The tight end position has drastically evolved of late in the NFL, and it’s become extraordinarily top-heavy. There was no way the 2024 class could match the extreme amount of talent in 2023, but that doesn’t mean rookies will fail to contribute in Year 1 at the position.
Let’s rank the five rookie tight ends who’ll be most productive in the 2024 season.
The Chiefs ran “12” or “13” personnel — either two or three tight ends — on 35.1% of their offensive snaps in 2023. Given that rate, you can call it an offensive emphasis for Andy Reid and Co. While Big Red is always evolving, and Kansas City did trade up to select Xavier Worthy in Round 1 in April.
Travis Kelce reminded everyone in the playoffs, he’s not slowing down into his 30s, and he’ll of course be the backbone of the Chiefs passing game. But with that much tight end usage in the Chiefs offense, Wiley fell into about as luxurious of a situation as possible for a fourth-round tight end.
Wiley didn’t offer much after the catch, Wiley’s a high-end athlete with enough acceleration off the snap and at the top of his route to get open underneath and at the intermediate level with most of the attention on Kelce at those portions of the field.
Guess which team deployed 13 personnel at the highest rate in 2023? Well, you probably know now. Yes, the Cardinals. At over 10%. And 12 personnel — nearly 20%. Drew Petzing clearly wants to prioritize the tight-end position in Arizona.
And Reiman possesses what the vast majority of young tight ends do not — serious blocking skills that he could be able to parlay into plenty of playing time early.
What’s so fascinating too about Reiman — he’s a plus athlete who demonstrated glimmers of receiving prowess in his limited opportunities at Illinois. His 40-yard dash, broad jump, three-cone, and short shuttle, were all above the 77th percentile at the tight end spot at the…
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Author : Chris Trapasso
Publish date : 2024-07-08 12:49:34
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