concern with him. He tore his ACL in 2023, three is Mitchell Evans. We should talk about him quickly. I'll just give you my number one concern with him. He tore his ACL in 2023, which is...

Not ideal. Yeah, it's not ideal. I just think he's slow, Trevor. I just think he's really slow. I don't think he's really slow. I don't know. He's going to have to be an amazing blocker and zone eater to be a starting tight end.

Because I just, I really think like linebackers can run. I don't know. That was my number one concern. And I don't know if I'm going to get an answer on that. Cause he's coming off a torn ACL. So it's hard to be like, Oh,

well he doesn't look as explosive. That was my number one thing that had me kind of hung up with him. Yeah. I mean, I have in my notes here he's not a very twitchy player um he's not somebody that's going to get off the line of scrimmage with a lot of explosiveness like he's not going to be able to put his foot in the ground and really be able to change direction um on you but i thought the top

speed was adequate from him um just strength strength and weaknesses has the frame and the measurables to line up in line and off the ball. I think he's got a lot of versatility there. He has the size because he is six foot five, 260 pounds. So that's 66th percentile and 70th percentile. So what we talked about when you were mentioning Tyler Warren, I mean, like Mitchell Evans is somebody who I think is, it sounds like what Tyler Warren is maybe not as good of a blocker, but he had a positively graded run blocking percentage of 8.8%, which is 48th percentile.

So it wasn't as high as Warren's 65th percentile. But still, I mean, I think that Evans is somebody that you can play in line, that could be a legit blocker for you. But I don't have any of the receiving concerns that you had with Warren, with Mitchell. So I, I don't know. I maybe,

maybe the athleticism is why he ended up only being a three-star tight end. And I was talking to a buddy of mine, Michael Jr. Who obviously is, you know, like everything Notre Dame. And I was just texting him and I was like, how does Notre Dame keep doing this?

Like, you know, you just reloading tight ends, everything, you know, Cole Comet, Michael Mayer, and now like Mitchell Evans. I mean was like, how does Notre Dame keep doing this? Like, you know, he's just reloading tight ends, Cole Clement, Michael Mayer, and now like Mitchell Evans. I mean, like it's just studs after another. And he's like, dude, and he said to me, he's like, Evans wasn't even really like supposed to be this dude either. He just kind of popped like a couple of years ago.

And every time he got on the field, when Mayer wasn't there, he was able to play really, really well. And I hope he can recover to a near 100 level because i think that he's got a lot in the tank is the emphasis for that tight end spot i mean there are some crazy catches that this dude has one one-handed catches through traffic i mean whether it's two hands one hand whatever man i think he's got really strong hands so to me this is another guy who is a day two type of tight end. But to me, I think that he's got second round potential in him for everything that he brings to the table.

Yeah, I think that he could be that type of a dude. You might adopt him. Yeah, I might adopt him. Yeah, yeah. I need his family to tell me the price. What's the price? We're going to get Will Smith involved. We're going to rope him in.

And yeah, we'll kind of create a think tank and get a nice little pool of money together and we can adopt him. So, all right. So Titan 2 is going to be a really interesting combo, I think. Okay, is this Oscar Delp? Yeah, I'm not putting him above Colson.

You should have really pulled my leg there and been like, nope, it's not Oscar Delp. And then when you got to one, also said it's not Oscar Delp. And then when you got to one also said it's not Oscar Delp, it just never happened. It's like a scheme. Damn, that would have been an elite bit. Yeah, maybe next time. All right, talk to me about Oscar Delp, tight end two.

Dude, he's good. He is good. He's really good. I really wanted him to be in my top five. And he should have been, you coward. There's a lot. I really wanted him to be in my top five. He is. And he should have been. You coward. He's a. He is.

There's a lot of projecting still left to be done. Yeah. But he's a good player. All right, please. No. I want. I want you to. No.

Okay. So obviously, Oscar Delp does not have a ton of production to his name. Now, I will say that if he was playing for basically any other team in the country maybe that would not have been the case because he was playing behind Brock Bauer so you know you were talking with I think you were talking about with Bryson Nesbitt how he is a tight end who has legit production right he is somebody who's got legit production out there and that carries weight for you and and I think that that's right for you to have that kind of weight because Oscar Delp doesn't have that. When they wanted to emphasize a tight end of the passing game, they did so with Brock Bowers and Delp got on the field a lot, but it was sort of

in a different role. So he does not have this production to his name. So him being tight end too for me is a lot of projection of, again, what I saw in the field and how I went, whoa, whoa, whoa. With no more Brock Bowers on the team, if he kind of has that Brock Bowers role, we're talking about a really, really talented player. So what I like about Delp, who, by the way, six foot five, 245 pounds, so a little bit lighter. The height is 66th percentile. The weight is 18th percentile. He's a junior at Georgia, was a four-star coming out, played defensive end, cornerback, and receiver before switching to tight end later in high school. I think as a junior and a senior, he switched over to tight end. Here's the thing about him, which is really important to remember about his background as

we start to talk about his strengths and weaknesses and why I like him a lot. He played lacrosse in high school, and I was reading an article about him. He actually thought he would go play lacrosse in college. And when he was a junior, there's a certain date. I don't think it's your birthday, but there's like a certain date where at midnight of this date, schools can start to reach out to you for scholarships. Maybe it is his birthday. Maybe it was when he turned a certain age or maybe it was something in his junior year, whatever. And he stayed up until midnight. His family stayed up until midnight because they thought they were going to get texts immediately from coaches around the country for him to come and play lacrosse. He didn't get any for lacrosse, but one of the first texts that he got was from

the University of Michigan. And they were like, yo, we want you to play tight end. And him and his family were like, okay, didn't really expect that. And then from that moment on, the offers just started flooding in for him to play tight end. And he has that lacrosse background to him and even though he did get some offers to play lacrosse obviously it was much more you know much better offers to play tight end and football so he ends up going the football route but this guy moves like a six foot five 245 pound lacrosse player yeah so I watch him get off the line of scrimmage out of a three point stance. I watch him put his foot in the ground and fully turn his hips for an in-breaking or out-breaking route. I watch him execute a speed route next to a defensive back. That's an off

coverage to get behind him in between the safety level. I see the breaks in the routes, all of this stuff, man. And you see incredibly fast footwork and overall body quickness for a player that is six foot five, 245 pounds. The movement skills that he has because of that lacrosse background make him an incredibly valuable receiving tight end. I think he is a really impressive all-around athlete. He's got an explosive first step to him. The change in direction and flexibility and acceleration to me is basically only second to the guy that we're going to talk about at number one on this list. And that's what really put Delp in this conversation for me is because of what he was able to do there. Connor, separation scores for Oscar Delp, 99th percentile in general separation.

So that could be when you're going up against single coverage or just soft zone. So finding those soft spots in the zone. And then 91st percentile in separation created versus single coverage. That's really impressive. This dude can move and move really well. The thing that I love the most about him though

is when you get to pair that with his blocking ability now 6-5 245 okay it's not going to be the best blocker he's going to get bigger though you're not going to want him to go one-on-one versus defensive ends but when he was on the field he was the tight end attached to the line of scrimmage it wasn't brock bowers they attached oscar delp to the line of scrimmage. It wasn't Brock Bowers. They attached Oscar Delp to the line of scrimmage to free up Brock Bowers. And because of that, Delp got a ton of experience as a blocking tight end.

They used him as a lead blocker. They used him at the top of the triangle on bunch sets. They would use him on toss plays for the running back to run out to the sideline. They're looping this guy out as the lead blocker in space. So they trusted him a ton to be a blocker. And I think that that baseline is huge for him. 55th percentile in positively graded run blocking snaps.

So to me, Connor, this dude was the total package. The only thing that I really have lacking from Oscar Delp is the experience and overall volume as a receiver. So he doesn't really have a lot of great yards after catch feel, but he's got great yards after catch athleticism to him. So I think that's still in the tank. And then of course, weight profile is a little bit lower. And you mentioned he could still put on some weight. I think that Delp could absolutely play around 250 pounds.

And if he does that, he only gets better at blocking. And the blocking grades were pretty good as it is last year, as a sophomore. So it's an embarrassment of riches at Georgia. They've got Benjamin Urissek, who just transferred in. They've got Lawson Lucky, who's another four-star tight end, who's, I think, going to be awesome. And then they have Oscar Delp taking over for Brock Bowers now that Brock Bowers,

one of the greatest college prospects of all time, is now in the NFL. And I just, his film, to me, was so, so, so impressive. I think that he could potentially, I don't know, I might get roasted for this at some point, but I think that he could be on that, like, T.J. Hawkinson type of train. Now, I don't think he's going to go number eight overall.

Those days are probably behind us. Very high in the draft. But what Hawkinson does as an overall athlete and as a good blocker in line, you could play Hawkinson in line. You could play him as a wingback. You could play him in split zone formations as a blocker. You could play him in the slot. You could play him in the outside.

I think Oscar Delp has the potential to be that type of a player. So obviously I like him a ton having him at the tight end two spot. I wrote down, I thought his technique was really good as a blocker despite just having limited strength and mass, right? When I saw him not be able to sustain a block,

it was rarely because his hands were misplaced or his timing was wrong or his base was right it's just there's only so much you could do when you're about 240 pounds and you're in the trenches against a defensive lineman so i thought that was a really really good sign he's clearly coached very well at georgia he takes the coaching you you brought all this up like reliable hands for off targets through off target throws are through contact. He loves to try to hurdle tacklers. Sometimes it goes really well. Sometimes it goes really poorly.

But that's the kind of athlete he is, that he knows he could do it at that size. I'm a big fan, man. I think he's in for a very big year. I really do. I don't think you're crazy at all. He would be by, like, if I was doing an all projection guy on this list he would be number he'd be number one if again I just I keep going back to if this dude's playing on basically any other team in

the country he I mean he's his numbers would be so much better as a receiver, but he was a Georgia and we might not get that answer this year. You're a sec might be using the Bowers role. Don't put, don't put that on me. Yeah. I mean, Hey, what the tape is still good.

So it's not like we're, we're clueless on them. All right. Number one. I mean, I felt like this would be a position group that number one would be consensus for us, but Colston Loveland from Michigan.

Yeah. Obviously it's a, obviously it's brant keithy yeah one it's obviously it's uh let's keep going down the list here oh man it's uh hold on i'll get there eventually it's joshua simon from south carolina of course yeah sixth year hey i actually I was telling you Simon I liked Simon when I watched him he just never gets the ball so it's tough to it's tough to pop when you don't get the football but you you say you say in the sixth year thing reminded me of this uh this is just for a little teaser for anybody who reads when I put this information in the mock draft simulator this is my uh Brant Keithithy the the first the first sentence for his scouting summary oh no keithy's been in college since 2018 and then i have in parentheses

in quotes yeah they're called doctors from tommy boy that's perfect they let letting you put that in there is phenomenal yeah i had to write for ke Keithy that he will turn 25 a few months before the draft. Cool, man. That's pretty rare territory. But Keithy, for those that don't know, you know, dealing with significant injury. So rooting for him. All right, Loveland. He was fun in 2021.

But yeah, let's talk about Loveland. Loveland last year, 45 catches for 649 yards and four touchdowns for, I don't know if you heard, the championship Michigan Wolverines. Heard about them. As a true sophomore, 6'5", 245, former Gatorade football player of the year in Idaho. He was also a tight end in high school. So this guy, he's just a, he's a tight end.

And you see it when you watch a sophomore play on a college championship team. Plays both on the line of scrimmage and in the slot. Excellent adjustments. Uses his size to secure the ball. Improvises routes to work with a moving quarterback. A legit burst working up the seam. Athletic enough to be a blocker off of motion or just on the move in general.

He did all of this while he was playing. 2023 is a 19-year-old. He's going to get bigger and stronger. I think he needs to arrive with more force as a run blocker. I think he finds himself on the ground when blocking too often, and I think that's okay because he's 19. He will fill out. Michigan's offense, it is hard as hell to play tight end

because of what you are asked to do in terms of the balance. And this guy was a dominant pass-catching weapon as a sophomore. He was absolutely dominant. And there was – I'll say this. This is kind of interesting to me, Trevor, when watching it again, watching J.J. McCarthy for the 90th time. McCarthy at times falls into a habit of only throwing fastballs. And I think Loveland deserves a lot of credit for catching some of them.

Like I went and I noticed this when I went and watched. He had like a couple of drops in the air, barely. And I was like, nobody was catching those. It's 100 miles an hour when he's five feet away from McCarthy. So I think that's something McCarthy will, will work on at the next level is throwing change-ups and in the offense. But I think Loveland, like that's what jumped out to me in some of his catches where I'm like, that ball is thrown as hard as McCarthy can throw it and didn't necessarily need to be. And he still can adjust and make a play. He's a, he's a really, really gifted pass catcher for that age. He's a really gifted athlete player.

That's, that's where it starts with them. I mean, you met, you mentioned he played tight end in high school. He also played linebacker in high school. So he's got kind of both sides of, uh, both sides of the story, if you will, because he's playing tight end. And then on the other side of the, uh, of the player on the line of scrimmage, he's also gotten into the mind of the players that guard him as well. And how you do that. And I think that that sort of mastery of the situation of tight end versus linebackers in coverage and how they go about, you know,

passing them off in zone or what they want to do with him in single coverage. Like he's got a background, literal experience, in how to attack linebackers because he's done it before. He played it before. So I think that that's obviously what has allowed him to stand out really early. Also played basketball in high school.

Guys, basketball stats right here, 12.5 points per game, 8.5 rebounds per game. Not quite the double-double, but that's all right. That's all right. Still a pretty good basketball player. Chose Michigan alabama lsu auburn and other schools basically everybody wanted colson level there in their program um really impressive pff numbers overall separation percentile 95th percentile overall and the first 81st percentile in separation versus single coverage it's a really high mark for him uh yards per route run so this

is a measure of how often you are targeted when you are running a route. Are you an emphasis in your offense? Close to 11, 92nd percentile. So they wanted to get this dude the ball quite often. He had the highest wins above average mark for any of the tight ends that I watched at 0.27, which is a pretty dang high mark for a tight end. My sort of scouting summary for him, I'll just read it off because I feel like that'll be the best way to describe it.

Loveland is an ideal tight end prospect for today's game. He is smaller in weight than average NFL tight ends, but such are the times for the position, especially for receiving tight ends. He is also lighter because his calling card is as a receiver. His movement skills are excellent, and that includes change of direction, body control, and flexibility. He has natural hands for some really sweet catches, even through traffic. He's a good blocker for his weight,

but you probably don't want him one-on-one against defensive ends. For what he brings in the passing game, this should be a day one player. That's what I think about him. I mean, we're in lockstep. It was just so easy to watch this film like i just went through he was the first guy i watched and i was like damn this will be a quick this will be a easy couple days here right and then there was nobody even in the same stratosphere yeah and then you didn't watch anybody good until like the last day that's

on you the final three hours i was like oh boy we better and we we made it out of the wire can i get a draftable grade yeah man he's awesome it's good to have a you know a tight end one in this now you know for those at home i he's obviously we're not saying he's brock bowers but he's you know his i've been doing player comms for a lot of these guys, and he's the trickiest one to me of the tight ends. There's some other ones that I was able to kind of come up with that I'm pretty happy with. But Loveland, it's like, man, he's so good as a receiver. The measurables are very similar to Kyle Pitts,

but I go back and look at Kyle Pitts' PFF data points and PF and his film. And it's like, dude, it pits an alien. I'm never comparing anybody to Kyle Pitts. No, I did. He was,

he was an alien. He's the alien coming out. It's crazy that, that the Falcons have not been able to utilize him even more because the film is insane. The data points are insane. So I don't think he's quite Kyle Pitts, but like,

you know i know his production hasn't been as as high but isaiah likely kind of like as an athlete what he is before and after the catch right that's i think you're on to something there i think like i think people expect loveland to have better or more volume than likely has had at the nfl level but again like likely is mainly playing behind Mark Andrews. And when he's been able to be impactful, I think he's very impactful. So the comp that I like the most is Isaiah Likely. Obviously, I believe that Loveland's going to get drafted higher than Likely did.

But in terms of who Likely ended up becoming in the NFL, I think that Loveland can be along a similar archetype. Yeah, I mean, maybe he's, I think he's a little bigger, but some of the college production is similar to Trey McBride. Oh, okay. Now, like McBride was, McBride is bigger. No, Loveland is.

No way. McBride on his mock draftable is 6'3", 5'8", 246. Whoa, no way. Isn't that shocking? I was shocked by that, too. I bet McBride plays in the 250s. I think so, too. It was definitely combine weight.

Let's see if the Cardinals have him listed as something different. That'll be interesting. No, they have him as his combine weight. I agree, though. McBride does not look... He's bigger, man. He's bigger. He's bigger.

I'm pretty sure McBride... McBride's a good receiver. ...was the same way where I thought McBride also played tight end in high school and basketball in high school. And just like you saw how he was Colorado State's offense, the entire offense, he was the entire offense. And not saying Loveland is Michigan's offense, but he's a huge part of it. There's something different about those guys that they are just so polished at the position because they played it for so long that it gives you a way higher floor i think loveland might be a better athlete but mcbride

and why he's had so much success at the nfl level after having so much success at the college level he's just so good at the position like the nuances of the position trey mcbride in his last year at color State. 1,200 yards? Bro, he had a 95 receiving grade. Oh, it was insane. He was insane. I'm trying to look up his yards per route run really quick because you mentioned he was the offense. I also agree.

I'm wondering if it's like 100th percentile. It's 97th percentile. I mean, he was nuts. He had 90 catches for over 1,100 yards in 2021, a tight end. Yeah, 97th percentile is insane for a tight end. Yeah, pretty good group though, right? Yeah, anybody else that we didn't do in our – well, let's list off the top fives really quick.

I'll list off mine. Benjamin Juracek, number five on my list, a tight end for Stanford. Now he's at Georgia. Luke Lachey from Iowa. He is at number four. Mitchell Evans, a tight end from Notre Dame at number three. Oscar Delp, number two from Georgia. And then Colson Loveland from Michigan is at number one.

Oscar is a great name for a tight end. I don't know why. It's just, it's a very good tight end name. Yeah, but I feel like the name Oscar, Delp should be even more of a blocking tight end you know i feel like oscar should be you know 265 you know diesel maybe he'll take your challenge up this year because they have to open things up for benjamin urasak instead i hate you all right number five for me terence ferguson from oregon for tyler warren

from penn state three luke lachey from Iowa to Bryson Nesbitt from UNC one Colson Loveland out of Michigan. Anybody else that you want to shout out? I watched two other guys that we haven't talked about yet. I watched Jake Brenningstuhl from Clemson. I did not watch him. Former four-star tight end. Uh is 6'6", 230 pounds. So it's sort of like the Nesbitt thing, but not nearly as polished as Bryson Nesbitt is. I think he's really athletic. I mean, I think he's a really good athlete.

He reminded me actually of Colin Johnson from Texas, though. I mean, like, Brenning Stuhl, he's not going to be a tight end at the NFL level. And if he is, it's only going to be by name. In fact, the first sentence that I have of his scouting summary is, Brenning Stuhl is a massive wide receiver disguised as a tight end on the depth chart. Perfect. It's kind of just like that's how he is.

So you kind of got to watch him through that lens. And then the other one is Caden Prescorn, who zero-star recruit out of high school, ends up walking on at Memphis, plays there for three seasons, four seasons? Three seasons. Redshirt his first year, played very little in 2020 and 2021. No, then he played for them in 2022,

transferred over to Ole Miss. So he's a red shirt senior he is somebody who he's been around college football a long long time but he's got decent size six foot five 255 pounds i just don't think he's a great athlete like he's got some nice length to him but he's not an overly imposing blocker doesn't carry a ton of weight in his lower half to be able to really anchor and really drive guys a good leg drive um he's got good length but he's just not an explosive tight end he feels like somebody who's going to be able to really anchor and really drive guys with good leg drive. He's got good length, but he's just not an explosive tight end. He feels like somebody who's going to be a mid-to-late day three type of a player,

but Ole Miss tight end there. Yeah, I felt the same way with him. Another guy I watched. Somebody we didn't talk about, and I didn't watch him. He got hurt last year. But he's so hard to figure out what group to put him in. I know people are going to ask about him. We'll probably talk about him throughout the season because he's come back from injury gadsden from syracuse i

watched him last year and i was like he's a wide receiver right he's 65 223 i think they changed his position to tight end they did but so he so he could break records. Oh, I genuinely, but I mean, like part of me truly thinks that they changed his position to tight end so that Syracuse is football program could get national accolades because he's going to own every tight end. Like they're playing chess. We're playing checkers. Yeah. So I just wanted to drop that nugget on there that,

um, yeah. Why, why we didn't talk about him. I, I didn't, he him. I didn't. He obviously got hurt last year. A couple of guys I watched.

Mason Taylor from LSU was someone that I have him six, four and three quarters to 44. I thought he was a good blocker, understood leverage, knew how to get under pads, help set the edge, not much receiving yards beyond 10 10 yards like he had last year 348 yards on 36 catches one touchdown but it's just all kind of like check down sit underneath play i just didn't see much of a receiving threat yet joshua simon i briefly brought up 6-3 and 3-8s 232 another lighter player tre. I think he has really good hands, natural pass catcher, speed,

tough, tough runner with the ball in his hands. Like I said, though, they don't throw him the ball. He had 28 catches, 256 yards, two touchdowns. His most productive year was at 2019 at Western Kentucky. And a lot of his big plays are off scheme dump passes. So hopefully they're a little more creative with him this year. Amari Nyblack, a lot of people will probably talk about he transferred from alabama to texas 6-4-2-31 yeah former four-star recruit is both a wide receiver and tight end he is very athletic he only had 20 catches for 327 yards and four touchdowns for alabama last year so he probably

went to texas hoping to play more, but he's very, very athletic. I think he's just an athlete at the move tight end position right now. And we need to see him actually be able to get on the field and make some more plays. He was a super, he was a super high recruit. I feel like he was,

what was really interesting with Nye black was I think the opinions on him as a recruit were all over the place like there were some outlets that had him as a top 100 player and then on espn's top 300 he was 297 so he i found that really interesting he's just like he's just the opinions are all over very light very athletic people have their eyes on him all year if he can finally have that breakout season. The last one, that might have been all of them. I feel like we covered a lot of ground here. We mentioned Keith.

We mentioned Keith. He's been out for almost two years. We'll see what he can do coming back. Yeah, you brought up a lot of the other guys as well. That was the group as a whole. I think that's more than 10 dudes. Certainly, that's top fives. but that's more than 10 tight ends. So there you go, folks.

We would love to hear from you guys on the tight end position. We know it's not as flashy as wide receiver running back, but we know you guys got takes. Of course, if there's somebody that's missing on this list that we really need to watch, let us know. We're reading your comments, especially the wide receiver episode. There's a lot of wide receivers that you guys are asking, hey, have you guys watched him?

Chances are, if we didn't talk about them on the show, we probably didn't watch them. So the names that you guys give us, it helps the watch list, certainly for me to be able to get these guys on the mock draft simulator before college football season starts. So always, always, always feel free to give us some of the names of the players that we didn't quite have time to get to. Like we say all the time, this is not just a podcast of us talking to you guys.

It's a draft community. So that's what it's all for building everybody's databases getting some opinions out there we would love to hear it best way to do that youtube comments uh youtube.com backslash at nfl stock exchange if you're audio only you can still send your requests to us at tampa bay trey and at connor j rogers on x as well as instagram we are moving to the big beauties next not calling them the big uglies we don't do that around here we call to the big beauties next, not calling them the big uglies. We don't do that around here. We call them the big beauties interior offensive line and offensive tackles. Those will be the two next groups before we flip over to the defensive side of things. But Connor,

you got anything else before we get out of here? No, really fun group deep. I'm sure we'll get a lot more names thrown at us. We appreciate that from everyone as we keep this train rolling onto offensive line, which i know already has some blue chip prospects in this i know i'm very very excited to get the offensive line especially the offensive tackles we've got offensive tackles that could potentially now i'm just saying from narrative right right i mean like hype i haven't watched them yet haven't watched these guys yet but some people are talking about it can be terrible the offensive tackles potentially being like top five, top three,

maybe even number one overall pick since the quarterback class might not have a quarterback that might go number one. So we shall see. But that's for another day, another episode. I'm Trevor Sycamore. That is Connor Rogers. Thank you guys so much for watching and listening

to the NFL Stock Exchange Podcast. We'll see you guys next week. you