2020 Draft Board: Tight Ends

**Note: changes have been made since the draft happened. I spent May and June adjusting my process by setting strict parameters and adding all combine participants from 2008-2017. Those two improvements caused major changes to my factors and table, which means some players that were on my draft board have been removed, some players that were removed from my draft board have been put back on it, and some players have seen a drastic shift in the round grades they were originally given.

Continuing my Draft Board next we look at the Tight Ends. Most Tight End draft classes don’t have a lot of depth, let alone top end talent. This class is no different seeing as how over half of the Tight Ends invited to the Combine were eliminated from my draft board, but you’ll be able to see all of that below.

Players Removed:

I was able to eliminate 12 Tight Ends for various reasons. The ones with the "E" next to their name received my “Empty” label, the ones with a "D" received my “Depleted” label, if you are wondering what those labels mean check the Draft Boards for the QBs, RBs or WRs. The 12 are:

Cheyenne O’Grady (E)

Dom Wood-Anderson (E)

Jared Pinkney (E)

Mitchell Wilcox (E)

Cole Kmet (D)

Charlie Woerner (D)

Dalton Keene (D)

Harrison Bryant (D)

Jacob Breeland (D)

Sean McKeon (D)

Stephen Sullivan (D)

Thaddeus Moss (D)

The Table

After I eliminated players, I created a table to determine the Draft Round I would attach to each remaining player. I used their college stats and combine results to determine the chances of them being drafted in the first three rounds by setting a low extreme and high extreme for each stat. If they had more low extremes than their draft grade fell, more high extremes and it rose.

My Draft Board

My Top 5:

1) Adam Trautman (Dayton)

Analysis: By now we all know the story, high school QB turned TE at a tiny school that rarely puts out NFL talent. What Trautman has accomplished is nothing short of awesome, but he has to show he can do it against top competition. He’s already gotten off on the right foot thanks to the Senior Bowl, and while his forty (4.8) wasn’t blazing fast his 3 Cone Drill was incredible (6.78). That means this big guy (6’5, 255) has got some wiggle. I have him marked as a first round player thanks to his numbers, but since he’s coming out of Dayton, I don’t see him popping up in the first round.

2) Hunter Bryant (Washington)

Analysis: There are quite a few Tight Ends that measured below 6’4” in this draft class, and Bryant is one of them. At 6’2 people may be thinking that Bryant playing Tight End won’t allow them to take advantage of the size mismatches on passing downs. I don’t see that being a problem. Tack on the 248 pounds and his 4.74 forty and you’ve got your opportunity at hitting big seem routes. Last point, 16.6 YPR leads this group of Tight Ends even though his YPR is only from one season of big production.

3) Brycen Hopkins (Purdue)

Analysis: Nothing is going to blow you away about Hopkins on paper. He averaged solid stats in college and most of his Combine numbers were average. His forty was a surprising 4.66 which I think showed he’s faster than expected. He played sound football for a so-so team. But the thing I like most is that he did so with a rotation of Quarterbacks. It seemed like Purdue had 20 different starting QBs this past season due to injuries, but that didn’t slow Hopkins down. To me, that signals a strong outlet for a Quarterback to target and the 15 YPR means he’s not just a dump off target.

4) Albert Okwuegbunam (Missouri)

Analysis: His height (6'5) and 7.7 touchdown average at Missouri suggest he's got real Red Zone potential as a pro. His 4.49(!) forty suggests he can be a weapon where ever his future team is on the field. The injury concerns are a dark cloud looming over his future, but if he can stay on the field he's going to be a dominant force.

5) Devin Asiasi (UCLA)

Analysis: One word, solid. He didn't do anything especially well, he didn't test crazy well in any area. He also didn't disappoint at the combine and despite so-so offensive play at UCLA this last season, he still managed to be productive.

Sleeper: Josiah Deguara (Cincinnati)

Analysis: I’m a huge fan of Tight Ends with touchdown production in college. Deguara checked all the statistical boxes by averaging 36.5 receptions, 478.5 yards and (most importantly in my opinion) 6 touchdowns in his final two seasons in Cincy. I haven’t heard a lot of buzz around him, so perhaps my 2^nd-3^rd round grade on him will turn into an early day 3 draft pick, but my grades are given based off the numbers they posted compared to the numbers of the Tight Ends selected in the first three rounds from 2008-2017.