I have some interest in Ricky Seals-Jones. He looks like a good guy to select in the last round of the draft – possibly could develop into something.
Seals-Jones, recall, was an oversized receiver at Texas A&M who went undrafted. Arizona stuck him on its practice squad, working on him as a tight end, and then activated him during last season.
He made a few splash plays, catching 2 TDs at Houston and another one against Jacksonville. He caught only 12 passes, but 5 of them were for over 20 yards. He averaged 16.8 yards per catch. They were splitting him out wide, and if covered by a smaller cornerback, it’s a huge size mismatch. I don’t recall seeing him being covered by a linebacker, but I would expect he would have a mobility advantage against those guys.
So I have been mulling Seals-Jones all through the offseason, wondering how he might fit into their plans. The Cardinals have a new coaching staff, and I’m not sure if they’re interested in a pass-catching tight end without much blocking ability. So it was with interest that I read a feature story on Seals-Jones at Arizona Central.
In that article, their new coach, Steve Wilks, indicated that they’re at least thinking about using Seals-Jones. He even went as far as to say he might be able to do some of the same things as the tight end at his former team, Carolina.
“Any time you get a tight end like Ricky, like Greg Olsen, those guys who can split out in the slot, create a matchup on a linebacker or even a safety, I think it’s a plus for us,” Wilks said. “I think he (Seals-Jones) brings that element.”
It’s way too early to line up Seals-Jones for an Olsen-type impact, of course. They have to figure out if they can get adequate blocking out of him. And Seals-Jones dropped 3 of the 15 catchable balls thrown his way last year, which is a pretty lousy ratio.
Jermaine Gresham trying to work his way back from a ruptured Achilles. He might not be ready for opening day. But I don’t know that the two players are really related much at all. Gresham at this point in his career is a traditional in-line tight end. Seals-Jones is like Jared Cook, Evan Engram or Jordan Reed – a guy you split out like a wide receiver. But Arizona is short on pass-catching weapons, so I think they’ll consider getting him involved.
If it were walking into a 12-team league today, which each team selecting two tight ends, I wouldn’t draft Seals-Jones. I have the list in front of me, and there are just too many other options that are better. But if I were in a league where 30 tight ends were being chosen, then I would think about sticking Seals-Jones on a roster – observe him in September and see if there’s some chance he might develop into something.
—Ian Allan