News: PFT: Chiefs set to sign TE Gavin Escobar

[DandyDon52]

escobar had a 11.1yds avg per catch, with 8 td's, not bad for what 60 passes his way?

 

[TheCount]

As much as I'd like to believe Escobar just sucked and all that, our history with TE's would suggest we have absolutely no idea what to do with a second TE - whether they're talented or not.

 

[SilverStarCowboy]

SOoooo... how many players could we potentially sign and still receive the max comp. picks?


Never liked the Escobar reach for a TE - considering the roster and players available on the Draft Board at the time.

 

[cowboyblue22]

another wasted second round pick along with several others

 

[gimmesix]

You weren't paying attention. We drafted Escobar with a clear intention to move toward the Pats approach.

Are you playing stupid? There are like four million threads of CBZ posts about this

Well, my memory isn't always what I'd like it to be.

I finally found this old article about it, so I'll defer:

With their selection of San Diego State tight end Gavin Escobar in the second round of the draft last week, the Dallas Cowboys breathed new life into the old belief that the NFL is a copycat league.

The Cowboys want to couple Escobar with Pro Bowl tight end Jason Witten to employ a New England Patriots-style offense.

“They're a good role model for us,” owner Jerry Jones said of the Patriots, whose two tight-end sets featuring Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez have sizzled the last three years.


“They've got a quarterback in (Tom) Brady,” Jones added, per DallasCowboys.com. “They've done a good job of having an offensive team, and they've given up a little bit on their defense. They want to score points.”

The thinking in Dallas is clear: Surround franchise quarterback Tony Romo with playmakers, give him better blocking, and let the offense win games.

But before taking Escobar, Jones made sure his coaches were on board with his desire to follow the Patriots' roadmap to becoming an offensive juggernaut.


“Are we all resolved to doing it different relative to injecting that influence in this offense?” Jones said of his conversation with coach Jason Garrett and his offensive assistants. “Don't come in here with the same old same old. ... If we go this route with the tight end, we are going to shake it up around here. It's going to be different.”

How different is yet to be determined, although there has been talk of the Cowboys even using a three tight-end set with Witten, Escobar and second-year pro James Hanna.

“This is a guy who can come in and really make a difference for us at that tight end spot opposite Witten,” Garrett said of Escobar. “We feel Witten is arguably as good a tight end as there is in the NFL. When you add somebody else inside at that position with this guy's length, athleticism and pass-catching ability to go along with our outside receivers, it can be a challenging personnel group for defenses.”

The 6-foot-6, 255-pound Escobar caught 122 passes for 1,646 yards and 17 touchdowns at San Diego State. As a junior in 2012, he had 42 catches for 543 yards and six TDs.

“Catching the ball is my greatest strength,” Escobar said. “I'm very reliable, a big target, lots of red-zone mismatches.”

Garrett exchanged high-fives in the draft room when he realized Escobar was there for the taking.

“We like his length, his athleticism,” Garrett said. “He's a natural pass catcher. He can make plays over his head, and we feel like he has the traits to be a wide tight end at some point.”

But the pick wasn't without its critics. Many view Escobar as more wideout than tight end, and he admitted he needs work as a blocker.

Others point out Dallas has tried this before, picking Anthony Fasano in the second round in 2006 and Texas A&M's Martellus Bennett in the second round in 2008. Neither, though, worked out as a complementary piece to Witten.

“We had packages we worked on for weeks, but he didn't show,” Jones said of Bennett.

But Escobar isn't Bennett. He's eager to learn from Witten and fit in any way he can.

“You couldn't ask for a better place for a rookie tight end to land,” Escobar said. “Just being able to learn from Jason Witten is going to be great. ... It's a huge thing for the offense to have two tight ends that can spread out and be interchangeable.”

Just ask the Patriots.

“They're a team we'll study in the offseason,” Garrett told DallasCowboys.com. “They're a good example for us.”

 

[big dog cowboy]

Not sure what you mean. He was drafted to be the second tight end in a two-tight end base, but the second tight end in that scheme needs to be more of a blocker since Jason is the primary receiving tight end. Escobar was never a blocking tight end so he couldn't even get the playing time reserved for that role, with it instead going to Hanna because he had developed into a better blocker.

It was a projection by the Cowboys that Escobar would be able to block well enough to handle that second tight end role, and it was a bust.

I finally found this old article about it, so I'll defer:

That's exactly what I was posting about.

 

[phildadon86]

Rue, rue, rue, rue!!

Your boat gently down the stream,,,,wait, no?

 

[slick325]

I know Pablo isn't as great a blocker as Witten or Bennett but he sure did make a great seal block on Zeke's game winning TD against the Steelers. The coaches had enough faith to run the play with him in the lineup and him as the seal block that Zeke used after Tyron blocked down...maybe he can keep improving in KC.

 

[Bleu Star]

Receiving tight end Gavin Escobar never truly caught on during four seasons in Dallas. He found a fresh start on Friday. The former Cowboys second-round pick will sign a one-year deal with the Chiefs, Adam Caplan of ESPN reported. Escobar caught fewer than 10 passes in each of his years with Dallas, the initial thought he…http://youwillnotrackme2.net/b.gif?host=profootballtalk.nbcsports.com&blog=&post=2449839&subd=nbcprofootballtalk&ref=&feed=1

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Chiefs CHAMPIONSHIP

 

[khiladi]

http://www.nbcdfw.com/blogs/blue-st...End-Formations-Are-Predictable-207359191.html

Basically, we had no direction with Garrett as OC. When the Pats had that successful year, the geniuses in Valley Ranch expressed intention of running something similar, but really couldn't.

Plus, Garrett's brother was here and was the TE coach for five years, so it was another project of there's to try and develop TE talent 2007-2012, just like Ogletree was their project. So we wasted picks on a bunch of TEs.

 

[gimmesix]

http://www.nbcdfw.com/blogs/blue-st...End-Formations-Are-Predictable-207359191.html

Basically, we had no direction with Garrett as OC. When the Pats had that successful year, the geniuses in Valley Ranch expressed intention of running something similar, but really couldn't.

Plus, Garrett's brother was here and was the TE coach for five years, so it was another project of there's to try and develop TE talent 2007-2012, just like Ogletree was their project. So we wasted picks on a bunch of TEs.

I'm hopeful whether Gathers pans out or not that the team is intrigued enough not to spend another early round pick on a tight end yet. Eventually, the team will have to find Witten's replacement, but let's leave the No. 2 role to late-round picks like Swaim, Hanna and Gathers. We are a running offense, so we don't need to take a tight end early unless he's so good as a blocker and receiver that we rarely take him off the field.

 

[ondaedg]

another wasted second round pick along with several others

I think Jerry has some kind of agreement with Stephen and JG. The 2nd round is his round that he gets to pick whoever the heck he wants no questions asked. Gives him his gambling fix.