Let's talk rookie TE's in the NFL.....

[MacReady]

8 minutes ago, Zycho32 said:

Ten games in, the Musgrave/Kraft duo has combined officially for 38 receptions and 384 yards, with one TD. A lot of that is Kraft having completely dissappeared from the offense before this latest game against the Chargers. That said, there's still ample time to get to the 'Over' before the season's out.

I said when they were both drafted that one of them likely doesn’t show much at all their first season because that’s how the position works. Kraft has flashed a lot more than most rookie tight ends.

This WR/TE group is going to give some quarterback a 50 TD season in a year or two.

[Zycho32]

4 minutes ago, MacReady said:

I said when they were both drafted that one of them likely doesn’t show much at all their first season because that’s how the position works. Kraft has flashed a lot more than most rookie tight ends.

This WR/TE group is going to give some quarterback a 50 TD season in a year or two.

A heck of a trick, since it'd be the FIRST time a GB QB managed 50 Pass TDs in a season.

[CWood21]

1 hour ago, MacReady said:

Same as your receivers. I’m ****ing vindicated. Again.

Since 2003 (20 years), there have been 17 TEs have been taken in the first round.  Of those 17, only 8 of those were taken in the top 20.  Of those 8, only 5 of those 8 went in the top 10.  So what I'm getting is that "elite" TE prospects go top 10, and teams that reach for a TE tend to get burned.  I for one am shocked that reaching for a player tends to burn that team.

[CWood21]

1 hour ago, MacReady said:

I said when they were both drafted that one of them likely doesn’t show much at all their first season because that’s how the position works. Kraft has flashed a lot more than most rookie tight ends.

This WR/TE group is going to give some quarterback a 50 TD season in a year or two.

Kraft has flashed what?  His smile?  I'm all about being positive about player, but today was really the first time that Kraft showed something as a receiver.

[Old Guy]

18 minutes ago, CWood21 said:

Kraft has flashed what?  His smile?  I'm all about being positive about player, but today was really the first time that Kraft showed something as a receiver.

Was thinking the same thing. Yet, the fact he's showing progress is a beautiful thing. I want these young receivers and Love to keep progressing throughout the next seven games. 

2024 could turn out to be a fun year for us. 

[CWood21]

12 minutes ago, Old Guy said:

Was thinking the same thing. Yet, the fact he's showing progress is a beautiful thing. I want these young receivers and Love to keep progressing throughout the next seven games. 

2024 could turn out to be a fun year for us. 

Kraft was always a 2024 guy for me.  If he showed anything this year, you're stoked.  But realistically speaking, he wasn't going to impact 2023 much.

[Old Guy]

1 minute ago, CWood21 said:

Kraft was always a 2024 guy for me.  If he showed anything this year, you're stoked.  But realistically speaking, he wasn't going to impact 2023 much.

Agree, what we are getting out of him this year is a bonus. What are your thoughts on that Sims kid we snatched from the Vikings? Does he have a chance to be better than serviceable in a pinch? 

[CWood21]

6 minutes ago, Old Guy said:

Agree, what we are getting out of him this year is a bonus. What are your thoughts on that Sims kid we snatched from the Vikings? Does he have a chance to be better than serviceable in a pinch? 

I think he's always going to be one of those guys who probably isn't anything more than TE2 or TE3.  Is he someone you're actively trying to replace?  Probably not.  Is he someone you're convinced is someone you are going to need/want to re-sign?  Probably not.

[Old Guy]

3 minutes ago, CWood21 said:

I think he's always going to be one of those guys who probably isn't anything more than TE2 or TE3.  Is he someone you're actively trying to replace?  Probably not.  Is he someone you're convinced is someone you are going to need/want to re-sign?  Probably not.

That's excellent, because it looks like we might have TE 1 and 2 on the roster already. If he can be an excellent TE3, it's the best that room has looked since Chmura and Jackson. 

[CWood21]

1 minute ago, Old Guy said:

That's excellent, because it looks like we might have TE 1 and 2 on the roster already. If he can be an excellent TE3, it's the best that room has looked since Chmura and Jackson. 

The problem is it only takes 1 team to offer him more than the minimum, and it only takes 1 team to offer him more than 1 year.  He's always going to be a year-by-year player.

[ThatJerkDave]

15 minutes ago, Old Guy said:

Agree, what we are getting out of him this year is a bonus. What are your thoughts on that Sims kid we snatched from the Vikings? Does he have a chance to be better than serviceable in a pinch? 

Give him a year or two and he is probably what we had turned Tyler Davis into before he got injured this preseason. 

[Zycho32]

23 minutes ago, Old Guy said:

Agree, what we are getting out of him this year is a bonus. What are your thoughts on that Sims kid we snatched from the Vikings? Does he have a chance to be better than serviceable in a pinch? 

I'm thinking his ceiling is along the lines of a Tom Crabtree or a Jeff Thomason. A good solid TE3 who may or may not bounce around the league depending on circumstances. Jeff for instance lasted in GB as long as he did thanks to Keith Jackson retiring after '96 and was useful enough to be signed by Philadelphia and play with them for several more years. I dunno what doomed Tom in Tampa. Like CWood21 said, it only takes one team to offer a better contract, but in all fairness, it's not a loss to make you lose sleep at night(unless you really REALLY liked the guy for whatever reason).

Edited November 20, 2023 by Zycho32

[Old Guy]

1 hour ago, CWood21 said:

The problem is it only takes 1 team to offer him more than the minimum, and it only takes 1 team to offer him more than 1 year.  He's always going to be a year-by-year player.

He's on the roster. Doesn't that give us his rights through his first three years? 

[vegas492]

14 hours ago, Old Guy said:

Agree, what we are getting out of him this year is a bonus. What are your thoughts on that Sims kid we snatched from the Vikings? Does he have a chance to be better than serviceable in a pinch? 

There was a play yesterday...I think it was a wide pitch or an end around.  Anyway, I saw one of our TE's just light a guy up.  A DE or ILB.  I thought, great, Musgrave killed iton a  block.  Then the play was over and I saw it was Sims.  That's happened a few times to me.  

No issues with him as TE3.  I'm not sure he couldn't play in the Deguara role, either.

[PossibleCabbage]

On 11/19/2023 at 5:22 PM, CWood21 said:

Since 2003 (20 years), there have been 17 TEs have been taken in the first round.  Of those 17, only 8 of those were taken in the top 20.  Of those 8, only 5 of those 8 went in the top 10.  So what I'm getting is that "elite" TE prospects go top 10, and teams that reach for a TE tend to get burned.  I for one am shocked that reaching for a player tends to burn that team.

Counting backwards from 2019 (so the guys who have played out their rookie contracts) I will note that First round TEs T.J. Hockensen, Noah Fant, Hayden Hurst, O.J. Howard, Evan Engram, Eric Ebron,  Jermaine Gresham, Dustin Keller,  Greg Olsen, were not extended by the team that spent a first round pick on them.

David Njoku was signed a 4 year extension on the franchise tag, Tyler Eifert got a couple of one-year prove-it deals, Brandon Pettigrew received a 4-year deal as a free agent.

Before 2007 there were a bunch of hits in guys like Marcedes Lewis and Heath Miller but the returns on a first round TE have been low in the last decade and a half.