Arkansas TE AJ Derby NFL Draft Scouting Report

The 2015 NFL Draft class is not known for its strength at the tight end position, but Arkansas Razorbacks TE AJ Derby is someone that really intrigues me as a mid-late round prospect, and is a guy that could wind up making an impact sooner rather than later in the NFL.

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The 6-5, 255 pound athlete came to the Arkansas program after starting his college career as a 225-pound dual-threat quarterback prospect out of Iowa City. Playing for the Hawkeyes was a dream of Derby’s, and the Iowa program brought in the former four-star athlete with hopes that he could be a great local quarterback prospect.

What happened and transpired for Derby after that took a lot of focus on his part to stick with things, but he did it. After Iowa experimented with him as a quarterback and linebacker, he finally decided enough was enough and he transferred to Arkansas, where he felt like he’d have a legit shot at playing the quarterback position.

Somebody finally convinced Derby that he would have an NFL future if he moved to tight end, so that’s what he did and with one year of experience under his belt, he showed out really nicely and proved that he has some nice skills at the position that translate to the next level.

The sample size for Derby is small, so make what determinations you will, but this former star athlete out of Iowa City will be making an NFL roster soon and be contributing to a team on Sundays.

Derby performs really well in this cutup as a blocker, both in the running game and in pass protection. He has great hip bend and uses his upper body strength and arm length to explode into the defender’s chest and move him backward.

He keeps a good base with his feet and looks like a natural for a former quarterback, though when he gets high he gets pushed back and his technique is easily compromised.

He does a good job of getting to the second level as a blocker, showing physical dominance against smaller linebackers and safeties that come into the box. He identifies players and takes good angles to the defender.

This play in particular caught my eye.

As a receiver, Derby shows natural ability to get open, get a clean release off the line, and run a pretty basic route tree. You can tell that he hasn’t lost a lot of athleticism in his weight gain on that nice touchdown grab in the Auburn video cutup, which is great considering you might expect to see some stiffness in the hips.

He carries his new weight well, and uses it to his advantage.

This is a player that I think is more than capable of making an NFL roster and contributing early on as a special teams player and reserve tight end. He has excellent traits for the position, understands route running as a former quarterback, and knows what quarterbacks like from the position.

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