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With C.J. Uzomah out and Hayden Hurst in, the Cincinnati Bengals have some stability at the tight end position. But that hasn’t stopped them from potentially dipping into the position pool during next month’s draft.
The Bengals have been linked to two players at the position, including arguably the No. 1 tight end in the class.
The Bengals are among the teams that have consistently looked into Colorado State TE Trey McBride, along with the Titans, Buccaneers, Giants, Jets and Bills, according to Justin Melo of The Draft Network.
It’s easy to see why McBride has been widely considered TE1 in this draft. The 6’4″, 246-pounder won the John Mackey Award as the best tight end in the nation after catching 90 passes for 1,121 yards and a touchdown in 2021 for the Rams. He also added a 69-yard rushing touchdown.
#CSU TE Trey McBride has met with a plethora of teams either formally at the combine, virtually via Zoom, and has top-30 visits coming up. List includes #Titans, #Bengals, #Buccaneers, #Giants, #Jets, #Bills.
McBride is an exciting TE prospect.
— Justin M (@JustinM_NFL) March 25, 2022
Colorado State shared the moment McBride learned from his mom that he won the John Mackey Award.
McBride was a force in Mobile during Senior Bowl week and also caught a touchdown pass from Cincinnati QB Desmond Ridder to help lead the National Team to a 20-10 victory during the Senior Bowl game.
Should McBride land with the Bengals, that would just be yet another quality weapon for one Joe Burrow.
Melo also notes the Bengals are among the teams that have shown plenty of interest in SMU TE Grant Calcaterra, along with the Broncos, Titans, Colts and Cowboys.
#SMU and former #Oklahoma TE Grant Calcaterra has met with a plethora of teams either formally at the combine, virtually via Zoom, and has top-30 visits coming up. He's consistently heard from #Broncos, #Titans, #Colts, #Bengals and #Cowboys.
Calcaterra is an exciting TE.
— Justin M (@JustinM_NFL) March 28, 2022
Calcaterra (6’1″, 241 pounds) returned to football in 2021 after medically retiring after the 2019 season while at Oklahoma due to concussion issues. He worked as an EMT in August of 2020 before getting the spark again to play football.
SMU TE Grant Calcaterra said he went to EMT school and trained to be a firefighter while he was medically retired. After watching the NFL Draft in 2021, he got the spark again to play football, believing he was just as good as some of the TEs that were selected. Great story
— Billy “Got Big-Timed by Lovie Smith” Riccette (@Billy_Riccette) March 2, 2022
The big question obviously is his health and how confident teams are in that, but he did start all 12 games for SMU in 2021, catching 38 passes for 465 yards and four touchdowns. He’ll likely be a late day three pick, if he gets selected at all.
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