Good point OP.
Often TE's appeal to spectators more than GM's because they tend not to get as much defensive gameplanning as #1 WR's do and tend not to be as explosive. The dropoff from a great TE to a good TE in the NFL isn't as great as the dropoff from a top WR to a good WR. Also, it's often tough to tell which is which. For instance, Jermain Gresham was one with all the tools, as was the highly regarded Martellus Bennett, but neither has been great. Gronkowski was an injury concern, Graham was a rawer athlete than Gresham, but it is Graham who became great while Gresham still is seen as a 'potential guy.' Vernon Davis seems to have finally lived up to his tremendous potential ... but in his offense he doesn't have the impact that Owen Daniels does with Houston or even Dennis Pitta with Baltimore.
IMHO, Eifert is a better and more athletic version of John Carlson, who I also liked when he came out. I think Eifert will be a superior pass catching TE to Zach Rudolph and a far better seam threat than either of them. But the fact remains, he's not a speed TE. He's probably going to measure 6'5 and run around 4.8, neither of which are what people are expecting. So, he profiles more similar to guys like Daniels, Pitta, Tamme but with a larger frame, better seam threat abilities, and a bigger mismatch in the red zone. So yeah, he could easily go in round 2, and I'd love to get him at 42 ... but only if we already have 1 top notch WR.
I hope and expect we will draft 2 WR's to go with 1 FA WR (Jennings?), and one of those WR's needs to be taken in the first round to get what I'm hoping we will get--big and fast. We need a deep threat, and most of the deep threats in this draft are not big. Guys like Wheaton, Austin, Bailey, etc. are all sub-six-footers most likely. None have huge wingspans. The WCO revolves around big WR's with RAC ability. I see that in guys like Patterson, Hunter, Allen, etc., but we are going to need a deep threat, so to get all that plus deep threat ability in a WR, we're not going to be able to get him with our 2b pick IMHO. Trading down from #12 overall, sure, we might swing it. I'd love to trade our #12 for Cincinnati's #20 & #37. The #20 would be just in front of St. Louis, the other team with a gaping hole at WR, and the #37 would position us ahead of the Jets and Bills in the 2nd round. Ideal ... and also pure speculative fantasy. :D
So, we're left with the possibility that the OP correctly points out ... we may be able to snag one of Eifert or Ertz at #42, and that seems ideal. But, if we don't grab a WR before that, we'll still be missing a massive piece to our offense. Either we take a Wheaton at #54 (our 2b pick) who is talented and a deep threat, but small, has trouble with press coverage, and needs to gain muscle; or we take a WR in round 1. Our absolute best case scenario at #54 would be Robert Woods, but I doubt he'll be there. So, to take advantage of a TE in round 2, we need to have secured our big deep threat WR already. Barring a great trade down, I'd be happy with Patterson at #12 and at #42 takingEifert or Ertz ... if either are available.