NFL Draft preview: Tight ends bring valuable to teams with a scheme fit

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Notre Dame’s Cole Kmet has the measurables of the next Rob Gronkowski. Kmet is 6 feet, 6 inches and 262 pounds and runs the 40 in 4.7 seconds.

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Notre Dame’s Cole Kmet has the measurables of the next Rob Gronkowski. Kmet is 6 feet, 6 inches and 262 pounds and runs the 40 in 4.7 seconds.

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Tight ends are extremely valuable — for specific teams with specific schemes.

If you’re the Baltimore Ravens or Seattle Seahawks, take a big tight end like Nick Boyle (Ravens, 270 pounds) or Will Dissly (Seahawks, 265 pounds and a former defensive lineman), whom slot-cover corners or chase linebackers detest tackling.

If you’re the Kansas City Chiefs or the San Francisco 49ers, you prefer a tight end like Travis Kelce or George Kittle, who can frustrate linemen with their blocking and shred lighter defenders with their pass-catching, tackle-busting ability.

What do they all have in common? None was a first-round draft pick.

Kelce was drafted in the third round, Dissly in the fourth and Boyle and Kittle in the fifth.

The direction of the game right now has devalued the tight end in some respect.

“I wouldn’t take a tight end that high now because people really don’t use the tight end as much,” an NFL scout said. The scout of five decades of experience did add that, “It’s a good year for the most part.”

Heading this group is Notre Dame’s Cole Kmet, who has Gronk-like size (6-6, 262) and speed (4.7). Others could fit into the “move” tight end role, such as Florida Atlantic’s Harrison Bryant (6-5, 243 pounds, 4.73) and Washington’s Hunter Bryant (6-2, 248, 4.74). Intriguing prospects include Missouri’s Albert Okwuegbunam, who was the fastest tight end at 4.49 speed, and LSU’s Thaddeus Moss, the son of NFL great Randy Moss.