The insanity of taking a first-round tight end in the NFL Draft
By Matt Conner
Forget the hype. T.J. Hockenson and Noah Fant are serving as further evidence as to why teams should never take a tight end so early.
It takes a tremendous level of hype to be a first-round tight end.
This past year, the University of Iowa could have announced free tuition for all students of every program and it still wouldn’t have matched the buzz emanating around their two first-round tight end prospects: Noah Fant and T.J. Hockenson. Both college stars somehow transcended not only the competition provided by the other but eclipsed the excitement surrounding most of the skill position players coming into the draft, including wide receivers and running backs. In the end, both players were selected among the top 20 available players in the entire class.
The Detroit Lions and Denver Broncos ended up biting on Hockenson and Fant respectively with their first round picks last April. It was a vote of confidence in the glow surrounding each player from each franchise, a statement that both players were being counted on to elevate their respective offenses to entirely new levels. Neither offense was content with a nice prospect at tight end; they were willing to go all-in, even if it meant eschewing talented players at other positions of need—even positions with greater overall impact on the game.
Stop here and just consider the silliness of this on the part of, say, the Denver Broncos. This is not at all a slight on Fant or his future prospects. It’s just that the idea of taking Fant at No. 20 for a team with its biggest questions at both quarterback and the trenches (both sides, really) is a ludicrous proposition. Even if Rob Gronkowski himself had found the fountain of youth and a way to re-enter the draft, he still would not have been worth John Elway‘s pick. Tight ends just don’t move the meter enough.
An unkind history
What makes the whole process of selecting a tight end even more difficult is the rate of return (and how it doesn’t actually measure up). Certainly Elway was aware of the precedent set in previous drafts. The idea of Fant as a necessary selection was already suspect due to the porous nature of the offensive line along with myriad other concerns on a roster further depleted from its Super Bowl glory. The idea of Fant in the face of other recent first round tight ends should have been enough to let the opportunity pass. Let’s go back to 2014:
The Detroit Lions used the No. 10 overall pick on an athletic marvel with great hands out of North Carolina. Four years later, the Lions let him walk and the Indianapolis Colts snatched him up on a nice prove-it deal where in Ebron finally turned in the sort of results expected of him during his rookie contract. The Lions earned some decent stats during some losing seasons throughout an entirely forgettable stretch of football. By the way, a quick look at the names taken immediately after Ebron will only make Detroit fans cry, since some are the best at their respective positions: Aaron Donald, Odell Beckham, Jr., Kyle Fuller, Zack Martin, Taylor Lewan, Ryan Shazier, C.J. Mosley.
In 2017, many NFL teams were in search of their own Gronk and three teams utilized their first round asset to take a flyer on the next great tight end. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers selected O.J. Howard out of the NFL factory known as Alabama, and three seasons later, he remains an oddly under-used talent who is currently on the trade block. The talent is there, to be sure, but Tampa Bay hasn’t quite figured out what to do with a talent they somehow felt so strongly about only three offseasons ago.
Let’s be clear, the New York Giants aren’t helping Engram’s cause here. The total failure(s) at quarterback. The trade of the aforementioned Beckham leaves defensive coordinators able to zero in on Engram with their top pass defenders or even double teams. The end result is a tight end who has to fight for his yardage a bit more than he should. Engram has the talent, but the Giants have so many roster issues that it’s hard to think this was a good pick even knowing he has very good pro-ready talent.
Last season looked a bit like a breakout year for Njoku in Cleveland as he reached 639 receiving yards and four touchdowns in Baker Mayfield‘s rookie campaign. Unfortunately injuries have taken their toll on this season, limiting him to a scant four catches on the year. Even so, it was weird to see John Dorsey target Njoku with a first round pick knowing the team has more pressing concerns, especially along the offensive front.
The Baltimore Ravens could have helped an aging defense, but instead they wanted to get a mover in the passing game to help move the chains. Somehow they had the faith to take him but not the faith to start him. He played in 12 games last year and started none. That trend only continues this year, with a single start in six games.
T.J. Hockenson
Hockenson came out swinging in Week 1, but he’s been a slight disappointment ever since. Yes, there was an early season concussion, but consistency and drops (especially in the end zone) have plagued the former No. 8 pick. Yes, he was taken at No. 8 overall—as in only seven other players were considered better than a tight end in this entire draft class. That’s not good at all.
Noah Fant
Despite being a top 20 pick, he’s been outplayed by fellow rooks like Dawson Knox (third round, Buffalo Bills) and has a few more receiving yards on the year than, say, James O’Shaughnessy of the Jacksonville Jaguars. That says all you need to know about Fant’s adjustment to the pro level.
Finding value elsewhere
Through seven weeks, the verdict continues to look solid in the case against taking a first round tight end. Despite the hype and the visions of creating impossible mismatches, the reality is that the level of impact on the field fails to match the overall draft value—especially if that pick is taken earlier in the first round.
Rob Gronkowski is the best tight end of his generation, a five-time Pro Bowler who was the ultimate problem for opposing defensive coordinators. The mismatches created against 99 percent of the NFL’s safeties and linebackers allowed Gronk to not only become the best at his position but one of the toughest pass catchers to bring down in the entire NFL. He was a second round pick.
Even with Gronk out of the league, the best examples remaining at present were all taken outside of the first round. Travis Kelce has made four straight Pro Bowls and is widely considered the best in the game these days and the Kansas City Chiefs took him third overall. The San Francisco 49ers struck gold in the fifth round with George Kittle. We already focused on Hayden Hurst earlier with the Baltimore Ravens, but it’s actually another tight end taken in that same draft by the Ravens, Mark Andrews, who is turning heads on that franchise. And he was taken in the fourth round.
Zach Ertz was a second round pick for the Philadelphia Eagles, as was Hunter Henry for the Los Angeles Chargers. Same with Gerald Everett of the L.A. Rams. Austin Hooper was a third round choice of the Atlanta Falcons. Will Dissly fell to the Seattle Seahawks in the fourth round. Darren Waller is an unearthed gem for the Oakland Raiders who went completely undrafted. You get the picture.
The bottom line here is that drafting a tight end is a fine art that should come with two primary rules:
- Do not draft a tight end until you’ve secured the services of more important positions.
- Do not draft a tight end early (even if you’ve taken care of rule one).
Until then, each draft class is likely to only serve up more evidence that finding a tight end who can make a big impact early in his career is a sort of unicorn. The investment is almost always disproportional, regardless of the hype coming in.