Top 10 tight-ends in the 2021 NFL Draft

#10 2021 NFL Draft Prospect: Matt Bushman (BYU)

6' 5", 245 pounds; SR

Matt Bushman

One of the top 1000 overall recruit in 2017, Matt Bushman went for a little over 500 yards in each of first two seasons.

In 2018, he did it in two less games and on 20(!) fewer catches, which gave him an average of 17.6 yards per grab, after he was a Freshman All-American the year prior. As a junior, he put up career-highs with 47 catches for 688 yards and four touchdowns. Unfortunately, he ruptured his Achilles in practice before this past season in September, and his name has been lost in the draft process.

Everybody thinks of BYU as this high-flying offensive attack, because of the season quarterback Zach Wilson just had for them, but they seem to forget that this has been a downhill run team traditionally and Bushman was asked to do a lot of different things as a blocker.

He gets lined up at Y as an H-back and detached from the line, while having worked in several pro-style run schemes for the Cougars. In terms of the angles he uses, how he engages with hands inside the frame of defenders and how he keeps working to sustain blocks, he is a quality asset in that regard.

Bushman is very light on his feet, to get himself into position for second- and third-level blocks. You see him get out in front and clear the way on speed sweeps and end-arounds a lot. And I really like the way he transitions into being a blocker, when a teammate catches the ball underneath or his quarterback takes off, getting in the face of guys in space routinely.

He delivers a strong blow on chips, before releasing into his routes and he’s pretty sneaky leaking out in a delayed fashion off play-action or on trick-play type of stuff, with good burst once he’s sold the initial look.

Bushman displays really soft hands, extends for and adjusts to the ball extremely well. He only dropped one pass and caught eight passes of 20+ air yards (on twice as many targets) in 2019, with a passer rating of around 100 when targeted at all three levels. The Cougars even put him at X receiver and let him run slant routes a few times.

While his speed won’t blow you away, Bushman shows some acceleration out of his stance and is a threat down the seams, as well as creating some chunk plays on post and deep over routes. Quarterback Zach Wilson targeted his big tight-end quite a bit on slot fade routes, where he showed fluid turns to the back-shoulder and routinely defeated defenders right in his hip-pocket that way.

He has no issues with defenders crowing the catch point and shows tremendous focusing of hauling in passes through contact. Furthermore, Bushman has a talent for finding open space on secondary routes and scramble drills, helping out his quarterback by presenting a target routinely.

When he catches the ball stick or out routes, he instantly turns upfield and gets what is there, to where his hips are already facing North at times, while the ball is just arriving there. Bushman shows good shiftiness and balance after the catch, while getting physical when he has to engage contact, which led to 15 broken tackles on 125 career catches

While he has plenty of experience working in-line, Bushman has some issues as a blocker, in terms of sinking his hips naturally and creating momentum as a drive-blocker. You see him slip off defenders late, because he leans into them, or fail to get his body in position to cut off guys on the backside of run plays.

Against defensive ends or outside backers, stalemates are usually the best you get. As a route-runner, he is pretty upright and lacks explosiveness coming out of his breaks, as more of a JAG, when you watch him move. However, the biggest concern here for Bushman is that ruptured Achilles, which he will barely be a year away from when the 2021 NFL season kicks off, So he will likely not be able to take part in all off-season activities (depending on how much there will be be this year), and he is already 25 years old

Obviously, my ranking of a player like this coming off a major injury has to depend on what his medical says. Without any additional information on how his recovery will continue to go and me solely evaluating what I see on film, Matt Bushman deserved to be mentioned here in this very weak tight-end class, once you approach the double-digits.

He has a natural feel for the position, puts in great effort as a blocker and catches pretty much everything thrown his way. If healthy, he at least should be a high-quality number two. Had he come off the 2019 season, he would probably have been a day-two pick, considering how effective he was at BYU.

The next names up:

Nick Eubanks (Michigan), Pro Wells (TCU), Cary Angeline (N.C. State), Quintin Morris (Bowling Green), Zach Davidson (Central Missouri) & Jacob Harris (UCF).

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