STRENGTHS
Dalton has the potential to be an impact pass catching Tight End that moves the chains and be a match-up nightmare in the red zone. He shows pass-catching skills, and just enough foot speed to split a two-deep zone, and catch the ball down the hash marks. Because he has a large and acrobatic catch radius, Dalton will make impact plays all over the field for any down and distance. He is the type of receiver that becomes a quarterback’s best friend on the field. Dalton is an adequate blocker but his true impact will be as an added impact receiver for a team’s passing game. He will sell out to make the catch that can change the momentum of the game.
CONCERNS
As I stated, Dalton is an adequate blocker but the truth is, he is more of a receiver similar in style to Chiefs’ Travis Kelce. I’m not convinced he will ever be a great blocker but he will get the job done.
BOTTOM LINE: 2.14
If you draft Dalton and use him in your offense like the Chiefs use Travis, you will have an impact Tight End, who will make plays all over the field. If you think he is going to become a great blocking Tight End…think again, Dalton doesn’t have that type of mentality. He turns on the aggressiveness when he runs routes and is thrown the ball but as far as blocking that just is not his forte. Nevertheless, he will block and he will protect just enough, showing the needed aggressiveness to block when he knows that the play is depending on him making a block. The truth is, he really wants to run a route and make the difficult catch that gets the fans and his team motivated. So, don’t bother drafting Dalton if you’re an offensive coordinator or quarterback who doesn’t make use of their Tight End in the passing game. Dalton’s talent to catch the ball will help to open up the running game because he will take a linebacker out of the front seven but only if he is on the field and you make a game plan to throw the ball to him like the Chiefs throw the ball to Travis…otherwise don’t bother to draft him. Let him impact another team’s passing game plan.
