Yesterday former Notre Dame tight end Tyler Eifert tore it up at the NFL Combine. Today he has people around the league talking about him as the unquestioned top tight end in this year’s draft.
USA Today’s Tony Pauline has Eifert not only as the top tight end in the draft, but now a potential top 20 pick.
Eifert staked his claim to being the first tight end selected in April’s draft with a complete combine workout. He tested well, timing 4.68 seconds in the 40-yard dash, touching 35.5 inches in the vertical jump as well as posting a broad jump of 9 feet, 11 inches. He kept the momentum going during position drills, displaying next level receiving skills and the ability to pluck the ball from the air at full speed. Eifert has established himself as a first-round pick and may break into the top 20 picks based on Saturday’s results.
NFL.com said that Eifert has solidified his position as the top tight end in the draft with his performance yesterday.
It’s been a strong combine for the 6-foot-5½, 250-pound Eifert, who also posted a 35½-inch vertical leap and 22 reps on the bench press.
“I think with the tight ends, the day has belonged to Tyler Eifert,” NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock said.
CBS Sports’ Rob Rang said that Eifert was more impressive yesterday than Stanford’s Zach Ertz.
Eifert, frankly, was more impressive than Stanford’s Zach Ertz, the only tight end NFLDraftScout.com currently ranks ahead of the Irish star. Ertz was unofficially credited with a 4.72 on his first attempt but improved to 4.65 on his second try. He posted a surprisingly pedestrian 30.5-inch vertical jump.
ESPN’s Jeff Dickerson said that Eifert could be the closest thing to Jimmy Graham or Aaron Hernandez in the draft.
Checking in at 6-foot-5, 250 pounds, Eifert’s greatest strength is his ability to use his size and speed from the tight end position to create mismatches downfield in the passing game. With 140 catches for 1,840 yards and 11 touchdowns in three seasons for the Fighting Irish, Eifert might be the closest thing to Jimmy Graham or Aaron Hernandez in the 2013 NFL draft.
Profootball Talk thinks that Eifert looks like the top tight end in the draft as well.
Notre Dame’s Tyler Eifert appears to be solidifying his status as the top tight end in the NFL draft.
Taking the field Saturday at the Scouting Combine, Eifert ran a 4.60-second 40-yard dash, a very good time that makes him one of the fastest players at his position. Eifert won the Mackey Award as the nation’s top tight end last year, and now he’s showing that he has the measurables to go along with the skills he has already displayed on the field.
Bill Polian told the AJC that he sees Eifert as a taller version of Dallas Clark.
“Eifert is much more of an athletic tight end,” Polian said. “He’s along the lines of Dallas Clark, but I think taller. He runs more than good enough and he has very good hands and ball skills. He really goes and gets after the ball.
“He gets a lot of jump balls, and he’s highly competitive. He’s not the kind of guy that’s going to knock anybody on their rear end blocking. The physical load of being inside attached would be a little difficult for him.”
Such a love fest on here today.
WOW Butteye,
Your such an intuitive etymologist! Especially for a “low information” zombie like yourself, malignant with such extremely-boorish-behavior! Ah…But it’s OK to for you to demean one of our young ND fans. I suggest you apologize to ChrisJ and stop your narcissistic demeanor.
It’s all good JC! Thanks for having my back! Buckeye fans don’t belong on these forums…
I am not going to apologize for calling him young, I didn’t know that was an insult.
Eifert has great hands and ability to go up and catch the ball. I do not see him being drafted in a run ortented type of team. I see him more split out wide the way NE has used its TE’s. I think Eifert is a little light at 250 and blocking is probably the worst part of his game although he has improved greatly. Next year we’ll see Anthony Fasano, John Carlson, Kyle Rudolph and Eifert in the league.
I think Eifert proved to everyone this year that he actually is a much better blocker than people thought. Plus with how tight ends are being used in the NFL these days, e.g. Hernandez, Graham, etc, Eifert will fit right in. It’s a passing league now.
Buckeye,
Listen Professor Dolt, that’s Dr. Kennth Adams MacAfee, Jr. to you! Stop the ignorant history lesson, ignorant spelling and pathetic personality disorder.
Go blow yourself with your favorite OSU buddies, however, I highly suspect they can’t stand the unmistakable ignornace of you either!
Ah…come on Butteye,
I made easy for you to play!
I flipped the ‘a’ & ‘n’ in ignorance for you. Oh…I forgot your favorite crayons, sorry! Hahahaha!
Wow JC, is that short for Jesus Christ, you certainly have a pretty high opinion of yourself.
I give credit to one of your own and that isn’t even good enough. I am truly sorry for the spelling error.
You should stop with the pet names, they weren’t funny the first time and every time you come up with a new one you just look like a bigger jerk than I thought you were. Sadly, you keep finding ways to outdo yourself.
I always thought the pet names were pretty damn funny!
I mean, what really is a “Buckeye” after all?
Nothing more than a hairless nut that is prone to rotting, stinks like old hotdog water, and serves no useful purpose!
Eifert is the best. Best TE I’ve seen come through ND and to be honest, in college football from what I know.
I will play nice and not call you a homer but you must be young and never heard of Ken McAfee?
He finished third in the Heisman voting as a senior, losing to the great Earl Campbell, and was a two or three time all-american.
I think that qualifies him as the greatest TE that ND has ever had. For the best ever in college football I think you need to do some research.
Eifert probably best ever at ND. Best of all time probably Mackey or Ozzie Newsome.
Dave Casper was pretty decent and I believe he is in the Pro and College HOF’s. Eiffert would be a beast in the Chicago Bears offense and with Lovie gone maybe the Bears will drive the 90 miles to take a look.The Stanford Kid couldn’t help forge a yard when they needed it.He can stay out west with Jimmy Harbaugh and they can blame the refs for their failures.
I am younger so that’s why I said who ‘I’ve seen come through ND’. But didn’t Eifert just break all of this McAfee guy’s records?
Why pundits ever considered Ertz a better tight end was beyond me. It was obvious that Stanford’s traditional power-running offense inflated Ertz’ numbers.