Draft Preview – Tight Ends

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April 17, 2020

By Noonefromtampa

You don’t have to be a draft genius to know that the Redskins will be drafting a tight end in the upcoming draft. Currently on the roster are Marcus Baugh, Hale Hentges, Jeremy Sprinkle, Richard Rodgers, Logan Thomas, and Caleb Wilson.

In the 2019 NFL draft sixteen tight ends were chosen by various teams. The round-by-round breakdown was:

Round Player Count
1 2
2 2
3 4
4 2
5 1
6 1
7 4

Draft eligible tight ends in the 2020 NFL draft are:

Name School Hgt Wgt Rec Yards TD Projected Round
Cole Kmet Norte Dame 6’5″ 250 43 515 6 1
Albert Okwuegbunam Missouri 6’5″ 260 26 306 6 2
Thaddeus Moss LSU 6’3″ 249 47 570 4 2
Brycen Hopkins Purdue 6’5″ 245 61 830 7 3
Colby Parkinson Stanford 6’7″ 240 48 589 1 3
Harrison Bryant Florida Atlantic 6’5″ 240 65 1,004 7 3
Jared Pinkney Vanderbilt 6’4″ 255 20 233 2 3
Adam Trautman Dayton 6’5″ 250 70 916 14 4
Hunter Bryant Washington 6’2″ 239 52 825 3 4
Jacob Breeland Oregon 6’5″ 240 26 405 6 4
Charlie Taumoepeau Portland State 6’3″ 240 36 474 2 5
Dalton Keene Virginia Tech 6’4″ 246 21 240 5 5
Devin Asiasi UCLA 6’3″ 279 44 641 4 5
Stephen Sullivan LSU 6’5″ 242 12 130 0 5
Jack Freudenthal Wake Forest 6’3″ 235 32 325 5 6
Matt Bushman BYU 6’5″ 245 47 688 4 6
Mitchell Wilcox South Florida 6’5″ 245 28 350 5 6
Sean McKeon Michigan 6’5″ 251 13 235 2 6
Ben Ellefson North Dakota State 6’4″ 246 15 199 5 7+
Charlie Woerner Georgia 6’5″ 245 9 78 0 7+
Chase Allen Iowa State 6’6″ 240 17 167 2 7+
Cheyenne O’Grady Arkansas 6’4″ 256 33 372 3 7+
Dominick Wood-Anderson Tennessee 6’4″ 257 21 268 1 7+
Jared Rice Fresno State 6’5″ 243 32 307 4 7+
Josiah Deguara Cincinnati 6’3″ 240 39 504 7 7+
Kyle Markway South Carolina 6’4″ 250 31 349 2 7+
Luke Farrell Ohio State 6’6″ 244 7 119 2 7+
Noah Togiai Oregon State 6’4″ 241 44 406 3 7+
Tyler Mabry Maryland 6’3″ 248 13 155 3 7+

This was initially viewed as a weak tight end draft class, but the talent level improved considerably after a number of underclassmen declared for the draft. The Redskins lack a second round pick, so the top tier of talent is probably out of reach for them. Most draft pundits expect the Redskins to take a player with their third-round pick at #66 rather than trade it. The Redskins have met with a number of potential picks at the East-West Shrine Bowl, Senior Bowl and Combine.

Top Tier Level Talent

The top group is Cole Kmet, Albert Okwegbunam, and Thaddeus Moss. The Redskins met with Kmet at the Combine. Okwegbunam is the most athletic of this group and did very well on the various skill drills at the combine, and ran a 4.49 second 40 time. Kmet ran a 4.7 second 40 while Moss did not run at the Combine.

Mid-Tier Level Talent

In 2020, this a good-sized group of players to choose from, which gives the Redskins options at draft time. This group of players include Brycen Hopkins, Colby Parkinson, Harrison Bryant, Jared Pinkney, Adam Trautman, Hunter Bryant, and Jacob Breeland. Harrison Bryant won the John Mackey Award for best collegiate tight end in 2019 while Brycen Hopkins has the best 40 time at 4.66 seconds. The Redskins have met with Adam Trautman several times and are said to be very interested in him.  Trautman and the two Bryants were very productive in college which should increase interest in those players.

Lower Tier Level Talent

The more intriguing players in this group are Charlie Taumoepeau, Dalton Keene, Devin Asiasi, Stephen Sullivan, and Mitchell Wilcox. Sullivan and Keene ran some of the faster 40 times of the tight end group. Asiasi is huge, 280 pounds, and ran as fast as Harrison Bryant. Wilcox had several productive years at USF, but had a disappointing bowl game and combine.

Conclusion

Tight end is a position of need for the Redskins and will be addressed early in the draft, most likely with either the 3rd round pick or one of the 4th round picks.