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Inside The Huskies

How Good Is Decker DeGraaf? Not Everybody Knows

The Husky tight end shows up all over the preseason lists, or not at all.
Dan Raley|
Decker DeGraaf shows off his Spring Game catch.
Decker DeGraaf shows off his Spring Game catch. | Dave Sizer photo

Decker DeGraaf is fast learning why they call this time period between May 1 and late August the silly season for college football.

In a flurry of recent lists involving the nation's top tight ends, the University of Washington junior finds himself ranked as high as fifth, also coming in at 14th and nowhere to be found.

That's like giving him a deep route, an intermediate pattern and not throwing to him at all.

So which is it?

One of the problems in ranking tight ends is many of the lists are based onnly on receptions, and that position demands so much more in sizing up the talent.

The Huskies, for that matter, have had two specific kinds of players in this role -- the receiver and the guy who brings an emphasis on blocker.

DeGraaf and Quentin Moore primarily fulfilled these respective duties last season. In the 2023 run to the national championship game, it was Devin Culp and Jack Westover.

The guy who can fit both roles in a productive manner are your All-Americans and high NFL draft picks.

As far as the 6-foot-4, 249-pound DeGraaf from San Dimas, California, goes, he's working on becoming the complete tight end, trying to pick up the UW blocking slack after Moore moved on to the NFL as an undrafted free agent.

In his two UW seasons, DeGraaf has started in 16 of the 26 games he's appeared, including 11 in 2025.

He's also caught 47 career passes for 593 yards and 5 touchdowns, which, if those were season totals, he'd be hard to ignore as one of a handful of the best at his position on every list.

Yet that's still a lot of production for someone who has played only his freshman and sophomore college seasons so far.

The coming 2026 campaign could go a long way in cementing DeGraaf's reputation as a high-end player and someone the pros should be keeping tabs on.

Quarterback Demond Williams Jr. relies heavily on him as both a first and second option, as shown this past spring.

If the list-makers need a little push in DeGraaf's direction, they should be reminded that the UW has a history of supplying capable NFL tight ends.

Currently, the roll call includes Cade Otton (Tampa Bay Buccaneers), Drew Sample (Cincinnati Bengals), Keleki Latu (Buffalo Bills), Culp (Tampa Bay Buccaneers) and Westover (New England Patriots), and Will Dissly, who was recently released by the Los Angeles Chargers and is looking for a new team.

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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