Position Preview: Tight End

To get ready for this weekend's draft, we're looking position-by-position at who could go in the first round. Click here for the rest of the breakdowns.


Brandon Pettigrew: There aren't many teams in the market for a first-round tight end, but when pick No. 21 pops up onto the TV, the Oklahoma State tight end will be waiting by the phone hoping to hear from the Eagles. Pettigrew is the rare first-round caliber tight end whose blocking is even better than his receiving, although he's also a good pass catcher. He would give the Eagles an every-down compliment to go with pass catching tight end Brent Celek.But Pettigrew won't be the only one eagerly watching to see who the Eagles pick. Atlanta picks three spots after the Eagles and they have a much more dire need for a tight end--there's no one on their current roster who can really be called an NFL-caliber starter. If Pettigrew does slip past the Eagles, Atlanta is the likely landing spot. However, if Atlanta ends up picking a linebacker or filling their need for a defensive tackle, Pettigrew will have to count on the Bills or Cardinals to avoid a possible fall out of the first round.


In Jared Cook's dream scenario, the Falcons or maybe the Cardinals fall in love with his blazing speed and take him late in the first round. Cook is an amazing athlete as he showed with a 41-inch vertical leap and a 4.5 40-yard dash at the combine. But he's not much as a blocker, which makes it much more likely that he'll end up as a solid second rounder. There is plenty of depth of pass catching tight ends who will be available in the second and third rounds, which will make it easy for teams to look elsewhere in the first round.


There are teams other than the Eagles, Falcons or Cardinals who could use an upgrade at tight end, but when looking at the first round, it's hard to find another team who could end up taking a tight end. In a survey of 15 different mock drafts, Pettigrew went to the Eagles in five of them, went to the Falcons in another five, was picked by the Cardinals in one and went undrafted in the first round in four more. The Bills are more of a wild card now that they have two first-round picks. It's unlikely they would take Pettigrew at No. 11--that's a huge reach, but he looks appealing at No. 28 if he manages to fall that far.

1.Detroit Lions		12.Denver Broncos		23.New England Patriots
2.St. Louis Rams		13.Washington Redskins		24.Atlanta Falcons	Strong Need
3.Kansas City Chiefs		14.New Orleans Saints		25.Miami Dolphins
4.Seattle Seahawks		15.Houston Texans		26.Baltimore Ravens
5.Cleveland Browns		16.San Diego Chargers		27.Indianapolis Colts
6.Cincinnati Bengals		17.New York Jets		28.Buffalo Bills (from Philadelphia)	Need
7.Oakland Raiders		18.Denver Broncos (from Chicago)		29.New York Giants
8.Jacksonville Jaguars		19.Tampa Bay Buccaneers		30.Tennessee Titans
9.Green Bay Packers		20.Detroit Lions (from Dallas)		31.Arizona Cardinals	Slight Need
10.San Francisco 49ers		21.Philadelphia Eagles	Need	32.Pittsburgh Steelers
11.Buffalo Bills		22.Minnesota Vikings