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Tight End Breakdown: What Bengals Could be Looking for at Tight End in 2025 NFL Draft

The Bengals are on the hunt for a tight end in this year's draft. Here are some late round options that could be quality fits.

Max Toscano

Vincent Carchietta-Imagn
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Welcome back everyone! As a big tight end guy, it's nice to follow a franchise that pays attention to the position every single year come draft time. On the other hand........it's unfortunate to follow one that has to when the season rolls around. When Erick All broke out early in the year as a promising second guy and future number one, it looked like we were finally out of the woods, they had everything they needed from the position considering this is not an offense that depends on it to shoulder too much of the receiving load. This is unfortunately a cruel sport, and we have to do it all again.

On the bright side, there are options. I can say that, at least at draft time, this is the best tight end class I've ever scouted. The options at the top are truly special, and the depth has guys with some serious clay to mold. At a position that's more developmental than any other coming out of the draft, that is not to be feared.

What The Bengals Need, Explaining the Y and the F

TE Blocking
Cincinnati Bengals tight end Drew Sample (89), left, practices blocking with Cincinnati Bengals tight end Cam Grandy (85) at the Bengals NFL practice in Cincinnati on Tuesday, June 4, 2024. / Albert Cesare/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK

First, we need to establish what the Bengals are looking for here. As an 11 personnel-driven team, any tight end that cannot handle themselves in the run game on the line of scrimmage is going to be a bit of a non-starter long-term. While Mike Gesicki sits in that kind of role, I think in general the Bengals will want to replace him with a real wide receiver whenever that time comes, there are plenty nowadays that block in the run game a lot more than he does, so he's a wide receiver for all intense and purposes.

Formation Adjuster
2018 SF Offense

Overall there are two tight end roles, the Y and the F. The Y is your traditional in-line tight end, but the F can be occupied by multiple different positions. He ultimately determines what personnel grouping you're in, and a lot about the identity of your offense, as 90% of the time or more, an NFL offense is going to be in 11, 12, or 21 personnel. In 11, the F is a slot, in 12, a 2nd tight end, in 21, a full back. The Bengals are going to want the F to be a wide receiver a lot of the time (considering Gesicki a WR), and when they do get into true 12, it's to hulk up with 2 bigs at tight end. As a result, the Bengals need a real tight end, or at least a guy capable of doing real TE things even if it isn't his fastball.

This was the case with All, who, while occupying the F most often, was able to do Y-type things and give the Bengals two extra true bigs in the formation in addition to stretching out and catching the football on play action in that presentation.

So in general, the Bengals can focus a little more on pass-catching (which rules out some of the useful block-only guys in this class like Jackson Hawes or CJ Dippre), but they do need someone with proper size. With that in mind, let's examine the guys Cincy can (possibly to probably) get from the third round onward.

Best Fits, Best Value

1: Gunnar Helm, Texas (6'5, 250)

Admittedly, this one is a pipe dream. Gunnar Helm is my third ranked tight end and a second round talent, but I think the league overall is a bit lower on him than I am. I tried to leave the upper tier of tight ends per consensus boards) off of this list, which is why Mason Taylor isn't here, but the possibility of Helm falling to the Bengals in the third is, in my view, greater based on a general feel from the league and boards on where these guys are.

He's big, strong, and has the prototype TE build. He doesn't have the short-area quickness to split out as much and run change-of-direction slot-type routes at the NFL level very productively, but he's not a WR, so it's not a requirement. Athletically, he is smooth and fluid in and out of breaks, smooth and slippery after the catch, and smooth into space. Catching a theme?

For tight ends, the most important skills in the passing game are finding space underneath on stationary routes and creating a bit after the catch, smoothness on straighter-line routes like seams, sails, overs, and overall ability to stretch linebackers while attached to the formation. Think Tucker Kraft.

Everything beyond that is a cherry on top, and Helm is terrific at those core skills. As far as blocking goes, it's a mess right now, but I'm considering it a likely plus overall due to his great lower-half strength and frame. Many tight ends come out of college with ad-hoc blocking technique. For instance, Josh Oliver was viewed as a big slot receiver coming out with no blocking ability and Kraft needed work as well.

The raw materials are there for an elite in-line blocker, and with his movement/pass-catching profile, a set-and-forget Y TE for a long time. As he develops as a blocker, I think he can easily slot into the All rotational F role right away. It may not be impossible for the Bengals to get him in the third round, and if they can, he should be strongly considered.

2: Terrance Ferguson, Oregon (6'5, 245)

Another one that's a bit of a pipe dream, but not impossible. Like Helm, Ferguson has proper size, strength in the lower-half, and messy blocking technique. From a 10,000 foot view, Ferguson's game is defined by his quickness and route-running. While not as smooth and slick as Helm, Ferguson works well in that role while adding a touch more in the short-area in space.

Specifically in the blocking, he's a big lunger, with his upper-body often overextended. This prevents him from keeping a stable base behind which to control defenders with his hands.

Working off of a good example of what this block should look like from Kraft, you'll notice that Ferguson's lower body is good, with his weight and base behind him. The shoulders and head though, are overextended.

Kraft does a good job keeping his shoulders square and back so that he can get under the arms and forklift the defender. Overall I think he can do a lot of the things as a pass-catcher that Hayden Hurst did so well in Cincinnati, with long-term upside as an in-line blocker if/when some of this stuff gets fixed.

3: Moliki Matavao, UCLA (6'5, 265)

Matavao is massive and will have to play a massive man's game at the position. Overall he is a big bag of tools that has gotten steadily better year by year in college, culminating in a very productive final season in an overall disastrous UCLA offense. He caught 41 balls for 506 yards and two touchdowns, which given the state of the unit around him, is rather impressive.

He's far from fast, but he has fluid hips and natural sink in and out of breaks. I don't think he has a spectacular amount of upside as a pass-catcher despite some fun tape, but he can be a very useful tertiary option instead of being just an extra blocker.

Think Will Dissly during his early Seattle years. Despite that, he'll need to be a great in-line blocker to have a job in the NFL. While he's smooth and long, he's not an incredible athlete. The size and strength are there, but once again, the blocking technique needs a ton of work. For him, the issue is hand placement. To reiterate, we shouldn't be surprised by underdeveloped TE blocking at the college level, and the physical upside in-line here is immense. I think the Bengals can get him in the fifth or sixth round, so if they don't get a shot at the prior two, their best move from a value perspective may be to wait and try to take a swing later on a guy like this.

4: Mitchell Evans, Notre Dame (6'5, 256)

Mitchell Evans is a monster. He's huge, strong, smooth, explosive, dominant at the catch point, and has a sneaky quickness for his frame. On talent, Evans is a second round guy that had possible first round upside if everything went right.

The problem is that it didn't, and I understand why Bengals fans would be hesitant to take an injury flier to replace an injury flier that got hurt again, but there's a case to be made here. As a player, Evans is gifted, and talents like this tend not to be available where Evans will likely be available. Additionally, he's the exact type of tight end the current iteration of the Bengals have been desperate for.

He's big and strong enough to live in-line, but he does have the explosiveness and range to flex out and create mismatches, especially when the middle of the field gets spaced out by Chase and Higgins outside. The blocking needs a bit of work, but he's an ox, it's not a concern with decent coaching.

Examining the injuries, there is a bit more reason for optimism than one would think. One of them was a broken foot, which is less concerning than frequent and recurring knee injuries. The other was a torn ACL, but only one! All had several knee injuries and then suffered another one, this may be more of an early-career Aaron Judge set of bad circumstances rather than genuine fragility.

He acknowledges he came back from last October's ACL quickly, but by rivalry weekend into the CFP, Evans had regained form and finished the season looking like the ascending star he finished the 2023 season as. Injuries are a red flag, but they're also an opportunity to steal stars from the back parts of the draft. If you can get him in the fifth round or later and suddenly I'm not sure how much those injuries bother me anymore.

5: Jalin Conyers, Texas Tech (6'3, 263)

Conyers is a fascinating one. He's obviously not tall, but he has the bulkiest, densest frame in the entire class, good length, and a legitimate edge to him that borders at times on dirty.

The raw materials here for a dominant in-line blocker exist. That's made more noteworthy by his juice as an athlete and playmaker. He's dominant at the catch point, he has real juice with the ball in his hands, and I think with some refinement as a route-runner can be a real weapon on linebackers and safeties at the Y.

The tough thing with his projection is a general misuse at Texas Tech. Tech runs a modern version of the air-raid (the version that makes the Y a tight end like a normal offense instead of a fourth wide receiver and runs the ball a bit more), and as a result, has an issue with using second tight ends.

For Tech, the 6'8 Mason Tharp was their primary Y, so Conyers ended up having to split way out from the formation and play as a wide receiver when he was on the field. Given how much true 11 personnel any air-raid team will want to play, that means he'll come off the field a lot. He's a guy who belongs close to the formation, stretching the field in the middle, working on Y matchups, and grinding people into dust. Think of him like a possible Gen Z Alge Crumpler. If the Bengals can get him in the 6th or 7th, Conyers could be an incredibly fun, productive swing in the draft.

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Published
Max Toscano
MAX TOSCANO

Max Toscano breaks down football strategy. Prior to joining Bengals On SI, he interned with the coaching staff at the University of Connecticut, assisting the defensive staff in opponent scouting as well as assisting the Head Coach and GM with analytics on gameday. Max's areas of specific expertise include Quarterbacks and Tight Ends, including also hosting a publication dedicated to the tight end position. He also writes for "And The Valley Shook" on SB Nation.

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