NFL Stock Exchange: An NFL Draft Podcast - 60. Summer Scouting: Top 5 TEs for 2023 NFL Draft

Episode Date: June 23, 2022

Hosts Trevor Sikkema and Connor Rogers continue their summer scouting journey with the tight end position. The two give you their preseason Top 5 TEs for the 2023 NFL Draft with background info, PFF stats and film notes for each. Plus talk plenty of other tight ends in the class who are just outside their Top 5s going into the season.

This episode is brought to you by our good friends at NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube TV. I'm sure by now you've all got back into your Sunday routines, but they could be even better. With NFL Sunday Ticket and YouTube TV, you get the most live NFL games all in one place, every game, every Sunday. And you can even watch up to four different games at once with MultiView, one of my favorite inventions of this decade. It's exactly what you need to catch all the action. Make your Sundays more magical. And also, YouTube TV is great. I got it this year.

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 right back to summer scouting guys this time with the tight end position y'all know the drill we're going to start at number five we're going to go all the way down to number one my top fives Connor's top five when it comes to the pre-season rankings of what

could be in the 2023 nfl draft class for the tight end position i just let you guys know little teaser to make sure you listen to all the way at the end of the show my number one isn't even in connor's list and uh we go back and forth about it i'll just say there's a lot to talk about this is a really exciting tight end class maybe the best that we've seen in the last four or five years. There's a lot of excitement, a lot to break down. I'm Trevor Sycamore. That's Connor Rogers. Let's ring the bell. Welcome to the opening bell of the NFL Stock Exchange Podcast. I'm Trevor Sikama. That is Connor Rogers. Today, we're getting back to the summer scouting series,

getting to the tight end position. We're not to the big boys yet. We'll get to the trench players. I know a lot of people have already been talking to us about some of the trench players in this class, but we got tight ends to get to. And Connor, we need to take our time here to talk about the tight ends because this class actually looks pretty damn good, man. I'm excited to get to talk to these,

or talk to you about these guys here. So we got to come clean. We thought we were going to be able to sneak the tight end class into the wide receiver show when we mapped out the entire summer. And then obviously push comes to shove. We're like, yeah, there's a lot of receivers. And then it's like, yeah, there's a lot of receivers. And then it's like, there's a lot of tight ends.

So we get a tight end special show today. And like you said, Trevor, it's a good group. Easily justified doing top fives. And I know we watched more than that. So, man, it's good that, you know, I feel like there was a little bit of a lull on tight ends until the 2021 draft. And it's good to see 2022 might pack pack almost the same depth yeah no for sure uh you also said pre-show that we are now alternating hat days we're unplanned like i'll

i'll actually take the time to do my hair one day you'll wear the hat now i guess that we're uh we're flipping it over for everybody who listens to this not on youtube i guess you guys just can't see it you can't uh you can't uh appreciate whether or not it's a hat day for Connor. All you need to know is Trevor and I have not gotten a haircut the entire summer. Trevor has been going much longer than that. I have not gotten a haircut before the draft. I know you've gone much longer than that.

So there was a time where we thought it would be pretty much hat summer the entire time, but we're right. I mean, it has been for me for like most of the time because it's unbearable right now we're yeah it's i i'm very much in the in-between stage and every two weeks i'm like yeah maybe i should book a haircut and then i'm like no i made it this far you got to keep going here we go you've got to trust the process you've got to get over the

awkward phase because the second that you get to like slick back your hair, it actually looks good. You're like, I'm fully committed. I'm hell. Yeah. I'm fully into it. So that's, that's where I am in the journey. We're not quite like able to not wear a hat at all times, but we're getting there. I have faith that when we get to the end of the summer scouting series, it would also be hopefully the end of my journey of not having to wear a hat every time I go out in public because that's kind of uh that's kind of where we are right now so uh all right everybody who's been

listening to podcasts already knows the formula the structure of how we're doing this we're going from five to one counting down our top five in this episode tight ends for the potential 2023 NFL draft preseason of course there's a lot of games that still have to be played. And that I think means a lot towards this tight end class for a lot of reasons, because there's a lot of players who, Connor, I liked that. It's just like, man, I got to see more ball from them.

Like, look, I've just got to get, we got to get more games under their belt. And that's not for everybody, but there's a ton of potential here in this class for sure. That's exactly it. There's a couple of guys that are not in my top five that you might see in other draft analysts' top fives because they are projecting them into borderline stardom,

where for me, I have no problem sitting out the summer, touching on them real quick and saying, hey, this is what this guy could be. There might be a time in December or January where Trevor and I are doing you know another tight end show and we're like he did make that jump but right now for me I don't know about you my top five for the most part are guys that have already made a significant impact in some kind of way on the college football field but I did watch 12 of these guys and plenty of, and I'll, I texted you something funny. Like after the first,

like seven, it got progressively worse. I got to eight. So I'm curious if any guy that I didn't watch was on your list of 12 that you were talking about. Yeah, me too. I am curious as well. should I just read them or do we just go right into the top five and then do the honorable mentions after?

No, no, no, no, no. We got to save it because Connor and I, we don't talk about these things before the show. We want to give you guys – Thanks for a better show. Yeah, our genuine reaction when the names kind of come up, where we have each one of these guys. It made for a very fun running back class

if you guys listen to the running back episode where I – And wide receivers. I had Sean Tucker as my number two overall running back and you had him at number five so it was very funny to kind of like narrow it down to get to that point but we're going to do the same thing here but before we do connor i have a brand new manscaped ad to read because the last one was a pre-father's day ad read so now we have a different copy and i'm letting you know, I have not pre-read this. Normally I pre-read the manscaped ads because I have to go through it myself to not laugh, but I haven't read this one.

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this is the platinum package here. Manscaped brand new platinum package. 4.0 is the biggest bundle they have ever offered, giving you a bulk discount at manscaped's top products 20 off free shipping over at manscaped.com when you guys use the promo code pff that one wasn't so bad wasn't so bad no very intriguing very intriguing yeah good sales pitch it was um listen i i don't often do this on shows, but Manscaped makes a good product. The last time they sent me stuff, if you're listening to Manscaped, they make a good product. So they're creative with the ad reads, make a good product.

I think everybody listening to this by now, I feel like has probably tried the Manscaped products. If y'all need anything that has to do with men's grooming, check them out, manscaped.com. When you do, use the promo code PFF, get get yourself 20 off and free shipping let's do it let's start off with this tight end class here prospect number five in your 2023 tight end ranking is who connor benjamin urasek from stanford um yeah a little bit of a name he just gets the name so confidently ready for that one dude you're practicing that one in the mirror this morning all morning man you know what we kind of have one of these every single show and i would say he's one of two in the top five that i would label um pleasant surprise right and and i know coincidence the other pleasant surprise both of these guys there

is they are the most projecting you have to do um while a lot of the other ones they definitely are the most projecting you're expecting them to take a big jump but this is a dude let's just start with the background trevor fascinating like this is like buckle up this is the best background probably on today's show whoa okay former four-star recruit that caught three touchdowns in his final high school game to win a state championship that's all well and fun but hell yeah yeah so this is a big time player father played at color played football colorado state mother played volleyball at colorado state love it real great right athletic love story you love yes yes great grandfather is credited with inventing the baby carrot the baby carrot whoa whoa whoa whoa yeah what i don't know ask stanford so he just he farmed smaller carrots

and this guy gets full credit for it i don't know how they actually make uh baby carrots to be honest with you basically we might we might be exposing ourselves in our lack of agricultural knowledge here with the baby carrot talk, but. So a true baby carrot is a carrot grown to the baby stage, which is to say long before the root reaches its mature size. But yeah, he's credited with, I feel like you don't invent the baby carrot,

you're a founder. Yeah, well, so wait, we're rewarding this guy for being impatient is that what we're doing here i mean people love baby carrots no no look look i can get down on the baby me too right i mean baby carrots great you can eat you can eat more of them they're not super bulky like giant carrots right you don't feel like a monster when you're eating a baby carrots they're great not saying they're not but am i supposed to give this guy credit for being impatient he's pulling the carrot before it reaches adulthood right he's just taking the carrot and pulling it early well so yes but stamford uh which a much going right after this prospect's family line. Yeah, great-grandfather, nonetheless.

To the throat. To the throat. Now, Stanford wrote it in that he is credited with inventing. Now, I know Stanford is a prestigious university. Most people that graduate from there are much more intellectual than I. I will admit that. But I think this is wrong. You don't invent the baby carrot.

Maybe you invent the distribution of the baby carrot, but he's a founder of the baby carrot. Nonetheless, you're a sec. Very interesting family. He caught 43 passes for a team leading 600, 658 receiving yards in 2021, hauled in eight of 14 contested catch opportunities. So obviously this is a guy that is really maximizing his opportunities when in you know

physical situations for a sophomore i think that stands out to me this was a true sophomore last year uh he's going up and making plays tanner mckee is his quarterback so love it when watching him i'm like oh yeah i remember this throw from tanner mckee like this is all coming back to me right now um massive catch radius that he maximizes. And you're going to hear the difference of that for some other guys, maybe on the show. He has a massive catch radius that he maximizes. Not really any polish in his routes.

He kind of just runs out there and out athletes, DBs, a young guy, true sophomore. You're still figuring it out. Now he's a junior. What's the measurable is he have his. Yeah. Fascinating body type right now. He is six, five to 31.

So that leads me perfectly to the points i was just about to say he has zero fear of contact before after the catch but he's gotta add mass this is a dude with a frame that can hold 250 like it's nothing and it would really help him develop as a blocker he doesn't have strength as a blocker right now so uh this is a big projection for me. Obviously, he had a really productive sophomore year, but he is not ready to play in line at the NFL level yet as a blocker. I'm curious to watch him develop that. But Benjamin Urosek, I'm a big fan. I'm a big fan of, you know, I'm going to be, I think,

a big fan of watching him and Tanner McKee play together this year and see how high they can propel each other. Obviously, none of these either neither of those guys in my opinion are in the top 50 projected picks for next year yet but with how young they are in terms of reps they can really really skyrocket all right so this is one of the players that you watch that i did not watch so i've got to get my eyes on it for sure i google them and uh baby faced assassin out here oh yeah this dude looks young this guy looks like harmless this guy looks like he looks harmless he could be hauling in three touchdown passes in high school

like literally this year but you know he's doing it for stanford i'm looking at his frame right now and i definitely agree with you like if he's at 130 he could definitely put on some weight so all right i gotta get to his film if you had him at number five the guy that i have at number five you know, you said that your guy had a very interesting story. So does Dalton Kincaid. Did you watch him, the tight end from Utah? I certainly did.

I actually, Trevor, wrote him up for last year. Like, I thought he was going to be in the draft. So I did watch him again this week, obviously. But I felt like I needed to watch him the least because I was like, I was ready for this dude to go in the third round last year. Okay, I was going to say, is he in your, are you going to talk about him later? Did he not make the top five?

Okay, you're going to talk about him. Not later, quite soon. Okay, so are you transitioning to four? Is he four for you? Don Kincaid is four for me. Okay, so Don Kincaid is four for you. He is the Utah tight end, all right? Six foot four, 242 pounds is what Utah has him listed at.

Watched a handful of games of his for the first time. I really didn't know anything about him, so you had a lot of background information on him. I did not. This guy's bio is pretty nuts. Zero-star recruit. That's right, folks. A zero-star recruit out of Las Vegas, Nevada, okay?

He played just one year of high school football at Faith Lutheran high school in Las Vegas. Prior to that, the reason why he only played one year of like real high school football is because the high school that he attended ran a straight like ground and pound wing T offense. And he never did anything other than block. Like that's, that's literally all that he did when he played, which I don't think he played much at all before his final season when he got to Faith Lutheran. So that was a big reason why he wasn't even interested in football.

That was a big reason why he didn't have a recruiting profile. So he ended up being a zero star guy because they just didn't have anything on him. As a kid, he played in the AAU National Championship in basketball. And then for the basketball team, when he was in the aau national championship in basketball and then for uh the basketball team when he was in high school he averaged uh let me let me give him a shout out here i'll give you stats 11.5 points 7.5 boards 2.5 assists in the 26 games he played as a senior when he was at

faith lutheran so not being a highly talented recruit he didn't start at utah utah was about the guy that didn't have any football experience not many uh teams would so instead he plays in the fcs he played at san diego not san diego state san diego which is an fcs school from 2018 to 2019 ends up transferring over to utah and dude he's got some really nice tape for a player that especially barely barely even played uh high school football a guy who, you know, you mentioned Yuricef being able to put on some weight. I think Kincaid can definitely put on some weight too. His PFF stats that we had were, I'll say, eye-popping to me. Zero drops on 45 targets.

Does not drop the football. Only 45 targets, but still zero drops. Didn't have a single drop. 97.2 catch percentage on catchable passes. Like this dude straight up, even if it wasn't like the ones that he didn't haul in weren't like bad enough to be considered drops, like just straight drops, he's basically reeling in every single thing that's getting anywhere close to his body. 77.8 contested catch percentage, which you would love to see.

He's using the slot about 50 percent of the time and then the threat percentage uh was a little bit lower it was below 20 so they didn't use him a ton on offense but strengths for him in my book and i want to hear what you have to say about him as well really nice movement skills for a player that uh that has his build and length he's on the lighter side so with that you would want to see him move better with speed and explosiveness versus the other guys that are in this class and he does you see those things which i was really uh glad to see in his game i think they use him in line way too much i'm just gonna be honest like yeah they try to use him as a three

down in line off the line of scrimmage tight end. And I'm like, either throw 15 pounds on him or just put him in the slot. Like let him do what he does best. So that was the big takeaway that I have from this game, the weakness, whether it's blocking or getting off press, the line of scrimmage, Kincaid is still adjusting to the level of physicality needed to play the position.

You're going from an FCS school to Utah. So that's kind of something that you would probably understand. He doesn't attack contact with nearly as much confidence as he does his hands his routes his athleticism in the receiving game so that's why my big takeaway with him is I really like this dude as a receiver you mentioned it never really drops the football which is awesome I like his routes I like the fact that he's comfortable coming out of a three-point stance on the line scrimmage but there ain't no need to put this guy on the line scrimmage just like just put him in the slot let him be a slot receiver or pack a couple of pounds on him get that blocking profile

up a little bit maybe we'll have ourselves a three three down tight end so uh that's that's why and i say three down tight end like a three down back i mean it's it's not exactly the same thing but if you're gonna use them on the line of scrimmage you guys know what i'm saying pack some more weight on him if not just let him be a big slot power slot wide receiver so yeah i agree i mean he came in at number four for me on this list obviously piggybacking off of a lot of the things you said uh really liked his burst getting off the line into his routes he just doesn't drop anything he called hold in seven of nine contested catches i think he plays big i think he could high point um he can track the football he does everything that

has to do with catching the football well literally everything from getting off the line getting into his routes tracking the ball boxing out guys are high pointing it and securing the football and i i think yes it's such a simple thing from the tight end position but when you do it that well there's going to be a place for you at the nfl level and that's why i thought i thought he would have declared i mean the reason why he's you know how many years he only had one year utah though didn't he yeah one true year at utah so that's probably that's why i mean he probably he probably you know the notes that he probably got if they did the whole advisory board thing was like hey you are we really like your potential but at this point you would probably just get drafted off potential which might have been fourth round

fifth round you mentioned it potentially being the third round pick I agree you could have taken a flyer on him in the fourth in the third round for sure but he plays another year especially as reliable as he was in the receiving game and i think we're talking about this guy's at least a third round pick so that's probably why he ended up going back i would have to guess yeah a really good receiving threat you know kind of for me projects as a titan too at the next level um he's gonna turn 24 during the, his NFL rookie season pretty early. So he's an older guy. He will turn 23, obviously early this season. Um, so I don't know how much I don't, he's not somebody for me that I think, you know, I look at and go, Oh, he's going to get to two 55 and

he's going to be a blocker blocking, you know, an NFL caliber blocking tight end. And I'm not saying a blocking tight end, like, oh, he's a sixth man, sixth O-line on the line of scrimmage. I'm talking about, like, can he do it? I don't know if he really gets there. But he's such a good receiver that it might not really matter.

I think there's a really, really good place for him at the NFL level. So, Dalton Kincaid, five for you, four for me. Who did you have at four? I had Samuel Laporta from Iowa. Okay. Do you have him in your top five? I do.

Okay. All right. Is it a good transition? No. Or is it? Okay. It's not bad. It's not seamless.

All right. All right. All right. It's not a seamless transition. Okay. So I'll do a little bit of talking about him, and then obviously you'll be able to talk about him when you get to him in your top five list.

Iowa tight end. Okay. Six foot four four 250 pounds that that's what they've got him listed as the background was fascinating with him three-star athlete labeled as an athlete coming out of highland illinois he was a four-year football letterman in high school as a wide receiver and defensive back okay so like this dude did not play tight end he was a wide receiver and he was a defensive back also lettered in basketball and track wanted to make sure that got those notes out there a multi-sport athlete ranks second in illinois high school history in receiving touchdowns with 50 and third in receiving yards with um almost800, just under 3,793.

Despite all those stats coming out of high school, Laporta's only major conference offer came from Iowa. That was it. That was the only major conference school to offer him a scholarship. He played high school football at 190 pounds as a wide receiver. Now he weighs in at 250 pounds.

And all section DB. I think he was a better DB in high school even than wide receiver now he weighs in at 250 pounds and all section db i think he was a better db in high school even than wide receiver and obviously safety i don't know i'm pretty sure either way i know he had seven interceptions his senior year i read that but yeah he was like a legitimate db in high school when you look at him now you're like what so dude i so i was reading i was reading a bunch of articles about him you know talking about his high school days and they talk about him like he was just this legend like yeah his high school coach i was reading an interview from his high school coach and his high school coach was saying we thought we could beat every opponent every single week because we had sam like they truly believed that they could pass the ball get the

ball in his hands in any way shape or form they needed to quick game intermediate over the middle deep down the field vertically and sam was going to win the football game for them that's how much they they respected the talent of this guy and he didn't get a single major conference offer that's crazy insane it's crazy to me especially because i feel like he's i mean so his head coach at iowa he had he had this quote to say about him dude loves football he loves playing the game he loves being out there on the field he enjoys getting his ankles taped he's the kind of guy that everybody likes he's got a real good energy real good vibe to him so he's just a football player like he's just so Connor, it's just so confusing to me.

Fantastic high school tape, versatile on both sides of the ball, loves the game of football. What? How'd you not get a single major conference offer? It's nuts to me. I think the lack of creativity in recruiting sometimes, and this isn't a shot at everybody, but a lot of schools, I'm just assuming Trevor looked at him and said oh he's probably too slow to play db or wide receiver

for us moving on and it's like well did you think that maybe at 6-4 he could play at 250 and be an awesome tight end yeah but like it's so i i agree with you i'm not saying that i disagree with you there because i do think that this guy definitely fell through the cracks, but he's got 60 more pounds on him right now, and he moves pretty well. So how well did this guy move with 60 less pounds on him? I know some of that goes into explosiveness and athleticism because I always got a good weightlifting program. All right, so I'll give you the strengths and weaknesses

that I've got here in my scouting report. Wide receiver background definitely shows up in the way that he runs his routes knows how to set up defenders with his hips has really good feel for open space and the timing of when the ball is going to be arriving in the route really solid tight end prospect who gives a ton of effort and focus into whatever his assignment is the weaknesses with his wide receiver background I would have pictured that his catch percentage numbers were way better but for whatever reason there are reps on his tape where he just does not catch the football and it's strange he had five drops on 82 targets which is a lot higher of a drop percentage than a lot of the other guys that I'm talking about on this list 84.1 percent contested or catchable passes caught that's lower than you want you want to make sure

that you're closer to that 90 mark 44.1 contested catches which you're a tight end you're going to be dealing with stuff over the middle you're going to be dealing with stuff of contact like that number has got to be closer to 50 or above with contested catches was using this a lot about 40 percent of the time but they use them as an inline tight end a lot so that kind of that kind of answers that question the threat percentage was uh 23.8 and if i didn't explain it on this podcast threat percentage is how the percent that you are targeted when you are on the field in a passing situation when you're running a route so like if he's a tight end on a passing play and he's blocking then that's not going to go into it but when he's running his route how often is he targeted by the offense? And so 23.8%, it's not overwhelming, but it's kind of right where you

want to be as a focal point for the offense. So Connor, that was my thoughts, man. I really liked him. It was just, I was kind of shocked with his background as a wide receiver, how often he dropped the football, which was kind of crazy to me. But other than that, I did, I like this prospect. You can, you can either comment on it now, or you can wait till we get to wherever he is in your list. I'll get there. All I'll say now is him like Kincaid, he was another guy I was preparing to be in the draft.

Not as much. Kincaid was older, so I was like, okay, he's going to be in the draft. And then he went back. Laporta was younger. Laporta is only 21 years old right now. But I thought there was a small chance he could declare because there were scouts that viewed him as he would have been easily a top five tight end

in last year's class. So I did watch a lot of him, but then he opted to go back to school. So it was fun to revisit him and stack him in this year's class. We will get there. But for now, tight end number three for me is Jaheim Bell,

somebody that I admittedly had not seen much of until this summer. And man, like Juracek, although even I would say more amplified, there is some projecting here because Bell is somebody who has a really interesting background in a sense of the injuries he's had to endure. He had an ACL injury end his senior year of high school, and then he had to have surgery to repair a torn meniscus before his freshman season of college. So there's been something.

Now, I need to go in and deep dive if that's the same knee, but clearly there's been knee injuries with Bell that have prevented him from being a superstar because now he got to play last year quite a bit. I mean, the first thing I wrote in my notes is South Carolina uses this guy like Jonu Smith. They just want the ball in his hands. It doesn't matter that he plays tight end.

They look at him and go, and for those listening that are not familiar with Jaheim Bell, he's 6'3", 230. And that might be a generous 230. He might be 225, and that's not a knock on him i don't know i don't know i think he's i think he's decently rocked up i think he's pretty big oh no he's very muscular i just don't know if he's carrying 230 pounds it's either way maybe maybe he's got a unique over 230 if he's hitting 230 i think that we're right at that number he's got a very unique build

for the tight end when you look at all these guys we're reading off today, they're 6'5", 6'4". Some of my honorable mentions are like 6'6", or 6'7". So for him, he's a different kind of player. Speed stands out on tape. Shout out Darnell Washington. Yeah, the 6'7", tight end. We'll get to him. We'll get to him.

The 6'7", tight end. His speed stands out on tape, especially on crossers or deep routes. That made up 65% of his total routes. They're like, you're either running a crosser or we're sending you deep. It's very rare that we ask you to do anything else. And I understand why he's effective in that way. He's he, I'm not saying he's the fastest guy on the field,

but he often looks like the fastest guy in the field because of how big he is and how fast he is and how that train gets rolling down the tracks. A unique offensive weapon with above average athleticism. I thought the hands were pretty reliable for the most part. how that train gets rolling down the tracks. A unique offensive weapon with above average athleticism. I thought the hands were pretty reliable for the most part, and he's used on the line of scrimmage a lot. But for me at the next level, he projects as a big slot slash H back. You can use them in the backfield. You can use them off the line of scrimmage.

You can motion them from the line of scrimmage. You could put them out as a big slot. They use them on the line of scrimmage a lot. I would imagine it's because they might have had limited options in that scenario, but an NFL team will look at this guy and use him as a chess piece. So I'm excited to see what he could do this year. I really am. I hope that he's healthy. I hope that a lot of these things that have slowed him down in the past from being an absolute superstar are behind him and that those medicals go okay. Because, you know, last year, almost 500 yards, five touchdowns.

More importantly, he averaged about 17 yards per catch. This is a big play tight end. That's not going to be a theme of this show. These guys, a lot of them are in that 8 to 15 yard range of moving the chains, being consistent possession guys. Jaheim Bell is a guy that when he catches the ball, I think there's a little bit of panic from the opposition to go, oh my God, we have to find a way to tackle this guy.

Right, right. He's fast, he's athletic. So Jaheim Bell, man, he's must-watch football. South Carolina's got one there. Once again, if he could stay healthy, this dude can be one of the most exciting weapons in the entire country. Flawless transition, because I also have Jaheim Bell. There's always one for number number three

overall tight end here and uh you know you profiled him obviously very nicely three-star athlete slash tight end he was it wasn't exactly sure where he was going to play coming out of high school because like you mentioned he does so much it's from valdosta georgia was used at tight end wide receiver in high school i i'm glad you brought the medicals because he does have that acl tear and then he's got some other injury history too you know what we need to do is we just need to phone up his doctor and uh we need to violate hippa for hello this is the nfl stock exchange can you forward uh jaheem bell's medical mris to nfl.stockexchange slash at sexadds dot com.

Yeah. And obviously, like whoever the doctor is going to be like, oh, yeah, like I'm a huge fan of the pot. I love you guys. Yeah. Here's here's a violation of HIPAA laws. South Carolina describes him as a Swiss army knife. That's what they have on their website.

They wrote that on the website, which is I know how hyper aware our colleges now. Do you notice that in these bios well dude we're gonna start to get to the point where you've got like ridiculous ass player comps on people's on oh yeah on on the kids bio like you're gonna you're gonna see is the next debo samuel on on jaheim bell's uh bio South Carolina. Yeah, baby Kyle Pitts. Right. According to Gamecock Nation. Big Gamecock Nation. No, they're not even going to give credit for it.

They're just going to say pro comp, like Calvin Johnson or like something. They're not even going to do any credit. There's no research. There's no byline for who's writing the bios. It's just going to be absolute ridiculousness. Wide receiver. Shades of Randy Moss. That's going to be in the that's going to be in the kids bio you gotta do it gotta do what you gotta do for recruiting i mean that's the world we're answering for yeah marketing these kids out of high school they'll do they'll sell their souls his offensive

coordinator said jaheim is not a tight end anymore we see him as a tight end but Jaheim he's Debo 2.0 oh stop stop it I told you I told you I told you no wait really he said this this is this is they do hand him the ball they do hand him the ball this is another bio I got this from somewhere else I think I got this from an article but I just have this in my scouting notes because he said this he said we he he said we call him a wide back that's what they call we've we've hit the debo references limit we're done as a nation as it as a planet shout out to all the international listeners i see you big um which by the way we do we got a question from a great listener in the uk that we will get to at some point just remind me it sparks my brain we need we need to get to

that i told you we needed to answer that in the pod maybe we'll do that uh we'll do that on monday you and i are like the classic like piece of candy we run and get so far off the the trails of the show and we have to like bring it back in anyways jaheem bell uh why noted noted wide back is what they're calling him now noted okay i will say i say, I will say, he wears number zero. So, the stock is up. It's an elite aesthetic. The stock is up no matter what. Strength and weaknesses.

This is what I got here because he's my number three guy, so I might as well just read them off. Typically used as a wide receiver or as a wing back off of the formation, a step back from where the line scrimmage is um not really used as a traditional tight end on the line scrimmage to block athletic ability is extremely obvious great movement skills for a player of his size good explosiveness could change direction good long speed his yards after catch ability will be one of the best in this class doesn't have a ton of blocking experience but when he loses trench

matchups i'm curious what you thought about this i felt like it was more from just a straight lack of weight than it was bad form or bad effort like when he was going up against edge 230 against 260 pound players i like that because yes he's i was watching him and i'm like okay the hands are in a decent spot you got the eyes up the way like you got a wide base here you're obviously engaged you've got the core engaged you've got everything engaged here for this block you're just getting thrown to the side after two and a half seconds because the guy outweighs you by 35 pounds so that's fine you know you can look at this tape and i think that's a great scouting tip trevor for a lot of young people trying to get into scouting sometimes don't always blame the player blame the coach it's not you just can't well and you don't even

have to you don't even have to blame the coach like it's just the situation it is what it is like he weighs 230 not everyone's George Kittle weighs right 265 like that's just that's the way it's going to be so yes I was just about to say I agree with you, you're going to read or you're going to hear from a lot of people that Jaheim Bell isn't a great blocker or he needs to work on his blocking. A lot of that stuff is just the fact that he's a lighter weight. If you want to pack some extra pounds on him and get him more involved in a blocking game, okay. I don't either.

But it goes back to the Don Kincaid thing. Let Don Kincaid cook. Like, let Dalton Kincaid cook. Just be a slot wide receiver. Jaheim's a little bit different because he does have such a physical profile to his game, much more so than Kincaid did. So I don't know how much you want to mess with his weight versus his athleticism because it's a really good balance right now. But just the fact of the matter is, it's not like the guy is not good at blocking.

It's not like he's clueless. He's just giving up the weight advantage a lot in that regard. So I wanted to make sure that I said that as well. The weaknesses, like I said, he doesn't really have a blocking profile. So if you're looking for him to be a full-time in-line tight end or a guy that's just going to do that consistently, he's probably not going to be your guy. I will say that for or a guy that's just going to do that consistently he's probably not going to be your guy i will say that for as much as i felt like he had good changes

direction when he became a ball carrier with the ball in his hand his routes were way more rounded than they were crisp but that's i think okay that's sometimes just a style of how guys run their routes and it's just kind of a style of the receiver that they were but i was a little when i watched him just like cut make guys miss and things like that i was like okay you can do that in and out of your break but some guys love rounding out the routes to keep the momentum going anyways maybe that's just his style so that's the those are my overall thoughts had a 94 percent catchable pass passes caught which is good 50 contested catches which is okay you want to be that coin flip at least that's that's kind of is okay. You want to be that coin flip.

At least that's kind of where you want the line to be. Only one drop on 42 targets. We've seen the slot 41% of the time. And like I said, he was kind of used as that wing back off the line of scrimmage the other percent of the time. The thing that stands out to you from the PFF stats for Jaheim Bell, 29.8 threat percentage, which means when this guy was running routes,

they were throwing him the football. They were getting this dude the ball almost one-third of all the passing plays from last year's offense. So, yeah, liked him a lot. He was my number three guy. Yeah, he was one of the guys that you notice, I'm pretty sure, I remember this off the top of my head,

he had way less receiving snaps than a lot of guys. So that makes sense, the threat percentage situation. Super high. Yeah, that when he's on the field, and I mean, he's a factor. He's a factor. So once again, a guy that's a huge breakout to watch this year. All right, number two, I'll be a little quicker on this one because you went deep on Sam Laporta it's sam laporta for me um i really already know

that i'm going to have a guy in my top two who either you don't have in the top five or there's a technicality we're gonna have to talk about here oh i i already i've known who it was since we did number four okay i know who it is i watched him okay um all right so there's a lot to unpack when we get there i was gonna say hold on do you not have him in the top five because of a technicality not no i haven't been my i have i'll get there okay i'll get there i don't know if it's a technicality i don't know are we allowed we just did a teaser for the pod mid pod i don't know how well that's gonna work but if you're about to turn it off you can't don't want to hear about sam laporta are still gonna stick around right now shout out

sam laporta's parents who are obviously listeners of the pod yeah sam laporta man and i'll say this two to four here are like they're all together for me like kincaid bell and laporta i do think there's a gap when i get to number one i do think there was a bit of a gap at number five because I think Juracek, there's things I want to see him develop in his game for such a young player. So Laporta, a lot of the things you said, I did want to touch on your point about him, the odd drop percentage or just when they come up, he alligator arms things. That's what it is. Why? I don't know. Because he's big, he's strong, he's tough as shit. Like, I know he's not afraid to get hit. Usually they always say guys

alligator arm when they're bracing to get hit. I don't see that with Sam Laporta. Like, I don't think he's scared of anything. I just think that, for whatever reason, he short arms, and it leads to drops. So, I think it's very correctable. Now, that's easier said than done, but I think it's something that can. Now that easier said than done,

but I think it's something that can be fixed that can get that drop rate down. Things that I love, 38 of his catches in 2021 went for first downs. This dude moves the chains all the time. Tempo in his routes, he never runs into coverage. You watch a lot of young players and they sprint into coverage.

He changes the tempo of his routes. He knows how to change paces and he knows how to find the soft spot of the defense uh i thought he ran a near full tight end route tree effectively honestly for the most part i saw him do pretty they threw the book at him and he could do it and it was not a problem at all sneaky wiggle after the catch it's yeah like right he catches the ball and you're like, wow. Stop on a dime. Make someone miss. Dude, it's a former receiver thing, man. You see it.

It's so obvious with this guy plays that you know that he has been an accomplished wide receiver in high school. I liked him a lot. At Iowa, they teach you how to block. They develop you as a blocker. They ask you to block. I think Laporte is legit. I think heorte is legit. I think he's really legit. I think if he's not a top three tight end taken when draft time comes, that means some guys had some monster breakout years to jump him because he's just, he's just, he's got really good film, man. He's got really,

really good film. There's no reason that he doesn't play in the league for eight years, honestly, when you watch him play. So Laporte at number two for me, I think everybody, I don't know if ever, I mean, I think everybody knows who number one is but you're number two i am very curious or i think i know it but i'm curious to hear you out here we can we can go ahead and talk about my number two because he's your number one oh wow okay wow okay we've got we've got michael mayer i'm very surprised i've got michael mayer as my number two here the notre dame tight end okay six foot four 250 pounds a little bit of background on i mean we can go back and forth here obviously five-star tight end from alexandria kentucky

notre dame beat out the likes of alabama georgia ohio state penn state and texas to get married to come there and uh with good reason because mayor started as a true freshman at notre dame the strengths and weaknesses that i got on his game i mean he's a great he's a great athlete for his size he really is he just moved he this is so cliche i know i'm not like an idiot when i say this but like he moves like the tight end position like you would want like he just he just moves exactly the way that a traditional plus athlete is the position man he's just got the full he is your stereotypical tight end but in the best way like he brings you athleticism he brings you blocking he's sure-handed like he's got great

fundamentals all of that stuff exists so much for him i think the route tree is diverse with him he understands soft spots in the zones he understands defenses all that stuff man like he's just he is a prototypical tight end truly the bill i always think of todd heap when someone says that i mean that's what i mean that's what i always think of is todd heap when somebody says a prototypical tight end he does everything the right way that was todd heap for like 35 years i got the madden drafts to uh to prove it too the build allows him to be a good blocker um if he and he has the effort effort to be one he's a true three down tight end who could play on the line of scrimmage in early downs also move out wide on obvious passing situations versatile as a receiver as well he not only is he used in the

slot but they'll put him isolated as an x receiver in three by one formation so they give him a lot of one-on-ones to the sideline as well uh really can be considered an extra blocker on the line scrimmage that's how good he is a really good feel for uh lining up his defenders with blocks in open space he gets the gronk comparison you brought you brought up todd heap he gets the baby gronk nickname because he wears number 87 yeah but he moves really well for a tight end like i get why people gravitate towards white where's 87 where's 87 and he just moves really well and he's an impact player on their offense and so i'm not going to sit here and call anybody gronkowski because gronkowski is the greatest tight end to ever play the game. But he's he's such an he's Michael Mayer is such an easy watch, man. You pop on two games of this guy and you know exactly what you're getting.

And exactly what you're getting is just the full the full scale of being a tight end. It's blocking. It's sure handedness. It's good routes. It's it's being an athlete like it's it it's sure-handedness it's good routes it's it's being an athlete like it's it's an x factor in the red zone it's being able to play on the line of scrimmage against press like it truly he he's he is the total package here that's why he is my number two guy here yeah and yet shamefully you don't have a number one after all that i don't have a number one because there is really there is an absolute alien in this class. All right. All right. So Michael Mayer, 71 catches in 2021.

45 of them went for first downs. That is insane. 840 yards, seven touchdowns as a true sophomore. Very even built frame with power from top to bottom. If you look up what he looked like in high school, he has always looked like an NFL tight end. Going back to high school, that's why he played as a freshman at Notre Dame.

Like, this guy was born to be an NFL tight end, has looked like... So many guys... Michael Mayer in high school looks like when you're watching a movie about high schoolers, and you know how they like they will cast 23 24 year olds to play 17 year olds that's what it looks like to make everybody feel really self-conscious about what they looked like when they were in high school and to make it really

tough for high schoolers to live up to that yeah i'm calling you out hollywood that's what michael mayer was he was actually that in real life 100 so hundred percent. So, I mean, he could, he could have declared after a sophomore year, if that was allowed and been on an NFL, in an NFL camp right now, not looking out of place. That's just what the guy looks like. So the guy plays like a little data, 396 snaps in line, 270 in the slot. That's really good balance. 74 out wide, eight in the backfield in 2021.

There's really nothing the fighting Irish think they can't throw at this guy as a true sophomore. They're just like, you can do whatever we ask you to. Understands how to shield defenders when making a play on the football. Not overly explosive or straight line fast, but extremely effective in that 8 to 15 yard range that I mentioned earlier. Great effort as a run blocker that throws meaningful hands and hits the point of attack with force.

I thought he beat the crap out of usc in the trenches i mean it started to look like they really didn't want much to do with him by the end of the game uh so that really stood out to me gets a little lunge happy as a move blocker looking for the kill shot uh he's still learning how to sustain blocks but man i if those if that's what i'm writing up at the bottom of the scouting report that i want to see improved this year yeah this guy's in a really, really good place. He's a certified top 50 pick. He could work his way into the first round. If I was writing a first round mock draft today,

I would have him in the first round. He is the bona fide number one tight end in this class. I don't think anybody's close to him. I think you can project people that way, but watching these guys over summer, nobody has done what he's done at least in 2021 at all. So let's hear it.

I am fascinated to hear what you have to throw at me, and I know exactly where you're going. You know who I'm going to have as tight end one. I do. Go ahead. It's Ari Gilbert. Yep, I knew it. I sound like a hater. He sounds so disappointed. That's not what I,

that's not, that's not how I want to come off on this show because I, I hope he, is he? Yes. What did he do last year? He didn't play last year. Hey, he didn't play football.

Go watch his freshman 19 year old tape. I'm Connor. Connor. I true freshman 19-year-old tape. Connor, Connor, I'm laughing. I'm audibly laughing watching you guys tape as a 19-year-old. It is nuts, all right? This is a five-star tight end. 24-7 had him ranked as the best tight end since O.J. Howard, and O.J. Howard had like a nearly flawless recruiting ranking to him. He was the number five player in the nation,

obviously the number one tight end in the nation when he was coming through and recruiting. He won the Gatorade player of the year in the state of Georgia. It's this guy is six foot five, 250 pounds. And it's just hilariously gifted. Hilarious. You are not wrong. I mean, there are,

there are few players that I've ever watched play tight end that could have the potential of a recap. I agree. That's truly what I believe here. And now there are reasons why he is not in your top five. Is he a top two tight end on his team today? Can we? Okay. Brock Bow he a top two tight end on his team today? Okay. Can we?

Okay. Brock Bowers is the other tight end. And I... And Darnell Washington. Dude, don't do that. They just scream five-star tight ends. They're stacking them. Do not tell me that Darnell Washington is better than Reed Gilbert.

I'm not saying he's better. I'm saying, is Georgia going into the year? Yeah. You just take Darnell off the field and go nah sorry you're great for us when we won a national title so but we got a fancier car in the garage now so i mean yes they do and that is how it works sorry i read that they might be moving gilbert to wide receiver like he's that makes a lot of sense. He will actually play the George Pickens role for

them. That's what they're going to want him to do. It'd be awesome. Here's my thing, Trevor. He's a freak. I am not. I couldn't put him in the top five because I just think... Coward. I don't have those expectations.

I don't have those expectations so and I don't hold on to you saw this with Derek Stingley thing I don't I this and no one's right or wrong all the time it's just hard for me to hold on to what guys were versus what they are he's this is perfect because I had Derek Stingley as player one last year so I know I know know. So with Gilbert, I mean, he's a really, really young player. Like, he obviously doesn't have to declare after this year because he doesn't turn, or he just turned 20, I believe. And I will double check that right now. He just turned 20 in February, and he did.

So a couple things. Freak Show Recruit, awesome film from when he did play two years ago missed 2021 due to personal reasons listen life gets in the way i get it it's i'm i'm hoping that this guy becomes everything we want him to be when kirby smart said he got to the program what was in the winter or whatever it was early spring at 300 pounds i just want to temper expectations and i know he got to the program at 300 pounds no kirby smarts kirby smart said it no way yes i gotta look this up just google or read gilbert 300 pounds or twitter search it now i know there's a lot of georgia fans listening to this and probably screaming right now i know

he had a good spring game i know and i know he's got the way down i think he's now down to 265 at the spring game here we go 265 smart said gilbert is between 265 and 270 at the moment that was in april uh gilbert started it january at 300 pounds so i mean that's amazing right to go from 300 pounds to 265 270 in a couple months so big i'm watching this clip of him at the spring game right now i didn't even see this yeah he had a good spring game and listen he can be an awesome player i hope he stays at georgia for two years and really gets on this track to being the guy he was supposed to be if he if we see some flashes this year and he just runs to the nfl i'm gonna have i'm gonna have some concerns that's all i'm saying all the town in the world he so he got to georgia because he was at lsu for one year

okay played at lsu for one year then he he left lsu i think there were some academic issues going on with him because he then committed to Florida. I remember this. He was like a commit at Florida for not very long. I don't know what the timeline is, so I don't want to say anything, because I don't remember what the timeline was, but it was not very long. And I think he committed to Florida, and then I think Florida was like,

he's not going to be able to get in because of his academic situation. Oh, wow. I mean, you got into Florida. Jesus Christ. Damn, dude. Fun show, folks. That was good. It was good?

It was good. It was good. So he doesn't end up going to Florida, and then he goes to Georgia, right? Misses all of last season, so he doesn't play very much. So there's plenty of things that have happened to him where it's like okay this is this is not exactly a straight path and i don't know everything that has gone on to that path and so it's hard for me to sit here and say that all of those things exist and whatever the truth is i think that a lot of people are going to get to the bottom of it but me sitting here today evaluating talent brother

this kid is unreal. I'm going to go through strengths and weaknesses for him. Very gifted athlete for a player his size. He has the build and athleticism combo to be one of the best tight ends in the NFL. Truly. Now, he is obviously, I'm not saying that he's there now, but I'm saying that he has the athletic physical gifts to be that one day. He truly does is comfortable getting in and out of his stance and into his

routes from both outside the slot and even off the line of scrimmage or out of the backfield has more wiggle agility, flexibility in his routes than you would ever expect for a player of his size, top tier yards after the catch ability weaknesses I have when it comes to blocking. He has the mass and the strength to hold up against more edge players. However, to really become that true all around tight end, the hands need to be a little bit better and faster.

Some of the faster edge rushers got to him a little bit. Well, I would also accept, I expect the catch percentage to be a little bit higher with contact, given how big and how strong that he is, but he, so we have, there are so many things to talk about with the re Gilbert that when you talk about his scouting profile, whether it's, I guess, the weight of him being 300 pounds when he showed up to Georgia,

then maybe trying to move him to wide receiver. Is he going to get down to a weight where he can even play wide receiver for them? Didn't play in 2021. So the only tape that we have to go off of is him as an 18 year old true freshman for lsu's team there's all of that that goes into it but i put him number one simply because i couldn't not do it that i very few times have i ever seen a player with this kind of potential in college football play like that as a freshman so he has a clearly a a long road to getting the most out of the high ceiling talent that he has but for us doing a summer scouting podcast with hopefully a great year ahead of him

i had to put him where his talent deserves on this list. So I had to put him at number one, man. I've very seldomly seen players at this position as gifted as him, ever, ever. The talent is unbelievable. And I hope, I really hope it all comes together there at a program that knows how to maximize talent for the most part.

If he's moving to wide receiver, I think that's a two-year transition. I would agree with that. Especially if he's going up to 300 pounds. He's going to need to train that a little bit. 300 to 200. And it's amazing he got down to 270, 265 in such a short time. So he's clearly putting in the work. Sounds like he's focused.

And look, the other part that goes into this you did bring up kind of as a joke but not really Brock Bowers is on that team Brock I'm not joking at all Brock Bowers would be tight end one in this class no question about it Brock Bowers would have been the first tight end off the board if he could have declared as a true freshman last year he would have been the number one tight end in the NFL draft so I'm I'm very curious to see what they're going to do with Gilbert because Gilbert at his best and Brock Bowers at their best, probably going to go down as the best one-two tight end combo in college football history if they both achieved their potential.

That's kind of the magnitude of what we're talking about. And guys, I do not mean to be hyperbolic. I try to pride myself to be not that kind of a guy. It's just nuts to watch this player and how gifted that he is. So I really hope that he can make the most out of his talent, make the most out of his opportunity at Georgia, because we really could have an unbelievable future NFL tight end in a Reed Gilbert.

Yeah. It's crazy what they have there. I mean, I guess this is probably a good time to transition. Maybe of the honorable mentions quickly yeah let's talk about his teammate real quick darnell washington is interesting um obviously he doesn't really get a lot of targets because he plays with brock bowers and and the fact that now reed gilbert's there he is a former five star and he has a massive frame to move people in the run game. And he's not going to lose those snaps. They with Darnell Washington, he I mean, kicked ass as a run blocker last year in big games,

in big time games. He he obviously was used as a run blocker. But I'm talking about during the season in the SEC. You turn on some of that tape in the first couple of months. They really, really like him as a run blocker and he handles that role OK. So I'm curious what he could do in the past game but there's always room in the nfl for more run blocking tight ends and when you have that five-star pedigree that doesn't go away anywhere um so how do we want to do this you want to want to like power read through a couple and give a

note for each or i mean well there's there's really only two other ones that i wanted to make sure that i brought to the table. Darnell Washington's one of them. I mean, the unique frame at 6'7". Oh, he's huge. 265 pounds. Powerful. Massive man. He truly brings that extra blocker on the line of scrimmage.

Yep. So I don't see Georgia really taking him off the field very much, even for Gilbert. Like, they're going to figure out. That's why when I read that they might be moving Gilbert to wide receiver, it makes sense because you can't really move Bowers I mean Bowers is Bowers is your guy you have to continue to lean on him you're not going to let Gilbert even though Gilbert can be a really damn good blocker you're not really you're probably not going to give him

Washington spots because he's already got those reps there so where are you going to try to put a really talented player probably a wide receiver so that makes sense there but um dude's got an incredible story of perseverance i just wanted to shout that out uh as well raised by a single mother who been through so much man and and and just like their story is incredible with her and her two boys and i would kind of encourage everybody to go read it it's it's awesome that he's gotten to this point i wish him and his family like nothing nothing but the best so i hope i hope he has a career year i hope he has an unbelievable career in the nfl because it's an awesome story um of what they've kind of been able to overcome and the positions that they've been able to put themselves in which

it's been really cool to see that for for her and her two boys have been really cool so it's it's tight in you i guess at georgia really is at this point right how talented those guys are the only other tight end that I really wanted to bring to the board was Julio Billingsley. Do you watch Billingsley? I did last year. I did not include him in this exercise because I was unfortunately underwhelmed after summer expectations,

but I do think obviously there's, I watched his teammate this summer. Lots of. Oh, okay. Okay. So Billingsley was at Alabama. Now he's at now he left yeah look you could say

underwhelming i mean i agree with you completely six foot four 200 215 pounds is now what texas lists him as he was very interesting 230 at alabama and weight going down was not what you wanted it was if you want to keep him as a tight end that's not what you wanted. If you want to keep him as a tight end, that's not what you wanted. Trevor, I just don't think he's a tight end. No, I think the reason why he went to Texas, I've got to think, is because Sarkeesian, former offensive coordinator, knows him and his receiving talent well. And I don't think he wanted a block, man.

The weaknesses that I have on jaleel billingsley uh was moved down the depth chart during the beginning parts of the season because saban seemed to try to challenge him and light a fire underneath him you see lack of effort on his tape you do especially with blocking almost no focus no technique on some of these blocks the effort to finish is non-existent he'll put his head down and lunge at players like a bad like a tackler a linebacker making a bad form tackle he also has poor concentration too many bad drops like i hate calling i i hate checking on people for their effort i i really do hate bringing that up but it's just

it's too obvious it's too obvious why Saban moved him down the depth chart because when he was on the field a great receiver he's really talented wide receiver but like you're on the field to play tight end and I mean I remember a play I think this was against Southern Mississippi was that who they were playing and he's in a wing formation so he's in a wing formation, so he's a step behind the line of scrimmage. They're running a split zone concept, so he's going behind the line of scrimmage

and blocking on the other side. He runs to his spot, and then he just stands up. The guy who he was supposed to block is literally right in front of him, and he just cuts him and just goes and tackles the running back. And Billy's just stood up. It's like he didn't want contact on it.

He didn't care. And it's like, man, I hope i hope honestly for his sake at this point that they're moving him to wide receiver and again i hate i hate being harsh on these guys for these things i always hate questioning effort because you never know like what a guy is going through like all this kind of stuff there's tons of context that can go through effort but man when it comes to him being in saban's doghouse and moving down the depth chart, and then he turned on the tape and they transfers to Texas. Now he's losing weight.

It's like, okay. He didn't want to block. He just, he didn't want to block. And I think that they're going to make them a, they're going to make them a wide receiver. So that was kind of,

I was also very underwhelmed at Julio Billingsley. Cause I had a lot of high hopes for him. I'm glad you brought him up though. You know, he was someone that if you read mock drafts this time last year, wouldn't shock me when people put him at the end of the first round, right? Right now I don't consider him, uh, probably a draftable player. So he needs a big year at Texas. Um, he needs to, he needs to really bounce back there, but I did watch his former teammate and Cameron lot to, uh, interesting guy real quick. He's a tight end at Alabama,

but he was a four-star defensive end recruit coming out of high school. And when he first arrived to Alabama in 2019, they put him in a tight end room to, you know, get more bodies there. And he's really flourished with it. A savvy player knows how to find the soft spot of the defense, especially in the red zone. I think he caught seven touchdowns last year. Comfortable working up to seam and tracking the ball, throws his weight around in the run game, used both inline and as a lead blocker from the backfield, and has enough burst to block on the move in the zone running game. So Latu, another guy to add for everybody's list. Will Mallory from Miami is more of a pass catching kind of guy that you could

throw on these lists. I was a little underwhelmed overall by his film. I know some people are pretty high on him, but he's definitely a tight end to keep an eye on what he could do with Tyler Van Dyke this year. Eric Aul from Michigan, if you're looking for some really impressive run-blocking film, watch Eric Aul, what he did against Ohio State in the winter. I was really impressed with him. Luke

Musgrave's going to have a bigger role for Oregon State's passing offense this year, 6'6", 252. And the last guy I'd say to add to everyone's list, Isaac Rex from BYU. He lost last season to injury, but he broke an ankle, really serious ankle fracture last year.

But in 2020, this guy caught 12 touchdowns from Zach Wilson. So there was once upon a time where Isaac Rex was a legitimate big time, 6'6", 250 pound, pass catching tight end prospect. I'm looking forward to him getting that ankle right and getting back on the field this year all right there we go that is the pre-season summer scouting top fives and beyond from myself and from connor i'm excited about this tight end class man i really am i know that we kind of end every pod talking about the

excitement that we have for this position but we love the giraffe we are excited it's not often that we actually have this kind of genuine potential from the tight end class. It's really not. And I think that there is a real space for there to be plenty of these tight ends that we named within the top 100. Maybe we're not talking about a guy going top 10 or top 20 or whatever. Maybe Michael Mayer. Who knows? But I think it can be littered in the top 100 with a handful of these tight ends. Maybe some other guys that are going to emerge.

So that's what makes it exciting. Yeah. If Gilbert hits, this'll be the best tight end class. Oh man. I'm looking right now. 20, 2017,

2017 was, which I know things didn't work out the way people hope for OJ and Evan Ingram. Right. But man, everybody was hyped about OJ, Evan Ingram, David and Joku, Gerald Everett, John Smith.

That was a great class. George Kittle, my God, what a tight end class. Yeah, I was going to say, Kittle was in that class. This would be the best tight end class in over five years if Gilbert hits. But that's a big if. We're waiting for it. We're rooting for it.

Obviously a lot of talent. Hope so. All right, that's it for us this week. We will be back with you guys on Monday for another Mock Draft Monday format. And we'll probably get to some mailbag questions as well. We'll probably hit you with a couple of mailbag questions. We will answer the UK question.

We do have to for sure get to the UK question. I want to give it the time and grace it deserves. It's a good one. It's a good one. You guys got to tune in Monday to see that. I'm Trevor. That's Connor. Thanks for listening to the NFL Stock Exchange.