Green Bay Packers: 3 Early Round Tight End Draft Prospects
By Kenny Jilek
Green Bay Packers Draft Prospect #3 – Jeremy Ruckert
With good size at 6’5″ – 252 pounds, Jeremy Ruckert is probably the most prototype NFL tight end in this class. The way he plays the game is just very stereotypical tight end play. He might not have the ceiling that the others do, but he’s got a pretty good floor.
When he’s catching the ball, he doesn’t have any special speed or agility, so it’s all about physicality at the catch point and then trying to rumble for a few extra yards, sometimes being able to bounce off of a hit and keep going. He doesn’t have the cleanest catches always and that might be a reason why Ohio State didn’t throw his way a ton. He only caught 26 passes for 309 yards this season, but they also had Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson to throw to. You’d probably sling it to those guys too.
Though he has the classic size of a tight end, Ohio State didn’t put him on the line of scrimmage very often, instead of playing him at wing or H-back, slightly off the line. When he was asked to block in space, he often came off those blocks pretty quickly and it definitely wasn’t his strong suit. What he did do really well from that wing spot was block back across the formation like the Packers do so often, so he could definitely have a role doing that in the Green Bay scheme and have catch opportunities on play-action off that as well.
Ruckert is likely a third-round pick, and there’s a chance that the Packers could snatch him with their 92nd pick in the draft. In that scenario, they keep those top four picks in the first and second rounds for premium positions and still get a guy who can come into the organization on day one and contribute.
So, would you want to see the Green Bay Packers take any of these guys with a day two pick in the upcoming NFL Draft? Let me know in the comments below.