When thinking about great tight end draft classes, thoughts immediately turn to 2010 and 2017. The former gave us players like Rob Gronkowski and Jimmy Graham. The latter saw three players taken in the first round, but the belle of the ball was George Kittle, taken in the fifth round. The 2020 tight end crop is not top-heavy with talent, but there are a few intriguing prospects. None more so than Adam Trautman.
Trautman hasn’t garnered too much attention over the last four years after spending his collegiate career with Dayton. He arrived on the Flyers after playing quarterback in high school, but his time spent with the team was certainly productive. Trautman boasts a 38.1-percent (97th-percentile among qualified tight ends) College Dominator Rating. These numbers are buoyed by a truly dominant final year in 2019, where he reeled in 70 receptions for 916 yards. He also scored 14 touchdowns after scoring 17 in total during his first three seasons. As dominant as he was, his 13.1 (54th-percentile) college yards per reception mark isn’t exactly top tier.
Adam Trautman College Stats
Trautman had a decent outing at the NFL Scouting Combine but didn’t melt any faces. His 4.80 (46th-percentile) 40-yard dash was 13th out of 17 tight end attendees. One area in which he did excel was in the 3-cone, where he paced all comers with a 6.78 time. This, coupled with a 4.27 short shuttle, gives him an 11.05 Agility Score. That earned him a place in the 95th-percentile at the position.
Adam Trautman Advanced Stats & Metrics Profile
Trautman’s closest comparable player according to our Data Analysis tool is Philadelphia Eagles tight end Dallas Goedert. Like Goedert, Trautman was dominant at a small school. Goedert was a standout performer at South Dakota, but Trautman also draws comparisons to Zach Ertz and Heath Miller. Encouraging signs, considering how productive these two players have been in the NFL.
Check out Adam Trautman on PlayerProfiler’s Updated Rookie Rankings:
Despite the positive signals, Trautman is not a ready-made NFL tight end and shouldn’t be expected to produce right from day one. Heck, he probably shouldn’t even be expected to get on the field right from day one. Yes he was dominant in his college offense, but at the level he was playing at, the numbers are not those of a player who can immediately take the NFL by storm. He is still relatively new to the position too, and is unlikely to have learned too many of the blocking techniques NFL coaches will expect him to perform in his time with the Flyers.
Landing spot and draft capital will have a big say in how successful an NFL career Trautman can expect to have. He’s an interesting developmental prospect, and one worthy of a place on taxi squads in deeper leagues, but a must-have prospect to snatch up early in rookie drafts? I don’t think so.
