When you think of first round caliber tight ends available in this years draft, Tyler Eifert, and maybe even Zach Ertz comes to mind. Gavin Escobar is a victim of the same system that Sherman speaks of: http://smarturl.org/ssirq. "McShay or Kiper didn't consider him a first round talent? I better not draft him in the first round then." Carroll and Schneider don't subscribe to that logic, but they are obviously well aware of it. There's a reason that they waited three rounds to pick up the franchise quarterback.
Escobar fits the new mold of the evolving tight end. He was often used as an extra offensive lineman in the run first attack of the Aztecs, but this guy caught near anything thrown his way. He impressed at the combine, despite running a 40 on the wrong side of 4.8. The Aztec tight end displayed his elite hands, and scored second best in his class in the three cone drill and 20 yard shuttle. You should take that with a grain of salt, though, like every other combine performance.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljO2OScTeRI[/youtube]
A big body down field is something that should be valued in today's NFL, with players such as Gronk and Jimmy Graham creating huge mismatches. Escobar's 6'6" frame and incredible hands should be enough to nose his way into the first round, but maybe he'll make his way into day two, and some lucky team will catch his fall. Perhaps the Hawks?
It's a common belief among us that we should grab a joker tight end, be it in free agency or the draft. I'm not saying this guy should, would, or even could land in Seattle, but whoever drafts Gavin Escobar will likely be getting a steal.

First of all, welcome to the board.

Secondly, i'm moving this to the draft and college football forum. Please post your draft thoughts there.

Third, I like Escobar but see him as more of a 2nd or 3rd round talent, too many players ahead of him to make a case for a 1st round pick, imo.

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I go to San Diego State and have seen him play a lot in person. He's a great receiving tight end. I think early 2nd round is the area he will get drafted, late 2nd at the lowest.

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Skittles - The candy of champions.

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Off topic, but how did Ryan Katz do for you guys this past year at QB? He's a guy who early on in his career at Oregon State I thought had NFL QB potential, but then he seemed to lose all his confidence and then his job before transferring.

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He did pretty well for us in the beginning. He threw interceptions in only 2/8 games he started. During the second half he was injured and sat out but when he was playing he did fairly well. I believe he is trying to make an NFL team now.

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Skittles - The candy of champions.

Not dynamic enough to break into the 1st. His slow 40 might even cost him a chance at the 2nd round. I'd be good if we got him in the 2nd but think Jordan Reed would be our pick over Escobar for his versatility, experience at a big time program, and relationship with our new D coordinator.

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Beastquake with epic commentary
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gd_Vd43Vxa0

I was not impressed by him at all in the UW game, which was strange because SDSU fans were telling me Escobar was better than ASJ

I wouldn't go that far. Escobar is good but I love ASJ. It was fun seeing my two favorite teams , UW and SDSU, play each other.

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Skittles - The candy of champions.

With the TE depth, the hawks could have their pick of TE's in the 2nd, curious how high Escoobar is on their wish list.

It's is entierly possible that all these guys are their at #56
Ertz
Reed
Escobar
McDonald
Kelce
Fauria
Sims
Toilio

I really really like Reed and think he'd add another versitile and explosive weapon for our team, he could be our version of a Delanie Walker.

With our addition of the 6'7 basketball player TE, I think we are much more likely to bring in competition at our 3rd TE spot. If we draft a 2nd round TE that would compete with McCoy for the #2 and likely beat him out then McCoy woudl go right to #3 and we would cut or PS the 6'7 Fells. Now if we draft a 5th or later TE who is similar to Fells in size like the 6'7 Fauria or 6'7 Toilio and let the winner battle for #3 and the looser goes to PS or get cut.

Don't get me wrong really want to improve over McCoy and unless a perfect WLB is there at #56 I'd select the best TE avaialable. I just see it as more likely that we draft a TE later that we could cut if he can't beat out Fells.

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Beastquake with epic commentary
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gd_Vd43Vxa0