Cincinnati Bengals: Tyler Eifert a breakout candidate to watch

Two underrated injuries hurt the Cincinnati Bengals last season more than some thought, as their pass-catching depth was nearly cut in half after Tyler Eifert and Marvin Jones suffered injuries that essentially knocked them out of the entire 2015 season (Jones never played and Eifert took just eight snaps, though he did turn them into three catches on three targets for a solid 37 yards). A.J. Green shined, Jeremy Hill took the league by a storm, and Mohamed Sanu broke out to a certain extent, but Andy Dalton and the Bengals sorely missed Eifert and Jones, who were both supposed to take on big roles in 2014.

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With Jermaine Gresham still a free agent and no longer really part of the picture, Eifert is locked in as the unquestioned No. 1 TE. He’s coming off of season-ending elbow and shoulder injuries, but it’s important to remember how touted he was coming out of college and how much quiet promise he flashed as a rookie.

In fact, his talent is starting to shine through a bit, and though it is extremely early in the offseason, the reviews on the former Notre Dame star are positive. According to ESPN NFL Nation’s Coley Harvey, the third-year pro has “caught virtually everything thrown his away” at practice, and, more importantly, his route-running has been “sharp”. Nobody expected his injuries last season to linger into 2015, but it’s comforting to hear that he’s looking good despite the fact that the Bengals coaching staff is wisely playing it very cautious with him.

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See, the Bengals know how important Eifert is going into the season, and it goes beyond the fact that he’s clearly their best and most individually gifted option at the tight end position. He’s a former first-round pick with 4.65 wheels despite having a 6’6″, 250-pound frame, and he can be described as an athletic freak with the opportunity to take plenty of pressure off of Green, Dalton, and the rest of the Bengals passing attack.

Tight end is one of the most difficult positions to transition to in the NFL, but Eifert handled the move well once you put the numbers into perspective. He caught 39 passes for 445 yards and two touchdowns, and while those numbers don’t seem impressive on the surface, Jimmy Graham had just 31 receptions as a rookie, Rob Gronkowski 42, Zach Ertz 36, and Eric Ebron 28.

Even the elite TEs didn’t have monster seasons as rookies, and that’s just par for the course at the position. The most important thing to look at when evaluating rookie TEs as pass-catchers is their rate stats, and Eifert’s were pretty good. Per Advanced Football Analytics, he caught 65% of everything thrown at him and averaged 7.4 yards per target.

Those are strong numbers for a rookie TE, and just six tight ends forced more missed tackles than Eifert, who also showed off his playmaking ability by averaging a hefty 6.1 yards after the catch per reception. The disclaimer here is that Gresham averaged the same number of YAC per reception and had more missed tackles forced. Gresham had more snaps and targets, but those numbers from Eifert could have easily been products of the Bengals offense in 2013.

Dec 15, 2013; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Cincinnati Bengals tight end Tyler Eifert (right) catches a touchdown pass against Pittsburgh Steelers free safety Ryan Clark (25) during the fourth quarter at Heinz Field. The Steelers won 30-20. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

That said, Eifert did look as raw as you would expect a rookie TE to look (fellow 2013 rookie Ertz was far more polished), as he has one of the league’s worst drop rates at the position with a whopping five drops.

It’s a good thing he’s catching “virtually everything” early in the Cincinnati Bengals offseason program, but we also need to hope that his blocking has improved.

The Bengals obviously drafted him for his pass-catching prowess, so it’s not too big of a deal if Eifert’s blocking fails to gets significantly better with experience.

As Harvey says in his post, “The additions of him and Jones will be tremendous this season. That can’t be understated.”

Losing two of your top three projected pass-catching weapons can be devastating, and Sanu was the only receiver keeping things afloat when Green went down for a little bit.

Tyler Eifert is a good bet to have a breakout season due to his physical tools, solid numbers (again, he had a 65% catch rate and 7.4 yards per target), and his expected opportunities. If he can stay healthy and command targets from Dalton, then he could have a strong third-year season.

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