NFL Draft Notebook: Why Kyle Pitts will win Rookie of the Year and more
By John Blair
2022 NFL Draft Sleeper of the Week
One of the more interesting prospects in the 2022 NFL Draft is Pittsburgh tight end Lucas Krull. Coming out of high school Krull thought his future would be in baseball having been drafted by the San Francisco Giants in the 34th round of the MLB draft. However, after spending a year playing baseball at Jefferson College Krull changed his mind and decided to play football at the University of Florida.
During his time in Gainesville, he became a key member of the Gators special teams unit but saw limited playing time at tight end. He finished his career with Florida after the 2019 season with a total of nine receptions for 108 yards. After moving on from Florida Krull transferred to Pittsburgh but was only able to play in one game last season due to a knee injury.
The question some of you may be having is why is a player who has a total of 10 career receptions and zero touchdowns considered an NFL prospect and the answer to that question is due to the potential he has shown on the practice field. This past spring he was one of the more impressive players during spring practice and looked good enough to be named to Bruce Feldman’s list of players who should have breakout seasons this year.
Meet the #Pitt tight end who used to back up Kyle Pitts at UF. Lucas Krull, a one time SF Giants draft pick up who can throw 97 MPH, is now a 6-6, 260-pounder who runs in the 4.6s and has gotten much stronger and looks ready to be quite a force in 2021: https://t.co/9PGtiaLvbg
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) June 15, 2021
While film has been hard to find of Krull, what he has shown has been impressive. He shows fantastic athletic ability for someone 6-foot-6 and 260 pounds. In some of his practice film from Florida, he made several tough catches including diving for one ball and also adjusting his body to make another catch. He displays the speed to be a deep threat as well and according to Bruce Feldman should time around 4.6 seconds in the 40-yard dash. He has proven to be a solid special teams player as well, which will only help him make an NFL team next year.
Obviously, the biggest downfall with Krull is his lack of production. Having only started one game during his college career and never having more than six receptions in a season earns him at best a priority free agent grade. Another concern with him is the knee injury that caused him to miss all but one game last year. Teams could also be worried about the fact that Krull has already given up football once, and question how much he really loves football.
This coming season will be an even more important year for Krull than it is for most prospects. This is due to his lack of playing time, however, if Krull actually produces this year it would not be a shock if he went from a prospect with a free agent grade before the season to a player who is drafted in the middle rounds of the 2022 NFL Draft.