"Big-slot" tight end is growing within the Gators offense

When you have two players that hover over and move better than just about everyone on the field, you have to find a way to incorporate those players.

The Florida Gators have that issue with tight ends Lucas Krull and Kyle Pitts.

Head coach Dan Mullen has made it known that he plans to incorporate the tight ends into his offense more going forward, and he needs to. Last season, tight ends totaled 36 of Florida's 217 pass completions - 16.6%. The room last year was filled with solid veterans and young potential, yet it wasn't utilized as much as it should have been.

This year, that will change. Sources tell GatorMaven that Pitts has been primarily playing at wide receiver throughout fall camp and hasn't played in the tackle box for a while. He's seen work as a "big-slot", as well as at outside receiver in some packages.

At Gators media day, Krull said that the team had begun to incorporate the big-slot into the offense.

"That's something that they’re going to correlate a lot on size matchups, for our tight end unit as a whole, honestly."

Krull's summary on the big-slot is what makes the position so valuable, especially considering Florida's personnel at TE. The slot has long been considered a position for nimble, blazing-fast wide receivers to stretch the field and create mismatch problems against lesser-athletic defenders in the middle of the field. Stereotypically, those receivers would be shorter and lean - obviously, this build is generalized as the body type of fast athletes.

But as offenses are spreading out and the pass-game is becoming stronger due to matchup strategies, big-bodied athletes are developing into dynamic chess-pieces and are being thrown into the slot position. These tight ends train to become nimble, despite towering over the typical slot receiver, and learning the nuances of playing receiver.

Look at Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs. He stands at 6-5, 256 lbs., and runs a 4.61 40 yard dash. That time would rank in the 15th percentile among all NFL wide receivers, yet the average NFL WR stands at just below 6-1, 201 lbs.

The Travis Kelce-type athlete is becoming more common as offenses advance beyond the "pro-style", and the Gators have two on their roster. Krulls stands at 6-6, 257 lbs. - and was hand-timed on a 40-yard dash at 4.46. Studies show that the average difference between a hand-timed 40 vs. a laser-timed 40 is .175 seconds - with the average deviation applied to Krull's hand-timed 40, he would have run a 4.64, rounding up.

Pitts, who stands at 6-6, 239 lbs., is on record for running a 4.7 40 yard dash, via ESPN.

The Gators will continue to play a traditional, in-line tight end for blocking purposes and different play-schemes including play-action and run-pass options, but they have picked up on the "big-slot" trend as well.

The big slot is a huge benefit to the offense, and in packages with big receivers playing outside as well. It would be quite a challenge for defenses to attempt covering Krull and Pitts out of the slot, while also holding down 6-5 receiver Trevon Grimes and 6-2 receiver Van Jefferson on the outside in space.

Florida has the personnel to get creative with their tight ends, and the staff understands that the position must be utilized more going forward. The big-slot position appears to be how they're going to it.