'Move' or 'in-line' TE?

Some pretty smart football writing out there on the world wide web.

Rivals.com's Tom Dienhart has a piece on the evolution of the tight end. He took note of the record 21 tight ends picked in the NFL draft -- including the Iowa Hawkeyes' Tony Moeaki. Four NFL teams picked two tight ends. Dienhart took that and ran with it.

Here's an excerpt:

College coaches have begun using tight ends in a variety of ways, from having them line up in the slot to putting them in motion to lining them up in the backfield. In recent seasons, the NFL has begun to follow suit.

"(Jermaine) Gresham (6 feet 5/261 pounds) and former Arizona star Rob Gronkowski (6-6, 264), the second tight end picked in April, are the rare tight ends who have the size to be in-line blockers as well as the athleticism to split out as a pass catcher. Every team wants one of those types.

But the market has expanded to include the athletic, pass-catching tight ends often featured in spread offenses. Think of this newer breed of tight end as a beefed-up wide receiver. The spread offenses that have proliferated in the college game over the past decade have been a haven for the development of this new type of tight end.

NFL teams no longer want clunky, slow-footed, one-dimensional fullbacks taking up a roster spot. More and more NFL teams are going to two-tight end sets because it allows for more versatility and is more difficult to defend than traditional alignments.

This piece was examined further by Albert Breer at Boston.com. He points out the two different types of TEs, the "move" and the "traditional." The "move" has been born out of the proliferation of spread offenses in college football. This is essentially a super-sized wide receiver. The "traditional" is more of a blocker type, the "toolbox," if you will. (Packers fans remember Ed "Toolbox" West, a traditional TE who had pretty good hands.)

Breer uses former Hawkeye and Indianapolis Colts TE Dallas Clark as an example of a "move" TE. OK, Iowa dabbles in the spread, but you get it. Clark is an athlete with tremendous ball skills who has the speed to make plays against linebackers and safeties.

Iowa runs a lot of two-TE formations. One TE is usually the pass catcher, the other is primarily a blocker (including max protect) but also gets into route on passing downs.

Let's take a look at Iowa's seven (and maybe eight) scholarship tight ends and see which category they might fall in. (Although, I think you can make a pretty good argument that all Iowa's TEs are full-service, but some might shade one way more than the other.)

Allen Reisner

The 6-foot-3, 248-pounder is probably the prototypical Iowa tight end. He can run, but he can also hold his own against defensive ends and linebackers. He's spent the first three years of his career behind TEs you'd probably consider "moves," Moeaki and Brandon Myers. This is Reisner's shot at being the No. 1 pass-catching TE in Iowa's offense. He certainly has the hands for it.

Reisner goes into his senior season with 27 catches for 374 yards and two TDs. He showed "move" last season with his best pass catching numbers (14 for 143 and a TD).

Brad Herman

Herman, a junior, has move dimensions, standing 6-5 and 247. But that's a role he hasn't been asked to fill yet in his career. He's likely headed toward No. 2 TE duty in the offense, which means as much blocking (Iowa runs out of the formation probably more than it passes) as pass catching.

Iowa's TEs are trained to be full-service and that should come in handy for Herman this season.

C.J. Fiedorowicz

From everything I've written  and read on Fiedorowicz (6-7, 250), he's an athlete. Definitely a "move." For now, anyway. I believe he'll become "full-service" after a year or two in Iowa's system. For now, though, I believe offensive coordinator Ken O'Keefe might work on a package that would make use of Fiedorowicz's unique blend of size and athleticism. It's sort of a bold statement considering how true freshman tight ends have fared during the Ferentz era (0 catches for Scott Chandler his frosh year; two for Reisner; zero for Herman), but Fiedorowicz's credentials say mold breaker. 

Dakota Getz

Getz will be a 6-4, 230-pound redshirt freshman next fall. If any of the above three are injured, I think he's next. Without having seen him much, I'm going with "move" simply because that's what his dimensions say. (Plus, he was a terrific athlete at Meridian High School in Macon, Ill.) For the more athletic tight ends, the pass catching seems to come first and the blocking second. This takes time and Getz is only a redshirt freshman.

I go back to a story I wrote in 2006 about Scott Chandler. Here's an excerpt:

Wide receiver is all about the wrist bands.

They might actually go on the wrists sometimes. But mostly they're placed just so on the biceps, accentuating the muscle with the Nike logo twisted front and center.

About the only thing you notice with Scott Chandler's get up is the black T-shirt that sneaks out from underneath his shoulder pads.

His arms are bare. His jersey gets dirty. His body gets bruised.

A tight end doesn't have time to mess with wrist bands.

"You do go from the guy with all the wrist bands on and that stuff to having dirt on your shirt at the end of the game," the senior said. "You just change your mentality. I feel like it took me awhile, but I feel like I changed it."

That's the Iowa TE creedo, I think.

Jonathan Gimm

Gimm (6-3, 240) is a third-year sophomore who bounced around from fullback back to tight end last season. Coming out of spring, he was definitely a tight end. Because he's got a fullback's mentality, he fits into the "in-line" mode. Gimm has scratched the surface on some special teams. He could nudge, literally, his way into some blocking TE situations, specifically goal-line.

J.D. Griggs

Griggs passes the eye test everyday of the week. The third-year sophomore is 6-5, 260. He hasn't found traction at tight end, but with his frame, he could be a devastating "in-line" blocker when he gets his feet under him.

Zach Furlong

Furlong is a 6-5, 248-pound fourth-year junior. He hasn't seen much playing time in his career, but did catch a pass during the spring scrimmage, so he's at least in the margins. I would guess he's a "move" type, but I haven't seen enough of him to be solid on that.

Austin Vier

The 6-7, 230-pounder from Ballard High School played QB in high school and plans to give that position a shot at Iowa. But he's said that he could see himself at TE, too, so I'm seeing him at TE with that 6-7, 230-pound frame.

“I don't know if it's necessarily going to be a year or more than a year,” he said. “They (coaches) just said I'm going to get a shot at it. I don't know how long that will be. I'm going to give it my best shot. I could end up at quarterback or I could end up at tight end. Either one, I'd be fine with.”

If he's physical -- and if he ends up at TE, never know -- he could be full-service and prototypical Iowa TE material. The 6-7, 230 is a good place to start.

(Thanks to e-mailer Eric for the post idea. I'm always open to ideas, especially this time of year.)