(03-03-2023, 10:30 PM)jj82284 Wrote:

(03-03-2023, 06:07 PM)Caldrac Wrote: It is. BUT... the other reality is that there are simply not very many guys built like HIM. You have a [BLEEP] ton of exceptional slot receivers in the NFL because it's just the trend. It's hard finding TE's like him. Even when you go back and look throughout every decade. You don't see all 32 teams with a guy like Shannon Sharpe, Tony Gonzalez, Antonio Gates, Jimmy Graham, Rob Gronkowski, etc. 

It feels like it's always been the case. If you look at today's top TE's, most people only focus on the receiving aspect of it. Which is a very limited club for the most part. You have Kelce, Kittle & Andrews. That's about it. Engram, much like Pitts in Atlanta. These guys get drafted highly but never live up to the top billing they had or they end up being very spotty throughout their careers instead of consistently good.

Same rules applied ten years ago. You had Gronkowski, Gates and Graham for awhile. Then it's just a bunch of mid tier guys. There's a price for those guys to pay though. While it's a gift being a little bit bigger and faster than everybody else? It's also a curse because it makes you a big [BLEEP] target and you're going to take hits that most guys don't take. It's a little unfair. However, for every guy like him you just have a guy with bricks for hands out there that just blocks at his position.

I am confident though that Engram gets what he's due. In fairness to this team and Baalke. They DID offer him a multi year deal last year. Would be interesting to see what that offer was on paper.

We need brake pads, calipers and rotors!  

Kle Pitts had 1k yesterday as a rookie with no qb, May be one of the most gifted te prospects to ever come out of the draft and has elite ball skills for a receiver let alone a TE.  

Engram had 700 yards on a team with a franchise qb and an offensive genius.  

I like him, but please can we have some perspective?

That was in 2021. Pitts fell off a cliff in 2022. Not even close. Despite his rookie outing he also only found the endzone ONCE.

My point is that. The floor and ceiling in the NFL at the TE position is much, much wider and more complex than the WR position in the NFL.

That's why the salary gap is there in the franchise tag market. Because there's really no middle ground. You either have elite receiving tight end's, great blocking tight end's or a frustrated receiver playing in an undersized fullback's body that had a weird growth spurt late.



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