STRENGTHS
Bucky has such soft hands to catch the football that when the ball is thrown his way it’s like watching the ball melt into his hands like vanilla ice cream melts when it placed gentle on a warm piece of blueberry pie. He has sure hands never double clutching the ball and never seems to drop many balls. He likes the physical part of the receiver position and has just enough body control to adjust and catch contested passes. He has long strong strides and has good speed making his opponent have to take two steps to his one just to keep up with him and that is what allows him to gain excellent separation when he runs his routes. Bucky is a weapon in the red zone and a “move the chains” type of receiver in the open field but his impact is as a touch down maker and any time his team is over the fifty yard line this kid smells the end zone. There is no receiver, tight end or running back in this draft with any more talent to catch the ball than Bucky has. Trust me on this.

CONCERNS
Bucky might be one of the worst blocking Tight Ends or for that matter Receiver that I have seen in a long time. If you think he’s going to be your starting hand in the dirt Tight End I suggest you think again. The kid couldn’t block a 93 year old woman with a walker on black Friday. He lacks the lateral agility and flexible hips to block because of those long legs and long strides. Nevertheless he catches the ball with such ease that quarterbacks will want to marry him.

BOTTOM LINE
Bucky is not a Tight End, at least not in the normal way most of us think of a Tight End. He is a receiver who reminds me of Buccaneers Vincent Jackson only with even better hands. I’m not sure why he is listed as a Tight End because he hardly ever played with his hand down and played mostly in the slot and on the outside as a receiver in college. Evaluating him as a Tight End would mean he would not be draftable. Evaluating him as a receiver means he has some things to learn but he is natural at catching the ball. He is different than most receivers in the way he runs his routes and if people evaluating him don’t realize that then most of them will give him a poor evaluation in route running. Because of his long strong strides his separation comes not in how he runs his routes but in the fact his long strides cover more ground quicker that his opponents and that’s how he gets his separation. Vincent Jackson has had a pretty good career and Bucky can have one just as good and maybe even better depending on the team and who is throwing him the ball. But Bucky is not a Tight End. If you select him thinking he will be your starting, hand on the ground, bruising blocking and then catching the ball like Jason Witten Tight End, you’re making a big mistake. Bucky is a pure receiver, inside or outside but, he is a pure receiver because like I said before, he couldn’t block a 93 year old woman with a walker on black Friday.

Drew Boylhart  FEB.2017