08-05-2025, 07:53 PM
(08-05-2025, 03:39 PM)Isaac Curtis: The Real #85 Wrote: He is arguably the worst starting TE in the league. It is tough to argue otherwise. I don't dislike the guy. He is just flat out not starter quality.
As a blocking TE or as TE2/TE3/TE4, he's fine. As a starter? Awful. He is like Cody Ford without the versatility.
He had 109 yards receiving last year. Total. That is 62nd amongst all TEs. He played in all 17 games. 109/17 is 6.4 yards receiving per game. As a receiving threat, he's abyssmal.
PFF graded him out at 48.9. Gesicki 71.5, Fant 66.0, Hudson 67.4, and Grandy, in a similar role, 63.5.
And that is not to say Gesicki & Hudson should be starters, either. Like Sample, they are one dimensional guys who cannot block well enough to start and are essentially big slot receivers. But both are better in their limited role than Sample is in his.
Hell, Grandy was 15 points clear of him. Though that may not be entirely fair, Sample gets tougher assignments blocking than Grandy, DEs sometimes. But still, he did not perform well in them.
Again, it isn't about liking or not liking. He just is not that good. He is a backup/role player/special teams guy. Not a starter. He's Joe Bachie or Trenton Irwin or Chuck Sizzle or Cody Ford. If he is starting, we are hurting.
Sample missed almost all of 2022. Remember how much we missed him? I don't. The D does not have to account for him when he is in the game, and that hurts us. When CJ & Hurst were TE1 we were in the SB or knocking on the door. When Sample & Irv Smith were TE1? Missed POs.
Was tha all due to poor TE play? Of course not. Was the TE play poor? Absolutely.
He should be playing short yardage and goal line and maybe some in 12 personnel. Some H-back maybe? And that is it. He should rarely, if ever, be the only TE on the field.
At his best he is a negligible receiving threat and a good blocker. TE2/TE3 tops. At his worst, he is a negligible receiving threat and a mediocre blocker, TE3/TE4/TE5 or off the roster.
I get where you're coming from, but he's a blocking TE, he's never out on routes 90% of the time like Gesicki or Fant will be, he is there to do the dirty work and to help on outlet passes and the like.
We use him as a starter, but that doesn't make him a bad player: he's a role player, albeit a very good one and a solid lockerrom guy. Every team needs a few of those, like Dwayne Carswell or Mark Breuner