2019 NFL Draft Prospects: Tight End - Kaden Smith, Stanford
This former five-star recruit out of Texas chose the Cardinal because of their success with getting tight ends to the NFL. After redshirting his first year at campus, Smith took on a number two role behind Dalton Schultz as more of the receiving threat, catching 23 passes for 414 yards. Last season he was a second-team All-Pac 12 selection and John Mackey award finalist with 47 grabs for 635 yards and two touchdowns in ten games.
Smith is a big-bodied pass-catcher at 6’5”, 255 pounds. Dalton Schultz was more of the all-around contributor to their 2017 offense, while Smith on the other hand served the role of more of a receiving threat, lining up detached from the line primarily and even split out wide on some snaps. He was used a lot more in-line and in tight bunches last season however.
Smith has good burst off the ball, runs tight breaks and really flips that head when he comes out of his breaks. He has outstanding hands to extend over his head and pluck the ball out of the air at its highest point. Smith is not afraid of going over the middle and excels with bodies around him, where he shows strong hands and the ball doesn’t move if he gets hit or a hand swipes at it.
He uses slight push-offs and knows how to post up against smaller bodies, plus has the ability to go over the top of a defender and pick the ball off his head for those tough catches. Smith was tied for first among tight-ends with seven catches of 20+ yards and stood alone with 27 receptions out of the slot.
The former Cardinal TE made four huge catches in the 2017 Pac-12 Championship game versus USC, including two touchdowns with a defender right in his face and a huge catch on third-and-ten from their own ten yard line on a post route, which kept his team in the game.
Smith is not easy to bring down with the ball in his hands and needs to be cut down by his feet, shows awareness for defenders and with the trust he has in his hands, he can make smooth transitions from catching the ball to getting additional yardage, plus he has a feel for where the sticks are. He has shown the willingness and potential as a run-blocker on some occasions. Smith displays a tight grip to sustain blocks and shows the ability to lock out edge defenders. As a blocker he is at his best on the move as part of toss or sweep plays, where he can put hands on people in space.
With that being said, Smith gets knocked off his routes to easily by defenders. His speed is a major question at 4.92 in the 40 and he doesn’t have the explosiveness to create a lot of separation, winning primarily on contested catches.
Smith isn’t very elusive post-catch and rarely even got the opportunity to show anything with minimal space to the next defender. He wasn’t nearly the same type of run-blocker against stronger defensive linemen either. What really bumped Smith’s draft stock was that lackluster combine performance, where he put up some of the worst numbers across the board and you see some of those athletic limitations on tape.
Smith might have not played in that role a whole lot at Stanford, but his skill-set best translates to a true Y tight-end. He will never be a dynamic threat to go completely go over the top, but he has upside to improve as a run-blocker and catches the ball easily, to be a security blanket for some offense. However, he might not ever be a TE1 when in a pass-happy NFL.
Grade: Fifth Round