While there is much talk about the increased importance of quarterbacks in today’s pass-happy NFL, this could also be referred to as a new Golden Age of the Tight End. In this year’s draft, Stanford tight end Coby Fleener is rated as the top tight end in the class, and could well be a first round pick and the next great receiving tight end in the NFL.
“The guys that played in the NFL this year, the Jimmy Grahams and the Gronkowskis of the world, have really done our class of tight ends a favor,” Fleener said. “I can’t say enough about the guys that have already played, and I hope to one day go play just like that.”
There are more great receiving tight ends in the league now than ever before in NFL history. And players like Rob Gronkowki and Aaron Hernandez in New England, Jimmy Graham in New Orleans and Vernon Davis in San Francisco are putting up receiver-like numbers and creating secondary mismatches throughout the league.
While tight ends were largely used primarily as blockers that occasionally caught the ball, with a few exception like Shannon Sharpe, the tight end has emerged as one of the primary offensive weapons. Fleener was used in that role in Stanford where he was a four year starter who improved his production each year. In his senior season, he caught 34 balls for 667 yards and 10 touchdowns and was a great target for likely number-one overall pick quarterback Andrew Luck.
Fleener is a big target, standing 6-foot-6, 247 pounds. He isn’t a flyer, like Aaron Hernandez or Vernon Davis, but he has good speed, great hands and knows how to get open. And with his height, he creates a great red zone target. The words most often applied to him are polished and practiced. Much like the quarterback that threw him the ball at Stanford, he is well prepared to go out and be successful at the next level.
For a player that is poised to be the next great receiving tight end in the NFL, it is ironic that Fleener is named after an offensive lineman. His parents were watching and NFL game in 1988 when his pregnant mother Michelle noticed the name on the back of Redskins tackle Joe Jacoby. She turned to her husband and said, “Jacoby: that might be a good name for our son.”
Jacoby was a three time Super Bowl champion and four time Pro Bowl player in his 12 year career with the Washington Redskins, although as a tackle, he never caught a pass in the NFL.
Fleener, who dropped the “Ja” and just goes by Coby now, got the opportunity to interview Jacoby as part of a sports journalism course at Stanford.
“I was fortunate enough to have a professor that was a beat writer for the Washington Redskins and covered Joe when he was playing,” Fleener explained. “He put in a call for me and made the connection. I wrote a story that described my interaction with Joe and kind of how things came about.”
