Most Athletic Rookie TE

[thebeast]

1. I wouldn't take a TE at 1.07, period.
2. However, if I had to I would take Engram. OJ will likely be a better real life TE, but Engram is basically a big pass catcher they will use to create mismatches and use in the red zone. OJ better IRL, Engram better FF.

[Tsunami]

If I was in the NFL I would definitely want Howard. He's bigger and stronger and a better blocker. But if I'm playing fantasy football, offense is all that we get points for. So I want the most receiver-like TE that stays in the game. Howard is likely to play a lot, but not necessarily to be involved in the offense all that much. If Evan Engram can block well enough to stay on the field, he is definitely the best offensive option.

[Pac_Eddy]

If I was in the NFL I would definitely want Howard. He's bigger and stronger and a better blocker. But if I'm playing fantasy football, offense is all that we get points for. So I want the most receiver-like TE that stays in the game. Howard is likely to play a lot, but not necessarily to be involved in the offense all that much. If Evan Engram can block well enough to stay on the field, he is definitely the best offensive option.

So the Bucs used the #19 pick on a solid blocker who won't necessarily be involved in the offense all that much?

Yikes.

[Tsunami]

If I was in the NFL I would definitely want Howard. He's bigger and stronger and a better blocker. But if I'm playing fantasy football, offense is all that we get points for. So I want the most receiver-like TE that stays in the game. Howard is likely to play a lot, but not necessarily to be involved in the offense all that much. If Evan Engram can block well enough to stay on the field, he is definitely the best offensive option.

So the Bucs used the #19 pick on a solid blocker who won't necessarily be involved in the offense all that much?

Yikes.

The Redskins used the #17 pick on a solid blocker who won't be involved in the offense.

[Crwdstunna]

Don't get me wrong, I think OJ Howard has a super high ceiling, but his lack of production in college is concerning. I don't know how that isn't brought up more as a major concern. I get that Alabama didn't use him right, blah blah, but if he is that amazing why wouldn't Bama adjust their game planning to get him more involved consistently. They don't come off as a stupid coaching staff. Just playing devil advocate here.

[FFFAN]

Howard is extremely overrated. He survived because he played on a dominant Alabama team that constantly had big leads which lead to great play action opportunities. If you watch his highlight package you'll see many of his grabs come against helpless linebackers who pinched up expecting a run due to their team being behind by 30+.

Engram is easily the best pass catching TE in this class and if you watch his film you'll realize the nightmare he'll present to defenses.

1 . Engram
2. Njoku
3. Everett
4. kittle
5. Howard

When you factor in draft pedigree
1 . Engram
2. Njoku
3. Howard
4. Everett
5. Kittle

[jcc6fd]

Fair enough. If you liked his potential and don't want the combine or draft position/situation to pollute your rankings and you had Njoku ranked ahead of Engram or even Howard then that's fair. I don't think that's the consensus though. Most had Engram above Njoku predraft and DLF's rankings agreed with that line of thinking, making me think Engram was the more talented player (or at least the better risk/reward player) regardless of situation. Post-draft the two promptly flip-flopped both in expert rankings and in conversation via these forums. I don't think it's a coincidence.

TE is one of the more situation dependant positions in the NFL. I have no problem with people adjusting rankings within tiers based on landing spots. Howard is clearly the best TE for me in this draft, but unless he drops a lot, with the depth of this TE class, I'm likely grabbing Kittle, Shaheen, Everett, Smith, Butt or Hodges later on.

I don't disagree with you on the notion that situation should affect rankings. I think situation for most if not all positions is way more important than most ardent dynasty players want to admit.

However, my point is more related to the OPs question of who the most athletic/talented TE is in this draft. We all started talking about how Njoku is the "most athletic" after the draft, while the combine metrics and pre-draft consensus seems to disagree with the current rhetoric that Njoku is a better athletic talent than Engram. I'd pick Njoku above Engram, but admittedly I didn't know which I liked more predraft and situation is what pushed Njoku above Engram for me.

[nabright]

Howard is extremely overrated. He survived because he played on a dominant Alabama team that constantly had big leads which lead to great play action opportunities. If you watch his highlight package you'll see many of his grabs come against helpless linebackers who pinched up expecting a run due to their team being behind by 30+.

Engram is easily the best pass catching TE in this class and if you watch his film you'll realize the nightmare he'll present to defenses.

1 . Engram
2. Njoku
3. Everett
4. kittle
5. Howard

When you factor in draft pedigree
1 . Engram
2. Njoku
3. Howard
4. Everett
5. Kittle

You can't be serious. Howard behind Everett and Kittle? I guess the NFL scouts have no idea what they are doing. How OJ got his yards at Bama is irrelevant. If you watched Alabama play, you'd know that he was severely underused. They were terrible at designing plays to get him the ball. He still showed good route-running ability when he was out there. He is going to be a matchup nightmare in the NFL. He is 6'6, ran a 4.5, and is a big TE. Not to mention he was graded as the best run-blocker in the draft class. I can understand wanting Engram over Howard because of his college production and obvious pass-catching ability. However, I think he will take the longest to get the targets needed to be fantasy relevant. He is behind OBJ, Marshall, and Shepard. With him not being able to block, he is going to get limited touches in his first year. Howard will be out there starting from day one.

[REPTAR]

I think Howard is going to tear it up in the NFL, and he will be on the field a lot, and he will be involved in the passing game. Jameis loves the TE - OJ could not have landed in a better spot IMO. Yes Brate is there and they like Brate and Brate will play, but I don't think it will be too long until Brate becomes the afterthought to Howard. Love Howard IRL and in FF.

Anyway, after the big 3 1st rd TEs, I really like Shaheen and was happy to take him in the late 3rd of my draft. I think he could develop into a high caliber TE if he gets blocking down. He's shown to be a solid receiver, gotten good reviews from the coaching staff thus far (in shorts I know) and sneaky athletic for a man as big as he is. I also find Kittle to be an interesting prospect I'd be looking to grab late in the draft.

[btv802]

Engram looks amazing on paper, combine numbers were crazy elite, there is no doubt about that. The thing that scares me off Engram is how rare it is for his "type" of tight end to succeed in the NFL. Maybe the Jordan Reed archetype is a new thing we need to pay more attention to but I still lean towards taking the bigger bodied guys who actually played tight end in college and have a better shot at staying on the field in the pros. For me it's Howard, Njoku & Engram in that order.

To the OP who is worried about Njoku running the "slowest 40". Njoku is still REALLY fast for a tight end. I think the real answer is all three of these guys are kind of freakish athletes in different ways, I wouldn't nitpick it too much.

[jcc6fd]

To maybe get some objective measurements of the 3 top TEs athleticism I've pasted their respective playerprofiler links below:
https://www.playerprofiler.com/nfl/oj-howard/
https://www.playerprofiler.com/nfl/david-njoku/
https://www.playerprofiler.com/nfl/evan-engram/

Engram has the best 40 and weight/height adjusted speed score despite being smaller and lighter than the other two (he's so fast). Njoku, while still having good speed is a decent bit slower (with a decent dip in speed score) compared to Howard and Engram.

Njoku blows the other two out of the water when it comes to burst score (generally related to how quickly a player can get up to top speed), with Engram having a good score and Howards being pretty poor actually.

Howard takes the crown in agility score (direction changing) with an elite score while Engrams is great and Njoku's is good.

Njoku and Engram have similarly great catch radius' with Howard not being far behind.

Engram and Howard have the better Sparq scores with Njoku not far behind.

Overall it looks like Njoku only really out measures the other two in burst while Engram is consistently the metrics darling here. If that equates to "athleticism" then Engram probably takes the crown. Obviously so many other factors go into who will succeed and be the most productive.

[ericanadian]

If I was in the NFL I would definitely want Howard. He's bigger and stronger and a better blocker. But if I'm playing fantasy football, offense is all that we get points for. So I want the most receiver-like TE that stays in the game. Howard is likely to play a lot, but not necessarily to be involved in the offense all that much. If Evan Engram can block well enough to stay on the field, he is definitely the best offensive option.

So the Bucs used the #19 pick on a solid blocker who won't necessarily be involved in the offense all that much?

Yikes.

The Redskins used the #17 pick on a solid blocker who won't be involved in the offense.

Jonathan Allen? Who are you referring to?

[Unicorn92]

I am high on jonnu smith and everett

[scottas6870]

I like Njoku the best. Look at Tampa RB touches. I think 1 or 2 in the NFL under Dirk. Part of the reason TB loved Howard is because he was rated the best blocker of the bunch on top of being a silly good pass catching TE. I like that Cleveland cut Barnidge to make room for Njoku. He will get plenty of looks early and often. Winston loves his TE and is most efficient when he does but still love the opportunity Njoku will have with that offense sooner than Howard. Let's say both are physical freaks yea Howard may be a little faster and have a little better lateral movement but this is about opportunities and touches and I think Njoku will have more both early and later in his career.

[ericanadian]

I like Njoku the best. Look at Tampa RB touches. I think 1 or 2 in the NFL under Dirk. Part of the reason TB loved Howard is because he was rated the best blocker of the bunch on top of being a silly good pass catching TE. I like that Cleveland cut Barnidge to make room for Njoku. He will get plenty of looks early and often. Winston loves his TE and is most efficient when he does but still love the opportunity Njoku will have with that offense sooner than Howard. Let's say both are physical freaks yea Howard may be a little faster and have a little better lateral movement but this is about opportunities and touches and I think Njoku will have more both early and later in his career.

Barnidge got cut because he didn't fit with the team's run-heavy preference. I suspect DeValve will be the guy they lean on in 2017 and Njoku will be eased into a role. I wouldn't bank on heavy usage of Njoku early on.