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Hey all, we're going to be continuing my 2024 tight end evaluations and rankings. If you haven't seen part one or two you can do so here.

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The biggest difference in evaluating tight ends is that I grade players on their hands, route running, release, yards after catch potential, jump ball/contested catch ability, body control and ball tracking, athleticism/size/RAS, and their ability to have a future role in the NFL. For those new to my rankings, I have more details on my process in part 1 of my receiver rankings, which you can find at this link.

TE9 - AJ Barner

Michigan

Height: 6’6”; Weight: 251 pounds 

Age on Draft Day: 21 years and 11 months

Class: Senior

Overall Grade: 2.79/4 (Good Role Player)

Comp: CJ Fiedorowicz

- Hands: B-

- Route Running: C+

- Yards After Catch Potential: C-

- Jump Ball/Contested Catch: B

- Body Control/Ball Tracking: B

- Blocking: A-

- Future role: B-

- RAS: B+

Strengths

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There likely weren’t too many people familiar with AJ Barner outside of Michigan fans, but he has earned a name for being a strong blocker. Barner blocks with great leverage and hand placement and gets his hands on the defender early to maximize arm extensions and protect his pads. He has good strength and balance to not be pushed back by edge rushers and takes really great blocking angles allowing him to set the edge. Barner has very active feet with a wide base to keep his defender in front of him and uses his active feet and technique to get good drive against his defender.

Barner generally has reliable hands and uses good hand technique when he catches the ball away from his body. Barner also does a good job boxing out defenders and can use his size to box out defenders. He also showed that he has a good eye for tracking the ball and can adjust to misplaced balls. Though he isn’t the most dynamic ball catcher, he can go up and low for balls if they are within reach.

As a route runner, Barner has a good eye for finding holes against zone coverage and can be an easy target for a smart quarterback. Barner is efficient in giving chip blocks and then getting out for his route while not being bothered by contact during the route. He also had some pretty effective footwork at the top of his stem and in his cuts to have some quick, concise cuts with some deception to compensate for his lack of speed and burst. Though he lacks that speed and burst, he has a good transition from receiver and then runs with good vision and strength to give him a chance to pick up some yards.

Areas of Improvement

However, the lack of speed and burst is apparent all throughout Barner’s games, and his poor acceleration also makes this worse. This also shows in his route running as it was too easy for defenders to keep up with him and was a reason why he struggled to produce for himself and a good portion of his production came when defenses were allowing openings against short patterns. His route tree was also very limited which makes it hard to project him taking on a leading role as a receiver. Also, there were a number of times when he was too willing to just run through defenders in routes instead of minimizing contact, which further slowed him down.

Though Barner’s hands are good, he doesn’t catch up with them enough. Barner is too reliant on body catches and needs to catch away from his body more consistently. This would also allow him to be a more effective contested catch target which will be essential with the limited separation he can generate. 

Barner’s catch radius is also somewhat limited with his tendency to body catch and lack of explosion. When Barner does adjust to balls, he can seem a bit lumbering and stiff in his adjustments. This also makes it difficult to project him as someone who can earn targets in tight situations or the red zone.

Though Barner’s blocking is easily his best trait, his stiff hips can show in his blocking, especially when blocking in space. There were times when he would lose his defender and have to resort to a suboptimal angle, opening up the chance of getting a holding penalty. Also, there were some times when he would get tunnel vision as a move blocker and miss his assignment.

Conclusion

Barner will almost certainly get drafted thanks to his blocking skills. What happens after that depends on his development to be a more productive receiver. He projects best as a zone beater in the red zone or a jump ball winner but he needs to extend his arms out more to make him more of a consistent threat.

Due to both earning their draft consideration thanks to their blocking but having lesser athleticism, I have CJ Fiedorowicz as Barner’s comp. Both have reliable hands but lack fluid hips and explosion to produce much in YAC situations. Also, both can be used all around the formation but likely fit best in line to clear a path in the run game. Fiedorowicz was able to be productive until concussions ended his career, but hopefully, Barner could have a healthier and safer career.

TE10 - Johnny Wilson*

Florida State

Height: 6’6”; Weight: 231 pounds 

Age on Draft Day: 23 years and 0 months

Class: RS Junior

Overall Grade: 2.79/4 (Good Role Player)

Comp: Eric Ebron

- Hands: C+

- Route Running: B-

- Yards After Catch Potential: C+

- Jump Ball/Contested Catch: B

- Body Control/Ball Tracking: A-

- Blocking: B-

- Future role: C-

- RAS: A

I’m going to keep Johnny Wilson’s section short since you can read most of my thoughts on him in part 3 of my receiver rankings here . Wilson’s overall grade is lower at tight end compared to his receiver score due to needing to convert to a new position. However, I think he has the blocking skills, size, and receiving ability to become a very valuable tight end for a team.

I considered comping Wilson to Darren Waller due to Waller converting from wide receiver to tight end, but I think that is a lofty projection. I instead went with Eric Ebron as Wilson’s comp due to both being very athletic, receiving threats that struggled with inconsistent hands. Maybe this is a high placement and projection for Wilson, but in a class lacking top-end tight ends after Brock Bowers, you might as well take your shot.

TE11 - Dallin Holker

Colorado State

Height: 6’3”; Weight: 241 pounds 

Age on Draft Day: 24 years and 0 months

Class: Fifth-Year Senior

Overall Grade: 2.71/4 (May Have a Future Role)

Comp: Will Dissly

- Hands: B+

- Route Running: B

- Yards After Catch Potential: B

- Jump Ball/Contested Catch: B+

- Body Control/Ball Tracking: A-

- Blocking: D

- Future role: B-

- RAS: C-

Strengths

Dallin Holker was one of my favorite players to discover during the season. Holker first caught my eye during the Colorado game with his quality hands and receiver-like adjustments to balls. He catches the ball with good hand technique and catches the ball with great focus. He isn’t afraid to go up for catches into traffic and is quick at securing the ball through hard hits. 

Holker’s ball tracking and hand-eye coordination will also stand out with the way he can finish catches over his shoulder and track the ball through defenders’ hands and deflection. This let him have one of the best, quick reaction catches on a hail mary to win a game that I’ve ever seen. Holker has great sideline awareness and has some really nice highlight-worthy catches around the sidelines. 

Holker is also a quality route runner who runs with good tempo and consistently gets leverage against defenders. Holker also does a good job navigating around defenders and seems to run with good balance. Holker had concise cuts and is strong at the top of his stem, with clean breaks to create early separation for his quarterback.

While Holker lacks top-end athleticism, he is a quality YAC player with great vision and a good transition from receiver to runner. Holker also runs the ball with good contact balance and pad level to fall forward. He also has nice movement skills with good timing and footwork to get past defenders than you’d expect from a player with his testing numbers.

Areas of Improvement

Where Holker really loses me is as a blocker. His footwork becomes erratic when initiating contact and he takes poor blocking angles which causes him to be more of an inconvenience for defenders than a blocker. He also misses defenders due to his hands being delayed in getting on defenders and poor hand placement. Holker also doesn’t block with consistent leverage and, his hips are too stiff, and his foot speed is too slow to effectively pick up blockers in space. 

While Holker is a solid route runner, he ran a pretty limited route tree, which caused nearly 80% of his production to come under 10 yards from the line of scrimmage. Holker’s lack of long speed also allowed defenders to quickly close the distance his initial cuts in routes created. Also, he will need to be a bit more efficient in finding openings against zone coverage, especially when he starts to face more disciplined defenders in the NFL. 

Holker’s lack of speed and slow acceleration also limit his impact as a YAC player. Also, with his experience against lower competition, it’s questionable if better and more polished athletes will shut him down in YAC situations. There’s a very real possibility that his lack of top athleticism will just make him too ineffective of a player to justify using. 

Though Holker’s hands are good, there are times when he is a bit too reliant on body catches. Part of the issue is that sometimes he seems a tick slow in getting his hands ready leading him to rely on body trapping the ball. Holker’s stiffness and smaller size limit his catch radius. 

Conclusion

I really like Holker, but there are a lot of ways to see how he doesn’t pan out in the NFL. His lack of athleticism and blocking sometimes makes it very difficult to earn playing time. So, he will need to maximize his receiving opportunities and expand his route tree to earn his snaps there.

The weight doesn’t line up, but due to both having good body adjustment skills and good hand-eye coordination to make some tough catches, I have Will Dissly as Holker’s comp. Both were very lacking as blockers but solid as route runners and could contribute in the YAC game thanks to their vision and contact balance. Both also have a somewhat limited catch radius due to some stiffness and also weren’t great athletes. Dissly has earned a role in the NFL thanks to a coaching staff that had a vision, and the same could happen for Holker if he goes to the right staff.

TE12 - Jack Westover

Washington

Height: 6’3”; Weight: 243 pounds 

Age on Draft Day: 24 years and 10 months

Class: RS Fifth-Year Senior

Overall Grade: 2.71/4 (May Have a Future Role)

Comp: Kylen Granson

- Hands: A-

- Route Running: C+

- Yards After Catch Potential: C-

- Jump Ball/Contested Catch: B-

- Body Control/Ball Tracking: B+

- Blocking: B

- Future role: B-

- RAS: C+

Strengths

Jack Westover is probably that Washington player that you didn’t realize you were watching a lot but felt, “He seems like a decent player.” Westover was usually spotted making catches with good hand technique and reliable hands. He’s quick to get his head turned and hands ready. Westover also showed that he had tough hands in the limited opportunities he had to finish catches with a defender around him.

Westover does a good job attacking the ball and makes some tough adjustments to balls, including back shoulder throws. Westover also showed that he can go low and finish catches when going to the ground. He also runs with good vision to pick up efficient yards on the ground. 

Westover is a surprisingly solid blocker for his size who uses his fullback background to quickly identify his target and fill gaps with good blocking angles. Westover is good at getting square with his target and has really good footwork and a wide base to land a quality block. Some smaller tight ends will throw their bodies at the defender in space, but Westover uses good hand technique for a higher-quality block.

Westover also has a bit of nice nuance to his routes with some good tempo to his routes to help create some separation. Also, he seems to have a good feel for openings against zone coverage. With his receiving and blocking skills, he was able to play all over the field in different situations.

Areas of Improvement

Though Westover has versatility, he is limited in a number of ways. First, with Westover’s size he can be overpowered by larger, more physical defenders and his lack of leverage in his blocks doesn’t help. He can set an edge for a very short amount of time but will often get thrown off balance and lose his block.

Also, while Westover was a reliable receiving option, who was limited to less than 10 yards from the line of scrimmage with about 80% of his receptions coming from that area. Part of the reason for his limited route tree is difficulties getting through physical coverage and struggles to establish leverage. Westover also needs multiple steps to finish tight cuts, and his cuts and routes overall lack much deception. He struggled to get much separation and at times needed to rely on being an afterthought for a defense to get a target.

On that note, Westover didn’t have many opportunities to show he can be successful finishing catches through contact making it difficult to know that he can do this in the NFL. Westover can also struggle to get up for the ball and has a limited catch radius due to his size and explosiveness. This also will make him an unlikely option in 50/50 options despite being able to adjust to back shoulder throws.

Westover is an average athlete at best with poor long-speed and slow acceleration. Westover isn’t reliable in breaking tackles or making defenders miss in space. This often limits him to getting the expected and offers little upside when targeted.

Conclusion

Westover is a very solid player, but he will need a creative coach to get much, if any, returns on the investment. Westover’s best role is to rotate between H-Back/move tight end and fullback to avoid press, minimize contact in his routes, and be asked to be a blocker on the move where he thrives. There aren’t too many teams looking for that in today’s NFL, but it only takes one.

Due to both being smaller tight ends with a bit more niche upside, I have Kylen Granson as Westover’s comp. Neither were great athletes but had good blocking form and could contribute in the receiving game to justify being on the field. Granson has seen a fair amount of playing time with the Colts, and I could see Westover filling a similar role with another team.