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2014 NFL Draft: Jace Amaro Top Rookie Tight End

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By @rickstavig

Jace Amaro, NFL Draft

Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports

This wasn’t a banner year for rookie tight ends. Plain and simple. Yes, one was taken in the top-10 of the 2014 NFL Draft, and four were taken in the top two rounds entirely, but there wasn’t a whole lot of production once the regular season rolled around. So who was the top rookie TE, if you had to pick? Jace Amaro (49th overall, New York Jets).

Amaro was brought in as versatile athlete coming from a spread offense in college (Texas Tech) to help stretch the seams and make plays underneath with speedy outside guys like Eric Decker, Jeremy Kerley (and later Percy Harvin) stretched the outside. Well, in theory it should’ve worked, but they were missing the most important ingredient to a successful team, offense and rookie pass catcher: a legitimate quarterback.

As a whole, Amaro caught 38 balls for 345 yards and 2 TD’s on the season, with no other rookie TE topping 25 receptions or 248 yards. Average numbers at best, but again, who knows the caliber of campaign he could’ve produced had he been catching passes from an NFL-caliber QB. He was also one of the better rookie blockers as far as TE’s, one of only three to grade out positively according to ProFootballFocus.

He’s far from a finished product, and he desperately needs to work on the consistency of his hands (6 drops on the year) and the crispness of his routes, but that will get better as he continues to develop. The route running and playbook learning for him were especially difficult considering the transition in playbooks from college to pro, a simple offense to a much more complex one.

Who else was considered for this simple acknowledgement? Had he played a bigger role in the Baltimore Ravens offense, Crockett Gillmore (99th overall) would surely be considered. He was solid in both blocking and receiving, and caught 76.9% of the passes thrown his way. Still, 10 receptions and 1 TD are hard to put ahead of Amaro’s numbers. Austin Seferian-Jenkins (38th overall, Tampa Bay Buccaneers) also had a relatively decent year, posting 21 receptions and 221 yards and 2 TD’s, but again, you have to give the edge to Amaro.

Rick Stavig is an NFL Draft Columnist for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @rickstavig or add him to your network on Google+.

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