Best tight end in the draft and I'm not even joking. I will expand after my dinner. But this guy is ridiculous.
I was thinking not enough pure speed, then I saw this play at 3:00, which is nice- especially for a physical player of his size: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtYA0VQGBLM He just ran away from the DB, which surprised me.
I think best all around. He's a weapon as a receiver, but so are Ertz, Eifert, Escobar, and Reed. He can block but so can Williams. Thing is, Kelce does all of it in a better total package than the others.
I like him a ton. Perfect target in Round Two. Reliable, solid blocker, more athletic then given credit for
Had to have a glass of wine over dinner just to calm myself down. Travis Kelce. Where have you been all my life? This kid is special. First off, look at the frame. That upper body.....he looks like a wardrobe. Then watch him block. Locks on, locks his arms, stays in perfect position, drops his hips, power through the thighs, steers where necessary, blocks on the move. Often motions down then blocks back inside on power runs through the B gap or option runs. He can block down the field as well. Interestingly, the only block I've seen him miss comes against Duke when he misses on a reverse, but all of a sudden he's down the field in front of the receiver and steering a linebacker out of the way for about twenty yards. It's textbook. He's quick off the line of scrimmage, quicker than Ertz. In the short and intermediate area he does a good job as a receiver, boxing out the defender. But it's the nuances of his route running that are so special. Head fakes and manipulations of the shoulder at the top of the route. It's stuff you rarely see in college. You kinda watch him and you think he probably has decent speed but then he catches a ball, jumps over two guys, weaves his way in and out of another two with acceleration and athleticism and boom, he's forty yards down field. Then against Duke, it's 34 all and he takes a seam route 86 yards for six, catching in double coverage thirty yards down the field and then changes down a gear and runs away from the safety and the corner like he's Usain Bolt against children. It's ridiculous. Sorry, but this is the best tight end in the draft. And he's going in round one.
Haven't watched him yet. Certainly will now. I haven't seen a slam dunk first round TE yet and I watched Ertz, Eifert (borderline 1st, high 2nd), Escobar and Reed... Plus some bad guys.
Been saying for a while now that if Kelce had on golden head gear, he would be getting talked about as the best tight end prospect in the draft. Kelce's biggest problem right now is that he plays for Cincinnati and not a bigger name program. He's everything Ertz and Eifert are, but he's also a much better blocker. A complete tight end, IMO.
He's certainly the kind of tight end I'd like to see the team draft. You might not end up with a Jason Witten or Rob Gronkowsk, but a real tight end would be nice. This I think is really a hugely important question about him.
I think he's a hell of a blocker, like how he sneaks and plays low comin out of his stance and during the route, like how he deeks and sets up his defender, can run good routes for a man 260, but I don't see him being better than Eifert, Eifert has more athletic prowess to me, much bigger catch radius, appreciate the conviction on the player, gives me hope that another player in a need position could be available if we don't get Eifert.
Just kidding with ya my young friend. You are right in that Eifert will probably and most likely be the 1st TE to be drafted.
I've been plugging Travis Kelce since Christmas. But seriously this kid has shot up draft boards, and rightfully so.
Oh is this a pissing contest? Heh. http://www.thephins.com/forums/showthread.php?73404-Tyler-Eifert&p=1919619&viewfull=1#post1919619
He makes plays, but he also creates opportunities for others. Cincinnati is running a double slot on this play, with Kelce as the inside slot guy. Kelce is going to run a dig pattern with the other slot receiver running a post in behind his dig. Notice how three defenders converge on Kelce's dig route. The safety comes up. Honestly, I'm not sure what the guy on the outside slot guy was doing. He's opened to the outside watching the outside receiver on the play. The slot guy running the post behind Kelce's dig gets an easy touchdown with the safety cleared.
I couldn't pin place it at first, but now as I look at a couple of other videos, Kelce seems to have a long body and shorter legs than Eifert or Ertz. I really like Eifert's athleticism as a receiver a bit better. His body seems to pretty flexible and he doesn't look as stiff as Kelce. But Kelce is a block as a blocker.
I'm probably in the minority but I'm not overly excited by Kelce. He seems like a Fasano 2.0 guy- great blocking TE but not much more than a JAG as a receiving threat. He looks like a quality prospect but I don't see him representing the best fit for our offense. Personally, I'd rather spend a 4th or 5th on Gragg and save our 2nd for WR, RT, DE, or CB. If we're hypothetically taking a TE in the 2nd round I think it'd be better to use 2a on Eifert (if he's there) than 2b on Kelce.
I don't think we draft a te in the 2nd, not with the talent at wr de ol lb s maybe even cb. I think a good te will fall to our 3rd. I could see us going into the season with clay fauria mustrud and egnew. Mustrud would obviously be our blocker. I would like to add walker.
Maybe it seems I just want to be contrary, but I like them in this order: Ertz, Eifert, Escobar, Kelce, Reed, McDonald. But, I'd be happy with any of them, and even more with any two of them. IMO, this is a good draft to double up on TE.
My combo of preference would be Eifert-Gragg followed by McDonald-Gragg. IMO some of those other guys are too similar to Egnew. IMO Gragg is > Reed
...."a trainwreck character-wise"... and.. "PFW has learned that Kelce was scheduled to meet on Friday with the Chiefs, Raiders, Bills, Saints, 49ers, Patriots, Dolphins, Packers, Cowboys and Rams. Absent from that list: the Eagles and Browns, his brother’s team and his hometown team, respectively. That, however, is not significant; teams meet with players throughout the draft process at different venues: all-star games, private workouts, Pro Days, and so on."
I saw that re the train wreck. I don't believe it. I've read a lot of articles on him the last couple of days which strike the opposite note. I just don't believe anything written around now.
On the message boards of Cincy it said it was rumoured to be after a bad block on his knees, there was an offense vs defense fight and he went Miami Hurricane and started swinging his helmet as a weapon and took someone out.
