Per Rotoworld, he's got a taste for the booze: Yeatman was once ahead of Kyle Rudolph on the Notre Dame depth before his thirst for adult beverages forced a transplant to the Maryland lacrosse team.
I watched Yeatman a little during the preseason and thought he looked pretty good. this might be a good signing for us
There was pre-draft buzz that he would be eventually developed into an OT. Add 20 pounds or so and he has the feet already?
That was my second thought when I read about him. But the problem with that is Yeatman is under 270; if you ask him to gain 30-35 pounds to become an O-Lineman, that's a lot for a guy to gain...more importantly, to maintain. Besides, he's already a terrible athlete at 268; (5.1 40) what is he going to be like at 300?
In 28 games over a 3 year period at Notre Dame he caught a whopping 8 passes for 43 yards and he is being referred to as a "star."
The Patriots were high on him FWIW, from what I hear. They liked him ahead of Lee Smith, supposedly. Personally when I watched the two play in preseason I liked Lee Smith more.
His lacrosse background should help keep him at TE as the sport develops hand-eye coordination, lateral movement, catching the ball away from the body, and creating space after contact. The 40 time is meaningless as he would be used as a safety value and likely to release after some blocking assignment. I think his success will be if he can be an easy target like Haynos, while having the ability to absorb the hit and turn his body to gain another 2-3 yards. With a formation of Marshall and a speedy WR plus Bush and Clay in the backfield, the offense has plenty of downfield threats to take advantage of a blitzing defense. If the defense plays coverage, a safety value TE can put the offense in favorable 2nd or 3rd down situations can be quite useful.