Rookie Scouting Profile: TE Tre McBride

Tre McBride (TE) Colorado

Height	Weight	40-Time	DOB	NFL Draft	Dynasty ADP	NFL Comp
6-4	246	4.65	11/22/1999	1	2.04	Austin Hooper

College Production

McBride has shown vast improvement every year of his college career, but he absolutely went off in 2021 becoming the focal point of the Colorado passing attack. He caught 90 passes last season for 1,121 yards which were enough to win him the John Mackey Award as the best tight end in the country. Oddly though despite this massive season he only caught one touchdown pass after catching four in 2020 in just four games. I’m chalking this up as just an outlier stat as the team’s offense was one of the worst in the FBS ranking 129 of 130 in total offense and only scored a total of 22 TDs all season.

Strengths

Has enough speed to stretch the field.
Very good hands.
Ideal strength.
Willing and capable blocker.
Continues to improve each season.
Tacks on plenty of yards after the catch.
Can find the ball in traffic and make contested catches.
Impressive body control and ability to adjust to the ball.

Weaknesses

Lack of TDs has to be taken into consideration.
Less than elite catch radius.
Could be more explosive in his release.
Doesn’t have elite straight-line speed or lateral agility.

Fantasy Outlook

McBride will be the first tight end taken off the board in the 2022 NFL Draft. While he has a chance to be a Week 1 starter, it’s hard to ever bank on a rookie at the position. As good as he may be, there is no elite tight end in this draft the likes of Kyle Pitts last season or T.J. Hockenson in 2019. Nevertheless, he should develop into a solid every-down tight end thanks to his ability to block complementing his pass-catching chops. Within two to three years he should be a reliable fantasy option or potentially even better if he can find the end zone more often in the NFL.

There are quite a few teams who could use an instant impact tight end in the draft. Teams like the Colts, Packers, and Giants could present an opportunity to a talented rookie like McBride. However, I’d like to see him go get a shot to play with Justin Herbert in Los Angeles. Jared Cook looks to be out in LA and at his age is nearing the end regardless while Donald Parham much to the dismay of the fantasy community is yet to prove much of anything. McBride could slide in nicely making an impact in 2022 and breaking out in 2023 as part of a passing attack that looks to be dominant for a long time.