Tight end

This will be a very short section, as this is easily the weakest position in all of the draft. As you may recall, I said the same thing last year about this position group, and I think this is testament to the spread offense taking hold at the college level. The TE position just isn’t as important in the spread, unless you are a blocker or more of an H-Back type. So either way, it’s nothing an NFL team is going to be looking at early in the draft. There are a few players with some talent, but I just don’t see any of them being considered before the late second round.

Kyle Rudolph of Notre Dame surprised me when he declared early, considering he had surgery on a partially torn hamstring this season. It makes sense to take advantage of a weak draft class, but having seen how hamstring surgery can really hurt a player’s career (i.e. Tommie Harris); I would be very leery of spending a first or second round pick on him. He’s definitely the most complete TE of these prospects as he can block, has decent size, and good speed. If his hamstring is fine and he shows well at the combine and private workouts, I could see him locking up a second round grade for certain.

Weslye Saunders of South Carolina missed the entire season after several violations of team rules. You have to REALLY mess up for Steve Spurrier to kick you off his team as well, so I would be very careful when handing out a six to seven figure contract on a young man who is obviously not mature enough to handle this yet. But Saunders will get drafted because of his natural athletic gifts. For Bears fans, you will understand when I say he’s Kellen Davis but a better receiving threat. For those that aren’t Bears fans, he basically a power forward playing football. He needs work, and hopefully he spent his time off getting in the best shape of his life and working on blocking technique. He has the size and natural athleticism you want in an inline TE though, so if he has truly learned his lesson, he could be a steal.

The remaining TE’s worth mentioning are all H-Back types who just aren’t big enough to hold up as an inline TE on the line of scrimmage, so they will need to go to the right offense where they will be used off the line in varying formations.

Lance Kendricks of Wisconsin is a guy I really like, but he has had some durability issues. He’s got a very good feel for zone coverages though and knows how to find the soft spots, sit down, and make the catch. He’s a good offensive weapon, if he can stay healthy.

DJ Williams of Arkansas is almost identical to Kendricks except he’s stayed healthy. He’s even smaller than Kendricks though, so he’s almost like a big WR more so than a true TE or HBack. He can catch the ball well though, and in some games this year he reminded me of Aaron Hernandez as he did an excellent job of selling the TE screen.

Preston Dial of Alabama is actually a guy I would love to have on my team. He’s not big enough to play inline, but he actually looks pretty good playing FB and slipping out into coverage to make plays in the passing game. He has very good hands, and was Greg McElroy’s security blanket this season on third and short. He’s one of those solid late round picks who will play special teams and find a way to contribute in various formations for a creative offensive coordinator.