TE class has depth

03.18.2009

Nineteen NFL tight ends had at least 40 receptions last season; eleven more had at least 30.

That's a good sign for the tight ends in this year's draft, a deep and talented group that lacks one big-name star but offers NFL teams plenty of tall, athletic targets who seem ready to provide an instant upgrade to a passing offense.

Therein lies the catch, pun intended. The explosion of the spread offense at the college level has produced a bunch of tight ends who are good route runners and are used to being targeted 10 times a game with passes, but rarely (and in some cases never) have been asked to play with a hand on the ground and block.

The consensus top tight end in this draft played in a spread offense in college, but Brandon Pettigrew also did his share of blocking at Oklahoma State. He's not a speed burner or a player who will instantly command double coverage in the NFL, but he does just about everything well.

At 6-foot-5, 263, he's big and strong enough to mix it up with NFL linebackers and too big for safeties to cover in the middle of the field. Exactly where he falls in the draft remains to be seen, but various projections have him coming off the board between picks 15 and 30.

If another player is going to end a two-year run of seeing just one tight end drafted in the first round, it's likely to be South Carolina early entry Jared Cook. He's a top-level athlete at 6-foot-5, 246, who's hoping to ride the momentum of a strong combine workout (he was the fastest tight end and had easily the best vertical jump at 41 inches) into the bottom of the first round.

Last year's run on tight ends started at the bottom of the first round when the Jets took Dustin Keller -- an ultra-productive college player in a spread offense -- at number 30. Three tight ends were selected in the second round and three more were selected in the third before the Browns picked Martin Rucker -- another ultra-productive college player in a spread offense -- in the fourth round, 111 overall.

In 2007 the first tight end selected was Greg Olsen at 31 overall. Zach Miller at 38 was the only second-round tight end, and Matt Spaeth was the only tight end taken in the third.

In previous years, though, there was a run on higher first-rounders including Jeremy Shockey, Kellen Winslow, Vernon Davis and Todd Heap. This year's crop isn't likely to produce a top-15 pick, but it should place more players in the top half of the draft than the last two years.

Shawn Nelson of Southern Miss is another tall (6-foot-5, 240), talented player who was steady in his first three years and had a huge senior season. He showed some blocking skills after being coached by ex-NFL tight end Kris Mangum and had a solid Senior Bowl week. He's among the "next" group of tight ends on most projections, a group that includes James Casey of Rice, Chase Coffman of Missouri, Travis Beckum of Wisconsin and Cornelius Ingram of Florida.

Casey's 111 catches last fall were the second most of any receiver in the country. Coffman was only four spots behind with 90. Coffman's injury history and lack of straight-line speed may cost him on draft day, but when he's healthy he's shown to be a phenomenal receiving target.

Ingram missed his whole senior season after tearing his ACL but was healthy enough to fully participate at the Combine.

Anthony Hill of NC State, Richard Quinn of North Carolina (who played his last two seasons of high school football at Maple Heights High School just outside of Cleveland), Ryan Purvis of Boston College and Travis McCall of Alabama are among the group of bigger tight ends who have significant experience blocking and playing in a pro-style offense.