Philadelphia Eagles Draft: Tight End Positional Rankings

We at Section 215 continue our positional preview of the NFL Draft with the tight end class. Who should the Philadelphia Eagles pursue?

The NFL Draft is rapidly approaching and April 27th will be here in the blink of an eye. Between now & then, teams will be finalizing their draft boards: ranking players based on talent, production, potential, intangibles, scheme fit, etc. Over the coming weeks, we will be doing the same thing.

Each week leading up to the draft, Micheal Coggin & I will rank the prospects of a certain position based on fit for the Philadelphia Eagles. We will discuss & debate the players before finalizing the order; in the same way the Eagles personnel department is currently doing. By the time April rolls around, we will have scheme-specific rankings for each position, which will provide some clarity on the Philadelphia Eagles Big Board as a whole. Thus far, we have covered the following position groups:

Running Backs

Wide Receivers

This week, we head inline and check out the tight end class.

Mike’s Rankings

1. O.J. Howard, Alabama
2. Evan Engram, Ole Miss
3. Jeremy Sprinkle, Arkansas
4. David Njoku, Miami
5. Bucky Hodges, Virginia Tech
6. Jake Butt, Michigan

Ben’s Rankings

1. O.J. Howard, Alabama
2. Jeremy Sprinkle, Arkansas
3. David Njoku, Miami
4. Gerald Everett, South Alabama
5. Evan Engram, Ole Miss
6. Jake Butt, Michigan

The Discussion

MC: Tight End is an underrated need for the Philadelphia Eagles. Brent Celek is 32 year old with only one incentivized year remaining on his contract. Next offseason, he could be cut to save $4M toward the 2018 salary cap.

Zach Ertz, to this point, has been a disappointment in significant games. He can turn it on in late-season games on an annual basis but you can’t seem to count on him in crunch time.

Trey Burton, who flashed at times last season, is set to become a restricted free agent come March 9th. It wouldn’t be a surprise if another franchise offered him a front-loaded deal: knowing the Eagles are strapped for cash.

The Birds will need to address this soon. Ideally, they’ll find a multi-talented TE in the mold of a younger Celek: someone who excels both in-line and as a receiving threat. That mold is what Andy Reid prefers and, presumably, Doug Pederson is no different. So…who do you like?

BS: Well, if we’re talking TEs in a Celek mode, Brent was my comp for Jake Butt, the kid out of Michigan. I think he isn’t the blocker Celek is just yet, but given the frame and the tenacity you see on tape, it’s pretty clear he can develop into a Celek-like player.

Butt isn’t much of an athlete (like Celek), so if you ask him to target a shifty LB at the second level, he’s going to struggle. But he regularly cleared cutback lanes with long-driving down blocks in Michigan’s offense, and when he gets his hands on somebody I think he’s as powerful as NFL tight end.

In pass protection, the lack of agility shows up again–he can get badly beaten off the edge by athletic rushers. However, if he’s square to his guy, he can anchor, time his punch, win leverage, the whole nine yards. And for 6’6, he can really get his pad level down. I appreciate that, that’ll translate to the next level.

As a receiver, Butt won’t blow anybody out of the water given his aforementioned athleticism, but he’s as steady as they come. He’ll be a stick-mover against the zone with reliable hands. He has a pretty crazy catch radius, too–I don’t think I charted a single drop on his tape. Again like Celek, he won’t do anything after the catch, but he’ll be a reliable target for Wentz moving forward.

Now, in the Orange Bowl at the end of the season, Butt tore his ACL and had to have reconstructive surgery. How much that impacts his draft stock, I’m not sure. I had a R3 grade on him before the injury, and I expect he’ll fall into R4 at the earliest. That’s a great range for Philly, who will have at least Ertz and Celek under contract, to invest in the position for the future.

MC: I want to like Jake Butt badly. Ultimately I have two concerns for him. The first is obviously the ACL injury. This is actually his second ACL tear. He required surgery in February 2014 after tearing his ACL & meniscus during an offseason conditioning program. He recovered and made his 2014 season debut in October. Outstanding recovery time: he knows how to work back from these types of things.

My second concern, with him, is that he is a suboptimal blocker when facing smaller, shiftier defensive backs and safeties on the outside. With as many WR screens as Pederson ran last year, this could be a problem. The questions begs: were so many screens run because the WR talent was so poor, or will this be the design of the offense moving forward? I’m hoping it’s the former.

When you think about an in-line tight end, in this draft, Jeremy Sprinkle from Arkansas should be your first thought. When I watched him, I saw outstanding pass protection from both sides of the line. Can you use the term “road-grader” on a tight end? I don’t care…I’m doing it. He’s a mauler.

Interestingly, the Eagles already employ a former tight end out of Arkansas with amazing footwork in Jason Peters. Granted, Peters tipped the scales at 320 lbs in college, nearly 60 lbs heavier than Sprinkle, but still.

I think Sprinkle wouldn’t be high on a lot of NFL big boards but the Eagles, as we saw last season, like to run out of 12-personnel. I think Sprinkle will be higher for them as a result. He can slip out on a route and make a catch away from his body. More importantly, he’ll anchor one side of the line and allow Ertz to do what Ertz does best. I think Sprinkle would optimize what you get out of Ertz. In a perfect Eagles world–one that has never really existed–I think the team would have more explosion out of the WRs and run 12-personnel regularly. Ertz would be the pass catcher and in-line TE who could slip out would provide play versatility for running the ball.

I watched the Gerald Everett tape against NC State from this past season. He was impressive in that game. Tell me more.

BS: Yeah, Everett is a tough call because of the lack of game film. I hate to make an evaluation with such limited sample size, but the 2015 NC State game was quality. Undersized for sure; projects as a flex TE at the next level. Plenty of willingness to block, and he does so with solid aggression and leverage, but he doesn’t know how to use his hands at all. TEs regularly improve their blocking form when they jump to the next level. I expect Everett to do the same.

I really like him in the passing game. He can break tackles when he gets it underneath, and he runs clean routes to create separation, but I prefer him deep. Long stride eats up space, can track and adjust really well, and he has strong hands away from his frame.

The size worries me, though. 227 lbs isn’t going to cut it at 6’3 as a TE, but NFL conditioning and strength training should help. However, you can’t fix the hand size: 8 ¼” is small for a receiving threat. Now, it’s only a problem if it’s a problem, and I didn’t see any drops, but remember: limited sample size. That’s a question he has to answer for me going forward.

Interesting to see Bucky Hodges in your TE rankings–I have him graded as a WR. How do you think he fits in an NFL offense?

MC: I have gone back and forth with Hodges. He has the size required, certainly, to hold his own in-line with some professional-caliber coaching. Similar to your argument above with Everett, I think Hodges needs to grow this skill set. But good God the size and ability on the outside. You are absolutely right to have him listed as a wide receiver. Quite honestly, the main reason I have him ranked here is because he will be testing at the NFL Combine as a TE. Some team is going to overdraft him because of his size/speed combination: see Green-Beckham, Dorial. The difference is that Hodges has more experience to this point and, more importantly, he plays to every inch of his size. If he isn’t winning routes, he is drawing flags. Alliteration aside, my argument here is more about size and skill than traditional, tight end technique.

BS: Alright, last question: who’s a guy you aren’t touching at all?

MC: Jordan Leggett, out of Clemson. He is a big boy…but he plays more like a boy and less like he’s big. He looks soft on tape. How about you?

BS: Honestly, at his current price, David Njoku out of Miami. I don’t draft on athletic potential in the first round, man. The gap between Howard and Njoku is distinct, and I really can’t see how people think otherwise. Sure, I’ll fly on Njoku’s upside mid-2nd. But no earlier.

MC: A million agrees. One guy I wish I had more game film on is Adam Shaheen out of University of Ashland. Unfortunately, the only videos I could find were highlight reels. Not ideal for our purposes here. Should I unearth any better footage, I’ll drop him into a future positional group.

Tight End Rankings:

1. O.J. Howard, Alabama
2. Jeremy Sprinkle, Arkansas
3. David Njoku, Miami
4. Evan Engram, Ole Miss
5. Gerald Everett, South Alabama
6. Bucky Hodges, Virginia Tech
7. Jake Butt, Michigan

Next: Philadelphia Eagles Draft: 5 Combine Prospects To Watch

Writer’s note: These are our joined TE rankings for the Philadelphia Eagles. Let us know in the comments or on Twitter what you think, and be sure to keep an eye out next week for our Offensive Tackle rankings!