NFL Scouting Combine: Winners and losers at the tight end position

The 2020 NFL Scouting Combine is officially in the books. Here are the biggest winners and losers at the tight end position from last week.

The 2020 NFL Scouting Combine has come and gone.

Although generally a bit overrated, the Underwear Olympics do provide valuable information to talent evaluators. It can help confirm what scouts are seeing on tape or force a re-evaluation.

After a long week of interviews, measurements, and position drills, we are no closer to determining who is the top tight end in this class, but we do know who is on the rise and who is falling.

Here are the three winners and losers from the Combine.

Winner – Albert Okwuegbunam, Missouri

Albert Okwuegbunam’s performance was terrific, running the second-fastest 40-yard dash in Combine for a guy standing at least 6-foot-5 and weighing 250 pounds or more. That’s going to put you on the map.

Talent has never been an issue with the Missouri tight end, btu injuries and a dip in performance have been the main concerns. With a 4.49 40-yard dash, however, this could be the boost he needed to jump in the back-end of the first round or, at the very least, the second.

Winner – Josiah Deguara, Cincinnati

Not a lot of people had Josiah Deguara on their radar heading into the Combine, but they do now. Considered a day-three prospect, Deguara had an outstanding Combine performance performing wonderfully in the position drills and posting the best bench press reps (25), the fourth-best vertical (35.5”) and the sixth-best 40-yard dash time (4.72).

Winner – Cole Kmet, Notre Dame

Heading into the Combine, Cole Kmet was considered one of the top prospects in the 2020 class, and his combine performance only helped his stock. At 6-foot-6 and 260 pounds, the Notre Dame product managed to run a 4.7 40-yard dash (which is faster than top-10 tight end pick T.J. Hockenson last year), and he posted the best vertical jump (37”) of his position group. Kmet also had a top-three broad jump.

The only issue with Kmet’s performance was his poor three-cone drill, which at 7.44 was the second-slowest of the group. Still, Kmet has never been considered the quickest prospect so it remains to be seen how much that actually impacts his draft stock.

Loser – Thaddeus Moss, LSU

Moss might be the biggest boom-or-bust prospect of this tight end class, and those questions didn’t get answered in Indy.

After coming in with small measurements, Moss did not participate in any of the on-field drills due to a stress fracture found during his physical. At this time, it’s looking unlikely that he will be able to participate at LSU’s Pro Day, which means teams will have just one year of film to look at.

Loser – Harrison Bryant, FAU

This year’s Mackey Award winner, Harrison Bryant, needed to have a good showing at the Combine to show he had the physical traits to go with the superb production. Unfortunately for the former Florida Atlantic Owl, that wasn’t the case. His vertical (32.5”) was the third-lowest of his position group, and he put up just 13 reps on the bench (easily the worst of his group).

Moreover, his broad jump was second-worst, and his 3-cone drill time was a slow 7.41 seconds, which was the third-worst among tight ends. That’s not ideal for a small-school guy trying to show he belongs.

Loser – Jared Pinkney, Vanderbilt

Pinkney may have had the worst Combine of all prospects and not only because he ran a slower 40-yard dash time than Iowa’s 320-pound offensive lineman Tristan Wirfs (Wirfs ran a 4.86 and Pinkney ran a 4.96).

Pinkney had the unfortunate pleasure of being shamed by the New England Patriots in his team interview as they told the 6-foot-4, 257-pound tight end that he had a “loser’s mentality.”