This trend continued until the late 1970's. The emergence of Kellen Winslow ultimately wouldn't revolutionize the position at the time. But he was the prototype that so many tight ends would be compared to for another generation. At 6-foot-5, 250 pounds, Winslow was the first to combine the size so many franchises hoped for out of the tight end position, with elite athleticism and receiving skills. Winslow's skill-set didn't sacrifice in any of the categories scouts looked at when evaluating prospects at the position. In essence, Winslow was a window into the future.
Fast forward about 15 years from the peak of Winslow's career as a player, which took place in the early 80's, and Tony Gonzalez emerges as the torchbearer at the position. Like Winslow, Gonzalez was the 13th overall pick of the NFL Draft, and with a similar stature and tools to build on, Gonzalez would ring in what has proven to be the golden era of the tight end in the NFL. Of course, he's still playing for the Falcons in 2013, and just turned in an All-Pro campaign a year ago. But there are now a host of great tight ends in the NFL, and many of them have very strong backgrounds in basketball, much like Gonzalez did coming out of Cal-Berkeley 16 years ago.
In college, Gonzalez helped lead Cal to the Sweet 16 in 1996. But while Gonzalez is often credited with the practice of turning undersized power forwards who lack the height to excel at the NBA level into top-flight tight ends, that simply isn't the case. Gonzalez was an All-American tight end for the Golden Bears as well. His football prowess was already well-known coming out of the college ranks. It was actually a little-known power forward out of Bradley who would get NFL personnel types to start thinking outside-the-box. And he entered the league a year earlier than Gonzalez.
Standing 6-foot-3 and 250 pounds, Marcus Pollard obviously didn't have the type of frame that would convince NBA types to blaze a path to Peroia, Ill. as his eligibility came to an end at Bradley in 1995. The Braves didn't even have a varsity football team (and still don't to this day). However, Pollard's frame and mindset were enough to convince the Colts to take a flyer on the gifted athlete. Signed as an undrafted free agent by Indianapolis in 1995, Pollard had a quiet start for the Colts, making little impact in his first three seasons. Then, the arrival of Peyton Manning would prove to be the boon that allowed Pollard's ability to emerge.
During Manning's rookie season (Pollard's fourth), the athletic tight end would grab 24 receptions for 309 yards and five touchdowns. Totals that exceeded what he had done in 40 career games heading into the 1998 campaign. Their connection ignited a six-year by Pollard as one of the better receiving tight ends in the game, and Pollard would be the first of multiple undersized, yet athletic tight ends to emerge under the direction of a Peyton Manning offense (and he wouldn't be the first converted basketball player, but we'll get back to that later).
But of course, the guy to really break the floodgates open was Antonio Gates in 2003. Gates had been a significant contributor to the Cinderella run by Kent St. to the Elite 8 of the NCAA Basketball Tournament a year earlier. But despite averaging nearly 21 points and eight rebounds as a senior for the Golden Flashes, again, there wasn't a huge market for a 6-foot-4, 260-pound power forward. As a result, Gates looked to pro football as the next step, and there was a huge interest in his services as he made it be known he would pursue a pro football career. Signed as an undrafted free agent by San Diego, Gates broke into the starting line-up by the middle of his rookie season in 2003, and has proven to be one of the top tight ends in the NFL ever since, as his resume includes eight Pro Bowl selections and being honored as a consensus first team All-Pro three times as well.
Now, it should be noted that it's not as if Gates didn't have a football background. He was a highly-recruited two-sport prep athlete out of Detroit, and originally matriculated to East Lansing where he hoped to play both football and basketball for the Spartans. But when Nick Saban put the nix on any hopes Gates had of playing for Tom Izzo's squad, Gates began a journey that would see several stops before he wound up at Kent State. Gates very possibly was in line to be Michigan State's version of Tony Gonzalez, but it simply wasn't to be.
In the wake of Gates' emergence, NFL teams quickly moved to start signing any power forward they thought could make the transition to football. Names like Ed Nelson (UConn), Jai Lucas (George Mason) and Wesley Duke (Mercer) began being tossed around as possibilities to play pro football even before their college basketball seasons were over. While all three got opportunities in the NFL, Nelson with the Rams, Lucas (ultimately as a 290-pound offensive tackle) and Duke with the Broncos, all three quickly fizzled out. UNC small forward David Noel, a highly-recruited football player at the prep level who originally committed to the Tar Heels as a wide receiver, was also mentioned at the time as a candidate to make the jump to the NFL following the completion of his college eligibility. He ultimately elected to play pro basketball, and has pursued a career in Europe for several years now.
But while the failures of the post-Gates craze for NFL teams to uncover tight end talent in the college basketball ranks threw a little bit of cold water on the process, sometimes it's the process of taking one step back that allows a collective giant step forward to take place.
Just a couple of years after Lucas and Nelson bombed out of the pro football ranks, Jimmy Graham made an interesting decision following the completion of his college basketball eligibility at Miami. With his professional basketball prospects looking bleak as a 6-foot-7, 260-pound post player, Graham made the decision to enroll in graduate-level courses at Miami and go out for the football team, since he still had a year of eligibility remaining on the gridiron. Graham was not the first player to ever do this, of course. Former UF forward Major Parker joined the 2001 Orange Bowl Champion squad as a 6-foot-4, 240-pound reserve defensive lineman after lettering for the Gators in basketball for four years.
But Graham was the first to make this switch from basketball to football in college and achieve a real level of success. Although raw, Graham grabbed 17 receptions for 213 yards and five touchdowns for the 'Canes in 2009. This was enough to convince pro scouts that Graham possessed some special tools, and the New Orleans Saints were rewarded when they drafted Graham in the third round of the 2010 NFL Draft. Graham is now one of the most prolific tight ends in the NFL (along with Rob Gronkowski), and his performance through three games so far this season has him on pace to put together perhaps the most impressive season by a tight end in NFL history.
The successful of transition by Graham would foreshadow the transition of two other tight ends emerging in the NFL today who decided to make the move from forward to tight end while still in college. Jordan Cameron (USC) and Julius Thomas (Portland St.) were both fourth-round picks of the 2011 NFL Draft by Cleveland and Denver, respectively. Cameron was a basketball player at BYU for one year in 2006-07 before transferring to USC where he played from 2008-10. Cameron was a lightly used receiver in Troy for two seasons before moving to tight end as a senior, where he grabbed 16 receptions for 126 yards and a touchdown. After four years with the basketball team (including a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances in 2008 and 2009), Thomas traded in his high-tops for cleats in 2010, and made an immediate impact for the Portland State football team, grabbing 29 receptions for 453 yards and a pair of touchdowns, good enough for All-Big Sky honors at the tight end position.
Of course, the transition for Cameron and Thomas hasn't been quite as smooth as it has been for Graham. Both player made mimimal contributions in their first two season, but now both appear to be headed towards breakout seasons in 2013, just three games in.
It should also be noted that the Seattle Seahawks signed 6-foot-7, 260-pound former UC-Irvine basketball player Darren Fells in the offseason. After making his way through a number of foreign pro basketball circuits, the 27-year old decided to give football a try in the spring. Pete Carroll was all-too-happy to give the brother of New England Patriots tight end Daniel Fells an opportunity to make the Seahawks' roster. Alas, the younger Fells was cut by Seattle in August, and has not re-emerged on a practice squad since.
The reasons for why former basketball players with little or no football background can excel in football has already been examined extensively. The same traits that make a good power forward – good hands, good footwork, body positioning, the ability to track rebounds, being physical – also come in handy at the tight end position. But many observers forget to note that many of these basketball refugees are also incredible athletes. Cameron, Graham and Thomas all put up incredible numbers at the NFL Combine. All thee players ran under 4.65 seconds in the 40-yard dash, and all three had vertical jumps of at least 35 inches. Their numbers would have been more than adequate if they were just receivers looking for a shot at the next level. That all three were in the 6-foot-5, 250-plus pound range just added another dimension to their value as potential draft picks. Gates and Gonzalez were very much in the same class as athletes when they came out of the college ranks as well.
In many ways, the best tight ends today are being utilized as the best receivers has been. Graham, Gronkowski, Jason Witten, so and so forth. An elite pass-catching tight end today many times is just a "tight end" in name only.
Right now Jimmy Graham has spent 58.7% of his snap split out wide or in the slot. #franchisetagleverage
— Pro Football Focus (@PFF) September 23, 2013
As we look to the future, I'm curious to see if the trend of basketball players moving over to play football continues as it has. Perhaps those guys in that 6-foot-5, 6-foot-6 range, who know their chances of making it in the NBA are slim, will continue to see the emergence and success of players like Gronkowski, Graham, Cameron, Thomas and others. Maybe the future is that we'll see more NFL-ready tight ends flood the college game, get better at a younger age, and only continue to improve a position that is currently flourishing at the professional level.
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