2019 NFL Draft Prospects: Tight End - Josh Oliver, San Jose State
Originally recruited as a rush end/linebacker from California, Oliver stepped in at tight end for the final four games of his true freshman season due to injuries at the position. After a rather eventless second year, he became more involved in the offense as a junior, catching 35 passes for just under 300 yard. Last season he went for over 700 yards on 56 catches and scored four teams, earning himself first-team All-Mountain West honors.
At 6’5”, 250 pounds, Oliver just looks and moves like a modern-day NFL tight end. At the combine he ran 4.63 in the 40 which showed his explosiveness with a broad jump of almost ten feet and had an incredible one-handed catch on a wheel route.
Oliver lined up all over the place for the Spartan offense – at H-back, in-line, in the slot and as the single-receiver into the boundary at times. Therefore he has experience with a variety of routes from different alignments and shows good understanding for how they develop. He is a long strider who gains a lot of ground once he is on the move and can get behind safeties when asked to go vertically. His secondary burst is outstanding, he accelerates quickly out of his breaks and will make things happen crossing the face of safeties on post and deep over routes.
Oliver led all tight ends last year with just under 200 deep receiving yards (on passes of 20+ yards) and converted several crucial third downs for the Spartans. This guy’s catch-radius is humongous and he consistently catches the ball away from his body. Oliver displays the ability to high-point the ball and shows fluid adjustments to back-shoulder throws.
Overall his body-control is tremendous and he made several tough catches with a defender in his hip-pocket. Oliver doesn’t worry about contact at the point of the catch and hung on to it through some serious blows. After the catch he gains additional yardage with spins, hurdles or dragging defenders for a couple of yards. He also does an excellent job selling the run and releasing off play-action.
Oliver shows the will to push around people in the run game. He displays patient feet as a blocker and puts hands on linebackers. The receiving threat also has plenty of experience in pass-protection and shows a good base to take on and the length to guide pass rushers around, even if he is still learning in that area.
However, Oliver is too transparent when he sets up routes, especially with 90 degree cuts, and allows defenders to enter the throwing window. He runs too upright in space and the change-of-direction to work the underneath area with square-ins or hook routes isn’t what he does best.
Oliver needs to work on leverage and hand-positioning in the run-game, as he is more of a waist-bender and grabs cloth when out of position. He doesn’t have the functional strength or technique to give you anything on run downs at this point unless you want to use him as a coverage-indicator on the outside for RPOs.
Josh Oliver is one of the more intriguing tight-end prospects in this draft. He has the potential to be a mismatch due to his size, speed and ability to catch the ball with a defender on him, but he is a non-factor as a blocker at this point. I think he can develop in that area because I see the will to improve. As for now he is probably best suited as a TE2 who does his work as a receiver detached from the line.
Grade: Fourth Round