Earlier this week, Mike Mayock posted his first positional rankings of the 2016 NFL Draft season. On Thursday, we took a look at quarterbacks, and on Friday we took a look at inside linebackers, and then interior offensive linemen. We're going to continue moving through these position-by-position, and for this post we move over to the tight end position.
Here's how Mayock ranked out the top five tight ends in the 2016 NFL Draft:
1. Hunter Henry, Arkansas
2. Austin Hooper, Stanford
3. Jerrell Adams, South Carolina
4. Nick Vannett, Ohio State
5. Henry Krieger Coble, Iowa
The San Francisco 49ers dealt away Vernon Davis, leaving them with veterans Vance McDonald and Garrett Celek, and Blake Bell as a rookie. They also had Busta Anderson on injured reserve, and had signed Brian Leonhardt and Je'Ron Hamm. They have bodies to compete for opportunities, but will there be enough of them?
CBS Sports put together some projections for the tight end position, and they have Henry as a potential first or second round pick, Hooper as a second round pick, Vannett as a third round pick, Adams as a fourth or fifth round pick, and Krieger Coble as a sixth round pick. They had some other guys in the mix ahead of Krieger Coble.
Bell showed some signs, while Anderson might have been IR'd to protect him from waivers at the end of training camp. McDonald remains a question mark, and is running out of opportunities. Celek has shown some signs, but is still a low ceiling tight end. I could see at least one tight end added to the group, but I don't see them investing too heavily in the position.