Uh oh, tight end trouble

[Yakuza Rich]

Who was pretty much a consensus 2nd rounder by many draft experts.

I'd rank the ability to run routes and catch passes higher than I would speed.

And at 6'6" 245 he'll be able to at least be a large impediment to many defensive players if he doesn't have the strength to "pancake" them at the point.

We could always put him at the TE spot or H-Back where he doesn't have to block like a fullback. We can always put him at TE and have Witten play the F-Back spot. I thought Escobar was primarily going to be used in goal line and red zone for this year, anyway.






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[MichaelWinicki]

We could always put him at the TE spot or H-Back where he doesn't have to block like a fullback. We can always put him at TE and have Witten play the F-Back spot. I thought Escobar was primarily going to be used in goal line and red zone for this year, anyway.






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Very valid point Rich.

 

[Red Dragon]

A tight end who can't block and has little strength isn't much more than a WR.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

A tight end who can't block and has little strength isn't much more than a WR.

A slow WR.

 

[AbeBeta]

Expecting a rookie TE to do much more than block via the "getting in the way" approach is setting the bar very high.

Folks don't realize this but TE is one of the more complicated positions in the NFL. There are few guys who come into the league and blow it up early. One big reason for that is that the TE has to learn two roles -- receiver and blocker. Not many come in and get a ton of receptions -- I had a hard time finding many of the top guys in the league who had more than 40 receptions in their first year -- and one of those guys is in jail.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

A tight end who can't block and has little strength isn't much more than a WR.

Who says he can't block (period)?

And who says that a year from now he won't be stronger?

 

[MichaelWinicki]

A slow WR.

A slow 6'6" 245lb WR.

 

[Pessimist_cowboy]

Escobar is a bust . I'm calling this right now my cousin goes to San Diego state and played with this guy . He is nothing special and a 2nd round pick is more of a reach than Quincy carter . This guy is a nice guy but will never develop into a good tight end . He is a high priced project .

 

[jobberone]

A tight end who can't block and has little strength isn't much more than a WR.

No. WRs aren't 6-6; at least not very often. People here need to be thinking Jay Novacek rather than Jason Witten. A taller and bigger Novacek. And he'll make seal blocks and such just fine. He's not going to be an inline blocker anytime soon if ever.

There's no problem using Escobar in a WR role as long as you're not asking him to clear zones and burn DBs. He's not going to command safety help at least not early on if ever. He's a very large possession WR/move TE. And it's here that he makes sense. If you think he's here to replace Witten then you're right to be skeptical. He'll still get open on longer routes enough to make the D have to watch him carefully.

 

[AbeBeta]

Escobar is a bust . I'm calling this right now my cousin goes to San Diego state and played with this guy . He is nothing special and a 2nd round pick is more of a reach than Quincy carter . This guy is a nice guy but will never develop into a good tight end . He is a high priced project .

Sounds like your cousin has a bad case of the jealousy.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

A slow 6'6" 245lb WR.

UT has 4 or 5 of these big slow 6-5/6-6 245 guys. They will probably be UFAs in the next few drafts.

 

[soonercowboy]

UT has 4 or 5 of these big slow 6-5/6-6 245 guys. They will probably be UFAs in the next few drafts.

Not that wonderlic scores are everything, but I would be surprised if a guy who scored a 36 could not pick up an NFL offense as a tight end during his second training camp although it would be his first as a "starter".

 

[MichaelWinicki]

UT has 4 or 5 of these big slow 6-5/6-6 245 guys. They will probably be UFAs in the next few drafts.

I would think that route-running and hands is probably what separates them.

 

[reddyuta]

right now their blocking skills should be the least of our concern.

 

[jobberone]

right now their blocking skills should be the least of our concern.

Correctamundo. I've said Rosario will play some F and H back along with Hanna. If Hanna isn't picking up the offense then more so. However I thought it was the blocking schemes he was having problems with. I took that to mean the inline stuff and not the move stuff. Those are different skills.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

I would think that route-running and hands is probably what separates them.

If you can run the routes, that's absolutely true. That's kind of the question with Hanna though right? Can he pick up the offense? If not, then he's probably a lot like those other players.

I hope he can. I like his physical abilities.

 

[Verdict]

Escobar is a Cowboy now, so I'm 100% behind him to succeed.
But given all of our needs, using a 2nd rounder on him was a real head-scratcher for me.

It is a head scratcher only if he doesn't pan out. If he pans out, then it was an ok pick.

 

[iceberg]

I think this report is a bit of a "knee-jerk".

I don't think anyone (most?) expected Escobar to improve his strength much between the beginning of May and now. The team knew what he was when they drafted him. His rookie season will be all about his receiving skills. 2014 will be more about having a complete game.

On the 16th of July I'm not going to fret about Hanna.

Let's see where he's at 6 weeks from now. My guess is that he'll know a lot more about the offense than he does now.

exactly. reporters these days say inflammatory things to get hits cause that's what pays the bills. if you say something positive, people go "nice" and move on. say something negative, the more attention it gets.

 

[AbeBeta]

It is a head scratcher only if he doesn't pan out. If he pans out, then it was an ok pick.

How on earth can people say this was a head scratcher? We tried to sign a 2nd TE last year, didn't get it done and gave Phillips a chance. Phillips sucked and we absolutely needed a #2 TE. Had we not been able to trade down in the 1st, we likely would have used a first on one. It is an obvious need.

Even more importantly, we need a TE who has the potential to be a #1 TE in this league down the road. Folks seem to forget that we were very close to a Witten-less season last year. Witten is a special player -- a likely HoF'er. But expecting him to continue to produce as a #1 for more than another couple of years is optimistic. It is a tough position and things go downhill quickly after 10 seasons.

 

[Chocolate Lab]

It is funny though... If Fisher had said that Escobar looked great, no one would be calling him a know-nothing media knee jerker.

Fisher is about 90% positive on what he says about the Cowboys. He's the unofficial-official insider of the Cowboys' own flagship radio station. If he says something less than positive, there might be some truth to it.