One of the themes about the 2015 draft is that the tight end pool is not all that deep, and that could be a good thing for Rutgers' Tyler Kroft.
Kroft (6-foot-6, 240 pounds) surprised some observers when he decided to bypass his senior season and enter the draft. He had just 50 career catches, with five TDs, though his relative paltry numbers can be at least partly attributed to Rutgers' poor quarterback play the past three seasons.
Kroft looked to be a star on the rise after a 43-catch sophomore season in 2013, but he had just 24 catches in '14. Still, he turned pro, and it might end up being a wise decision.
"It's really a bad year for tight ends, so that's going to help him," an NFL personnel executive told nj.com. The executive also said, "What he does (at the NFL Scouting Combine) is going to mean a lot. He shows well, yeah, he could go third round."
An AFC scout told nj.com that while he thought Kroft should've stayed for his senior season, "He has the size and he has that length you like. And he's probably going to fill out over the next few years. He runs OK, too. I like him."
Kroft is one of four Big Ten tight ends who conceivably could go in the first four rounds. Minnesota's Maxx Williams might be the best tight end available, and Ohio State's Jeff Heuerman and Penn State's Jesse James -- like Kroft and Williams, an early entrant -- are the other two.
Mike Huguenin can be reached at mike.huguenin@nfl.com. You also can follow him on Twitter @MikeHuguenin.
