It’s an unusually good year for tight ends in the draft. O.J. Howard will be selected in the first round, and he might be joined for a few others.
David Njoku might be selected in the first round. He looks like the latest in a long line of good tight ends at Miami. He’s got big hands, ran a 4.64 at the combine and can catch the ball – 46 catches and 8 TDs last year.
Evan Engram might catch a team’s eye. He ran a 4.42 at the combine, which is unusually fast for the position – almost as fast as Vernon Davis (chosen 6th after running a 4.38). At 6-foot-2 and 234 pounds, however, Engram needs to line up away from the line of scrimmage (it might be fairer to call him a wide receiver rather than a tight end). Think Jordan Reed or Delanie Walker (who aren’t as fast) and Engram showed some ability to maybe develop into that kind of a receiver last year at Mississippi, catching 65 passes and 8 TDs.
And there’s Jake Butt out of Michigan, who’s more of a traditional tight end – less athletic but the right size and more well-rounded. He looks like he’ll be a starter for a lot of years. If not for a torn ACL in their bowl game, he'd be a shoo-in to be selected in the top 40; the injury could push him down to the third round.
We might see three tight ends chosen in the first, and that’s happened only once in the last 30 years (with Jeremy Shockey, Jerramy Stevens and Daniel Graham in 2002).
With tight ends, however, they tend to take longer to adjust to the pro game (perhaps because they need to learn both route-running and blocking schemes).
In the last 30 years, 29 tight ends have been selected in the first round. Only four of those players caught 40-plus passes in their first year: Keith Jackson (81), Jeremy Shockey (74), Jermaine Gresham (52) and Dustin Keller (48). Only three caught more than 4 TDs: Eric Green (7), Jackson (6) and Heath Miller (6).
So while there will probably bee an impact tight end or two in this draft, the big numbers probably won’t come until future seasons:
| ROOKIE NUMBERS OF FIRST-ROUND TIGHT ENDS | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | No | Yds | Avg | TD |
| 1987 | Rod Bernstine, S.D. | 10 | 76 | 7.6 | 1 |
| 1988 | Keith Jackson, Phil. | 81 | 869 | 10.7 | 6 |
| 1990 | Eric Green, Pitt. | 34 | 387 | 11.4 | 7 |
| 1992 | Johnny Mitchell, NYJ | 16 | 210 | 13.1 | 1 |
| 1992 | Derek Brown, NYG | 4 | 31 | 7.8 | 0 |
| 1993 | Irv Smith, N.O. | 16 | 180 | 11.3 | 2 |
| 1995 | Kyle Brady, NYJ | 26 | 252 | 9.7 | 2 |
| 1995 | Mark Bruener, Pitt. | 26 | 238 | 9.2 | 3 |
| 1996 | Rickey Dudley, Oak. | 34 | 386 | 11.4 | 4 |
| 1997 | Tony Gonzalez, K.C. | 33 | 368 | 11.2 | 2 |
| 1997 | David LaFleur, Dall. | 18 | 122 | 6.8 | 2 |
| 2000 | Bubba Franks, G.B. | 34 | 363 | 10.7 | 1 |
| 2000 | Anthony Becht, NYJ | 16 | 144 | 9.0 | 2 |
| 2001 | Todd Heap, Balt. | 16 | 206 | 12.9 | 1 |
| 2002 | Jeremy Shockey, NYG | 74 | 894 | 12.1 | 2 |
| 2002 | Jerramy Stevens, Sea. | 26 | 252 | 9.7 | 3 |
| 2002 | Daniel Graham, N.E. | 15 | 150 | 10.0 | 1 |
| 2003 | Dallas Clark, Ind. | 29 | 340 | 11.7 | 1 |
| 2004 | Kellen Winslow, Clev. | 5 | 50 | 10.0 | 0 |
| 2004 | Benjamin Watson, N.E. | 2 | 16 | 8.0 | 0 |
| 2005 | Heath Miller, Pitt. | 39 | 459 | 11.8 | 6 |
| 2006 | Vernon Davis, S.F. | 20 | 265 | 13.3 | 3 |
| 2006 | Marcedes Lewis, Jac. | 13 | 126 | 9.7 | 1 |
| 2007 | Greg Olsen, Chi. | 39 | 391 | 10.0 | 2 |
| 2008 | Dustin Keller, NYJ | 48 | 535 | 11.1 | 3 |
| 2009 | Brandon Pettigrew, Det. | 30 | 346 | 11.5 | 2 |
| 2010 | Jermaine Gresham, Cin. | 52 | 471 | 9.1 | 4 |
| 2013 | Tyler Eifert, Cin. | 39 | 445 | 11.4 | 2 |
| 2014 | Eric Ebron, Det. | 25 | 248 | 9.9 | 1 |
—Ian Allan