A little perspective on Kroft.

[*SHRacerX*]

(07-17-2016, 12:15 PM)fredtoast Wrote: This is for all of you that have been fans for at least a decade or so.  Remember how we begged an pleaded for a "pass catching" TE?  Remember how it dominated the draft and free agent discussions?  Remember how thrilled we were to get Ben Utecht?  Remember how excited we were when we used the 98th pick of the draft on TE Chase Coffman?  Well imagine back then (pre-Gresham) we had used the 85th pick of the draft on a 6'5", 240 TE who could run a 4.67 forty and had caught 43 passes his sophomore year in college?

We have been spoiled by Gresham and Eifert.  Kroft is not some late-round scrub, or just a "blocking" TE. He is a long, athletic TE who could contribute a lot to our offense in 2-TE sets in addition to filling in for Eifert when he is out with injury.  I don't trust "pro day" numbers as much as combine numbers, but after not being able to run at the combine Kroft put up numbers at his pro day workout that would have ranked top six among the 18 TEs at the combine in six differet events.

Short Shuttle... 4.20 (1st)
3-cone drill...... 7.12 (2nd)
Long Jump...... 10' (2nd)
Long Shuttle... 11.78 (2nd) (not sure how many even run this anymore)
Forty dash...... 4.67 (3rd)
Vertical.......... 34" (6th)

Plus he is supposed to be a good blocker.

Kroft could be very important to us if Eifert continues to struggle with staying healthy.

With you 100%...I was surprised at the selection of Uzomah, but now it makes sense.  I am certain that the combination of Kroft and Eifert being on the field together will yield dividends in the running game as well.  TEs are a key piece of the west coast (which I hate calling it that, as it originated on the coast of the Ohio River) offense.  

I like the bigger bodies that can move and take advantages of matchups with LBs.  Staying in to block also helps the running game, and protects Dalton.  

My absolute favorite play in the playbook (and I have NEVER seen it yield less than 10 yards) is the TE screen.  

I hope we see it run with Uzomah as well.