2023 Tight End (Senior) | Page 2 | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

2023 Tight End (Senior)

LaPorta is a dead ringer for fellow Iowa alum George Kittle, especially once he gets the ball in his hands.

The only real difference on film between Dalton Kincaid and LaPorta to me is that Kincaid demonstrated more ability to win in deeper areas downfield, and in tricky contested catch situations.

But I just don’t see a lot of difference between the two.

Awesome class of Tight Ends. Could be as many as 10 starters in various schemes at the position factoring in Underclassman.
 
Pachyderm_Wave said:
LaPorta is a dead ringer for fellow Iowa alum George Kittle, especially once he gets the ball in his hands.

The only real difference on film between Dalton Kincaid and LaPorta to me is that Kincaid demonstrated more ability to win in deeper areas downfield, and in tricky contested catch situations.

But I just don’t see a lot of difference between the two.

Awesome class of Tight Ends. Could be as many as 10 starters in various schemes at the position factoring in Underclassman.
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Specifically for Miami, I think LaPorta's speed and YAC ability would be valued over Kincaid's ability downfield. Think LaPorta is better with the ball in his hands, too. Either would be an upgrade sooner than later.
 
LaPorta is a better blocker than Kincaid as well.

Kincaid is really just a better version of Geiscki, which is not a bad thing, he is just not a good fit for the Fins.

LaPorta with one of the 3rd's would suit me fine.

I would be happy with Washington too, but he would likely cost a 2nd.
 
jimthefin said:
LaPorta is a better blocker than Kincaid as well.

Kincaid is really just a better version of Geiscki, which is not a bad thing, he is just not a good fit for the Fins.

LaPorta with one of the 3rd's would suit me fine.

I would be happy with Washington too, but he would likely cost a 2nd.
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I don’t agree with that at all Jim..

Predraft I said Gesicki is the worst I’ve ever see and cannot get his body into a fundamental position to execute blocks not has the core strength to hold anything

Kincaid can and does, he’s not kittle but he’s not hopeless like Gesicki was
 
I did not mean to say he was as bad a blocker as Gesicki. That would be slanderous. :chuckle:

Just that he is more of a big WR than he is a true TE, not a criticism, that is what most of the NFL wants these days.

It is making all around TE's harder to find.
 
Schoonmaker did not have great production. I'd knock him down for that reason. I like him better than Washington, Kuntz, or Musgrave, because Schoonmaker is not 6-6. 6-7. Sam LaPorta is another I do not like because of height, he is 6-3. Schoonmaker is normal tight-end height, 6-5. And he tested okay, he is just a little lite. I think he is draftable Day 3. Kincaid for me is in a similar boat, did not test but has excellent production. If he tests well I will move him up to Day 2.

I would only really target two tight ends in this class, Brenton Strange and Kincaid if he test well. And then Schoonmaker with our 6th 7th round pick if nothing better is available at other positions. On my final list I do not foresee having any other tight end of interest. Pro days are coming, so we'll see.
 
Pachyderm_Wave said:
LaPorta is a dead ringer for fellow Iowa alum George Kittle, especially once he gets the ball in his hands.

The only real difference on film between Dalton Kincaid and LaPorta to me is that Kincaid demonstrated more ability to win in deeper areas downfield, and in tricky contested catch situations.

But I just don’t see a lot of difference between the two.

Awesome class of Tight Ends. Could be as many as 10 starters in various schemes at the position factoring in Underclassman.
Click to expand...

I think Kittle is a fair comparison. For some reason I keep seeing Mark Andrews.
 
LargoFin said:
Schoonmaker did not have great production. I'd knock him down for that reason. I like him better than Washington, Kuntz, or Musgrave, because Schoonmaker is not 6-6. 6-7. Sam LaPorta is another I do not like because of height, he is 6-3. Schoonmaker is normal tight-end height, 6-5. And he tested okay, he is just a little lite. I think he is draftable Day 3. Kincaid for me is in a similar boat, did not test but has excellent production. If he tests well I will move him up to Day 2.

I would only really target two tight ends in this class, Brenton Strange and Kincaid if he test well. And then Schoonmaker with our 6th 7th round pick if nothing better is available at other positions. On my final list I do not foresee having any other tight end of interest. Pro days are coming, so we'll see.
Click to expand...

Of all the things I'd be likely to ding Schoonmaker on I think production might be the least of them.

I remember @Pachyderm_Wave saying this a long time ago and it stuck with me, describing the phenomenon where the NFL was finding great TEs who did almost nothing in their college football careers, if they even had college football careers.

Jimmy Graham was nothing more than a novelty at UM. Antonio Gates tried to play football for Nick Saban at Michigan State but was told he had to choose between football and basketball, so he chose basketball and never even had a college football career. Julius Thomas was a basketball player at Portland State, and decided to play football his final year there (2010) and caught 29 balls in the Big Sky Conference. Dallas Goedert had a full college football career...at South Dakota State in the FCS. Darren Waller was a straight up wide receiver at Georgia Tech and had 26 catches his final year. Jordan Cameron had 16 catches as a wide receiver in 2010 for USC and that was the entire extent of his college football career.

What I hold against Luke Schoonmaker is he looks like a stiff when he's out there running. He's supposed to be a blocking TE but he wasn't even the best blocking TE on his own team. He broke a grand total of 2 tackles in his entire Michigan career, and looks extremely pedestrian after the catch. He's not great or even good on contested catches. I like his build but there's not much else to like, IMO.

We recently did a TE preview on podcast and he sort of became our whipping boy we were dragging out so many negatives about him. And then I looked at his evaluation on NFL.com and saw this in the Weakness profile:

Weaknesses
  • Fails to impose his size on smaller defenders in coverage.
  • Waits on the throw rather than reaching to attack it.
  • Low rate of success when catching in a crowd.
  • Only able to take what is given after the catch.
  • Below average radar and adjustments as lead blocker.
  • Needs to add additional play strength.
Which I think is hilarious because the Weaknesses are basically saying he's a bad Tight End.
 
I've kind of soured on Schoonmaker, he was initially one of the TEs I was looking into, but honestly after hearing about the ''Big Slot'' Role, TE in general seems low priority now. Daniel Barker the TE I posted a video of a few posts above is the only TE that I could find that we've brought in and tested, and even he is more like a Big Slot type of prospect. Looks like we either want a Jumbo slot, or an H-back.
 
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I don't see Musgrave being a fit for Miami.

He is really a big WR not a TE.

If healthy he could be areal downfield weapon for some offenses but he does brings the same blocking issues Gesicki had, although perhaps not as bad.
 
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