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TE Tucker Kraft, South Dakota State
Who's ready to have their time wasted? Because every single word you read in this post, you are reading about a player the Chiefs are not going to be able to take. (The case could be made that every one of my posts is a waste of your time, but this holds especially true here.) I say this in part because Kraft is a talented prospect with a ton of upside that teams will believe they can mold into a smart, dynamic tight end. But I mostly say it because he's from South Dakota State, TE Dallas Goedert's school, and looks and plays exactly like Goedert did as a prospect. And the league just saw Goedert pull jackrabbits out of his hat throughout the Super Bowl. (I hope you got that reference.)
As a result, Kraft is going to show up to the Combine and blow it up, and there are going to be teams as early as the 20s take a good hard look at him. Sure, TE Luke Musgrave and TE Dalton Kincaid are attractive as pure receiving slot TEs. But Kraft can excel in the slot. He will be able to block well with coaching. He can split out, he can find soft zones. He can take manufactured touches, and with coaching he should be able to run clean routes. It's just not often that a 6'6" TE with good size and athleticism comes along who can do everything who looks just like the guy who almost won the Super Bowl for the Philadelphia Eagles. And while he can't do it all now, he definitely looks like he'll be able to.
It probably goes without saying that Kraft is tailor made for the Kansas City Chiefs. They already have a Hall of Fame tight end who is basically a glorified #1 WR, but they could use a more dynamic option at TE outside of TE Noah Gray and TE Jody Fortson who can also get his hands in the dirt and push defensive ends wide of the pocket. Kraft would also be walking into a great situation here, and he'd likely get to be the 3rd (or 4th!) tight end for about half the season and get his legs under him. By Year 2, he'd be eating into TE Travis Kelce's snaps. Does that mean he's a 2nd round pick for us? He probably is for literally every other team in the league.
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