In the magazine we kicked around the possibility of Chris Herndon being a sleeper tight end. Back in 2018 he put up over 500 receiving yards, before being hurt in 2019 and disregarded in the passing game last year. It's a new offense now. But Herndon needs to be the No. 1 on his own team, and Tyler Kroft might have something to say about that.
Brian Costello of the New York Post says Kroft, who signed a one-year deal in March, has been one of the bigger surprises of spring workouts. According to Costello, Kroft could beat out Herndon for the starting job, making it a significant training camp battle.
Kroft is 28 and last put up significant numbers with the Bengals back in 2017, stepping up when Tyler Eifert got hurt. In three years since, primarily as a backup in Cincinnati and Buffalo, Kroft has caught only 22 passes. But he's been productive when given the opportunity to play significant snaps.
In his career, Kroft has played over half the snaps in 28 games. In those contests, they've used him in the passing game; he saw 4-plus targets in 15 of them. He caught 3 or more passes in nearly half (12) of those games, and scored 10 total touchdowns. That includes a pair of 4-catch games for the Bills last season.
Table below sorted by targets. Information taken from pro-football-reference.com.
| TYLER KROFT PLAYING OVER HALF THE SNAPS | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Tm | Opp | Tgt | Rec | Yds | TD | Pct |
| 2017 | CIN | at Bal. | 8 | 6 | 53 | 2 | 99% |
| 2017 | CIN | at Cle. | 7 | 6 | 68 | 2 | 83% |
| 2017 | CIN | Ind. | 6 | 5 | 46 | 0 | 93% |
| 2015 | CIN | at Den. | 6 | 4 | 46 | 0 | 97% |
| 2017 | CIN | at Ten. | 6 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 100% |
| 2017 | CIN | Buf. | 5 | 4 | 38 | 0 | 94% |
| 2020 | BUF | LAR | 5 | 4 | 24 | 2 | 71% |
| 2017 | CIN | Det. | 5 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 100% |
| 2017 | CIN | at Pit. | 4 | 4 | 23 | 1 | 98% |
| 2020 | BUF | at NYJ | 4 | 4 | 64 | 0 | 78% |
| 2017 | CIN | at G.B. | 4 | 3 | 28 | 0 | 98% |
| 2017 | CIN | Cle. | 4 | 3 | 14 | 1 | 98% |
| 2016 | CIN | at Pit. | 4 | 3 | 35 | 0 | 54% |
| 2017 | CIN | at Min. | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 85% |
| 2019 | BUF | Phi. | 4 | 2 | 32 | 0 | 56% |
| 2015 | CIN | at S.F. | 3 | 3 | 31 | 1 | 92% |
| 2017 | CIN | at Den. | 3 | 2 | 12 | 1 | 85% |
| 2015 | CIN | Pit. | 3 | 2 | 31 | 0 | 74% |
| 2017 | CIN | at Jac. | 2 | 2 | 79 | 0 | 100% |
| 2017 | CIN | Pit. | 2 | 2 | 30 | 0 | 92% |
| 2020 | BUF | K.C. | 2 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 57% |
| 2015 | CIN | at Cle. | 1 | 1 | 17 | 0 | 70% |
| 2016 | CIN | Cle. | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 69% |
| 2020 | BUF | N.E. | 1 | 1 | 11 | 0 | 64% |
| 2017 | CIN | Chi. | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 83% |
| 2016 | CIN | Den. | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 64% |
| 2016 | CIN | Mia. | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 63% |
| 2020 | BUF | at Mia. | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 51% |
I'm not sure anyone should be falling over themselves to select Kroft in drafts; he won't be the next George Kittle, despite New York's new coaching staff's ties to San Francisco's offense. But be careful before getting too optimistic about Herndon. Not a given he'll be New York's starter at the position, or best tight end.
--Andy Richardson