Josh Whyle 2023 NFL Draft profile: Scout report for the Cincinnati TE
Josh Whyle, Cincinnati
6’6”, 245 pounds; SR
A top-500 overall recruit in 2018, Whyle caught only two passes as a true freshman, before registering nearly identical numbers in each of the following three seasons, averaging 29 catches for 337 yards and five touchdowns, earning second-team in 2020 and first-team All-AAC honors in 2022 respectively
+ Lands his hand inside the chest well initially, rolls his hips into contact and maintains a wide base in the run game
+ And he displays impressive balance, to not get knocked back or turned sideways as he initiates contact with box-defenders who have a runway to build up momentum as they charge into him
+ Was regularly utilized as a lead-puller on GF power/counter or turning up inside the tackle next to him, where he is consistently able to center his blocks on defenders in the hole and give the ball-carrier room to operate
+ Can blow backside edge defenders out of the action on shift/kick-out blocks, frequently after motioning inside from detached alignments
+ Lands some impactful crack-blocks on defensive ends on toss and sweep plays to create a softer corner for his names to pull around
+ Quick out of his stance and up in the face of safeties from wing-alignments, being able to cover them up and allowing the ball to get out to the perimeter
+ Consistently takes care of his man in the quick screen game, choosing the appropriate angles and forcing guys to go through him – Generally does a great job of breaking down in space and making sure to secure challenging blocks
+ Easy burst off the line to threaten defenses vertically, on seam routes and benders, where he rapidly clears the second level
+ Doesn’t tilt or give away breaks prematurely, with discipline in his stem and not having to throttle down a whole lot
+ Can reduce his size and make those sharp 90-degree cuts very well, as well as change up gears on the fly, yet he can also bend off the inside foot fluidly on quick out-breaking routes
+ Regularly beats safeties in off-coverage on slant or glance routes by sticking that outside football in the ground with force and typically not being contested as he catches the ball because they can’t drive forward quickly enough
+ Was open on quite a few corner routes, where he pushed them up the field and made them commit their hips before perfectly timing up he worked across their face – Unfortunately he was rarely targeted on those
+ Delays the way he gets into some of his routes on cross-releases and patterns where he can’t get to his landmarks too quickly, with good secondary bursts when he does hit it
+ Shows the awareness for when to slow or sit down routes as he enters soft-spots in zone coverage
+ Super-reliable hands with consistent technique if he has to extend in front of him or over his head – only dropped one of 33 catchable targets last season and four across 86 over the last three
+ Secured some challenging receptions, where he had to pick the ball up inches above the ground
+ Displays the body-control and looseness to adjust to off-center passes without looking like he’s caught in awkward positions
+ His ability to turn up the field instantly after the catch was something to note on a couple of occasions
+ No-nonsense type of ball-carrier who can weave through traffic but doesn’t stop his feet much
+ More than half of his career yardage total has come after the catch (567 of 1060) and 57 of his 88 total catches have been turned into first downs (64.8%)
+ The Bearcats regularly brought him across the formation and hit him for easy yardage on slide routes off play-action
– Gets too far over his skis as a blocker and falls forward at times as he’s approaching contact
– Needs to work on re-fitting his hands and finding leverage again without having to lean/lunge into defenders – bigger defensive ends could certainly give him issues
– His 4.69 in the 40 was below-average for the TE group and he had the fourth-worst vertical jump at 33.5 inches & he was tied for the worst broad at 9’7”
– Only has 31.5-inch arms at 6’6” and ½ – that played a part in hauling in just two of seven contested targets last year
– Forced just two missed tackles in 2022, without the strongest lower body to bounce off hits
Whyle presents more of a high-cut, long build. That comes with positives and negatives. The way he can burst off the line and easily bend his routes, along with being able to “play small” when he does not sit down and be precise in his cuts, is impressive. However, that higher center of gravity gives him issues taking charge of blocks in terms of working up through contact as well as staying attached to them.
With that being said, he can get open against safeties, catch the ball naturally and quickly make those count. He certainly plays faster than he timed and I think can be a valuable flex option combined with some H-back/wing duties, but I would have liked to see more in contested catch situations as well as being able to break tackles.
Grade: Late third round
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