2019 NFL Draft Prospects: Tight End - Irv Smith Jr., Alabama
As a son of a former tight end at Notre Dame and first-round pick by the New Orleans Saints, Irv Smith Junior joined the Alabama program as a top ten national TE recruit. He had a reserve role in 2016, but didn’t catch a single pass with O.J. Howard as an outstanding first-round prospect himself ahead of him. While Smith had more of an impact in year two, it was last year that he really broke through. He finished second among all tight ends in the nation with 710 yards on just 44 catches, giving him 16.1 yards per catch in 2018, and seven trips to the end-zone.
Smith can basically be a big slot receiver with the ability to create separation out of his breaks and track the ball over his head, but also has the size to play in-line and block people in the run game. He has experience lining up in-line, in the slot, the backfield and out wide.
Smith constantly split safeties down the seams for the Crimson Tide and I’m not sure if any tight end in college football had more success on corner routes the last year than Smith. He was used as a check-down target coming underneath the formation on play-action fakes and us incredibly sudden turning back toward the quarterback on hitch and hook routes. The former Bama TE ran a lot of short outs and made things happen after the catch. He basically had a perfect passer rating when targeted and was tied for the highest yards per route (2.56) for any tight-end in this draft.
While he might not drive people off the ball with pure power, Smith latches onto defenders and turns bodies in the run game, looking to finish plays the right way. He was asked to kick out back-side defensive ends on zone splits and used on weak-lead plays from the H-back spot, where you heard the thump when he collided with linebackers and did even better than I expected when I put on the tape.
Smith also excelled at putting hands on people in the quick screen game and caught a few of those himself. I thought he had excellent workouts at the combine and the Alabama pro day, running crisp routes and catching the ball very naturally. A play nobody will talk about for Smith is a pick-six by Tennessee against the Crimson Tide, where he covered a hundred yards and almost chased the defender down, showing his speed and effort on the field.
Unfortunately Smith doesn’t always work back the ball in a strong enough fashion and allows defenders to crowd the throwing window. He dropped a wide-open deep ball versus Georgia in this last SEC Championship game. Smith benefitted a lot from being part of an Alabama offense under Heisman trophy candidate Tua Tagovailoa, where everybody put up numbers. He lacks premier size at 6’2” and didn’t put up a lot of contested catches on tape. For my taste he is also is a little too loose with the ball in his hands and fumbled twice on the tapes I watched, even if he recovered one himself.
While I do believe that the two Iowa tight ends are their own little group at the top on most people’s boards, Smith to me is the clear number three guy. He is an excellent slot receiver if you want to use him in that role, but he also shows effort as a blocker in the box. Smith might not quite have the elite explosiveness and physical tools to be an All-Pro at the position, but I think he could be somebody who is in the Pro Bowl conversation perennially if he is put in the right position.
Grade: Early Second