Five big TE questions heading in to 2019 season
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Pro Football Focus is an invaluable resource to dive deeper into statistics when thinking about college football and the NFL Draft. Here is a breakdown of five tight ends heading into next season, what their numbers could mean down the road and the opinion of Rivals.com National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell.
Did Jared Pinkney make a smart choice?
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Overview: So much discussion at the tight end position for the upcoming NFL Draft has centered on Iowa’s T.J. Hockenson and Noah Fant and Alabama’s Irv Smith among others. Pinkley decided to return to Vanderbilt for his redshirt senior season or he might be in those discussions as well.
With 50 receptions last season, Pinkney had more catches than the three tight ends above and outdid Stanford’s Kaden Smith, Texas A&M’s Jace Sternberger and pretty much every elite tight end in the draft except UCLA’s Caleb Wilson, who led the nation with 60 catches. With 50 catches for 770 yards and seven touchdowns last season, Pinkney could have emerged as a top tight end in this group. But he will return to Vandy next season and even without QB Kyle Shurmur, he could emerge as TE1 heading into the next draft.
Farrell’s take: Pinkney made the right choice for him, so that’s all that matters. Prospects choose Vanderbilt for many different academic reasons, so he probably wants to continue his education while contributing to the team for one more year. It’s pretty loaded at the top at tight end in this draft with three guys being talked about as possible first-rounders so he made the right decision for his career and will be one of the top tight ends in next year’s draft. He’ll be one to watch this season.
Does Brevin Jordan make that next step?
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