Often forgotten in offenses, the tight end position can go unnoticed at times. Outside of your Greg Olsen’s, your Rob Gronkowski’s, and your Jordan Reed’s, tight ends are, in most cases, a fourth or fifth option.
The upcoming 2016 NFL Draft is limited on the amount of quality tight ends that can be valuable to a team.
While Arkansas’s Hunter Henry is the consensus best tight end in the draft class, one sleeper to closely monitor is South Carolina’s Jerell Adams.
A 6’5 tight end who could be a diamond in the rough. Let’s take a look at his scouting report.
Height: 6’5
Weight: 247 lbs
Strengths:
- Outstanding arm length with a measurement of 34 3/8 inches, creates a large catch radius.
- Better blocker than given credit for. Able to utilize size and active hands when engaging defenders.
- Consistent YAC producer, averaged over six yards after the catch in his career.
- Underrated footwork, possesses quick, active feet in his route running.
- Able to split out wide and taking advantage of mismatches.
- Averaged 14.8 yards per catch in his four seasons at South Carolina.
- 4.64 in the 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine, best among all tight ends.
Weaknesses:
- His lack of production stands out above anything, although it should be noted that the passing offense of South Carolina was average at best throughout his career.
- Route running tends to be upright.
- Shows very little acceleration out of his breaks when running routes.
- Has room to improve his hands, untimely drops.
Bottom line: Adams has the raw talent to be one of the better tight ends in the league. At 6’5 247 pounds, Adams was underutilized in his four years at South Carolina. His lack of production is difficult to look at and yes, part of it is because of his occasional drops.
However, if used correctly, Adams can easily be a 50-60 catch guy in the right offense. The value that Adams brings is that not only is he a capable receiver but his blocking ability is nothing to overlook. If Adams can improve his overall strength and sharpen his mechanics as a route runner, Adams can rack up a number of Pro Bowls.