Well, last time, I made a thread about the quarterback position. Usually I would go straight to wide receiver. However, with the amount of bodies at that position, I decided to save it for next time. Like I said before, this thread is merely an opinion piece with the hope of this being discussed. So, without further ado... Training Camp Battle #2 - Tight End position Combatants: Anthony Fasano, David Martin, Justin Peelle, Matthew Mulligan, Aaron Halterman, Sean Ryan Overview: The tight end position is often called "the young quarterback's best friend". Unfortunately, that didn't seem to be the case. David Martin was disappointment, and Justin Peelle's blocking went south since Ronnie Brown went down (along with the offensive line, for the most part). As for the third tight end, it was Jason Rader for a while, but then he was cut and Aaron Halterman was promoted from the practice squad. Needless to say, the tight end position wasn't exactly the most solid position last year. So during the offseason, a lot of talk had us taking a tight end in the last draft. Even yours truly wanted to take a tight end, with my choices ranging from the field stretching Fred Davis to the freakish Brad Cottam. But that talk pretty much ended when we traded our fourth round pick for Anthony Fasano (as well as Akin Ayodele. But he's an afterthought. For now). Also, Sean Ryan was acquired earlier in Free Agency, and we also picked up undrafted free agent Matthew Mulligan out of Maine. My predicted winner(s): Anthony Fasano, Sean Ryan, Justin Peelle? My reasoning: Anthony Fasano is pretty much a shoe-in as the starting tight end, barring huge improvement from Martin. And Sean Ryan is known as a pretty good blocking tight end. I don't see David Martin making the last cut due to his blocking ability, or lack there of. And not to mention he wasn't a reliable target. Now some may counter by saying that this offense, Henning's offense, doesn't really use the tight end as a target. Thing is, whoever is at the helm of the offense (especially if it is Beck or Henne) will likely look for the tight end. I put a question mark on Justin Peelle because Matthew Mulligan, I believe, is a dark horse at the position. He does have great size, and is known to be a great blocker. Plus his price tag is a lot cheaper than Peelle's at the moment.
Fasano's a solid TE but I don't know if he's the kind of elite TE that can really help out a young QB the way Antonio Gates, Jason Witten, or Jeremy Shockey were to their young developing QB's. Hopefully in the next year or so, we can land a stud TE prospect to line up with Fasano.
For me, if David Martin shows that he can catch the ball outside of 10 yds, he has a chance to stick as a receiving Te, and Young and Fasano will be the normal down 1 and 2 players, Martin could come in as a sort of 5th Wr in a spread set.
You know, anyone with a name like "Mulligan" probably has had to work ten times as hard to create the same impression that someone named John Doe has had to. No disrespect intended.
Peele would be a really good #3 tight end. I think Mulligan goes to the practice squad and David Martin gets shown the door
Youre right Alen1. Sean Young is an actress. Although Sean Young has a connection. She played Lois Einhorn who was really Ray Finkle in disguise. She kidnapped our own beloved Dan Marino! Laces out Dan!!!
