'Football junkie' Adam Trautman looks to be another Saints draft steal
Adam Trautman never caught a pass until after ten days of being a freshman at Dayton, and now what he's done in his collegiate career has landed him a spot with the New Orleans Saints. Considered one of the steals of the draft after being taken in the third round, Trautman looks to be an immediate fit in the Saints offense.
"I'm super excited to be a part of the New Orleans Saints organization," Trautman said late Friday night.
Trautman said he didn't have too much contact with the Saints coming into the draft, but he knew they were interested. Needless to say, he was super excited to see a number pop up from Louisiana. He admitted to being a real football junkie, saying that he watched 25 of the the 32 teams to study how they used their tight ends, with the Saints being one of them. He actually graduated with an electrical engineering degree.
When asked, Trautman said that he has modeled his game off of George Kittle and T.J. Hockenson for the past two years. He loves how hard Kittle goes after people, and Saints fans understand that type of impact. Sean Payton sees him as a true 'Y' tight end, labeling him as one of the better blocking tight ends in this draft. Oh by the way, he played basketball in college too.
"For a small college player we feel he has really good in-line strength," Payton said on Friday.
"He’s also someone that we think has real good hips. His change of direction, you can see that in how he sets up his routes. For someone who played at a smaller level, you see a dominant player and we see him as someone that can help us as an in-line tight end, his first year build on some of the things that we feel like he can do outside."
Trautman became the first Dayton player drafted since 1977, and he was one of the team's Top 40 players during their evaluation process. In his final season with the Flyers, Trautman racked up 70 receptions for 916 yards (13.1 average) and 14 touchdowns. The 6-foot-5, 255-pound tight end will now join a locker room with Jared Cook and Josh Hill, and bring heavy competition to Garrett Griffin and Jason Vander Laan in August.
