Luke Musgrave: For Better or Worse, an Unexpected Talent
Luke Musgrave
Oregon State, Tight End 6’6″, 253 lbs
2022 Receiving: 11 receptions, 169 yards and 1 TD
Career Receiving: 47 receptions, 633 yards and 2 TDs
Pros
Embed from Getty ImagesLuke Musgrave is one of the more athletic tight ends in the draft. Clocking a 4.61 40 yard dash, 1.54 10 yard split; Luke Musgrave is fast for his size. Combat that with a 36 inch vertical and 10 foot and 5 inch broad jump he did everything he has needed to to become a Day 2 draft pick.
Due to a series knee injury he was held to only 2 games with the stats above. For a tight end, I still like those numbers. His size is what sticks out because if you go watch his 2021 highlights, a22 tape, or whatever other tape you watch if you do, you see a productive player on an offense that doesn’t utilize him. Good thing for him at the combine is he got fully cleared for football activities. Hopefully the injury bug can stay out of his way.
Musgrave has an uncanny ability to catch every contested catch that comes his way. Using his huge frame and huge catch radius, he only had one drop his entire career. His speed lets him run by a lot of college defensive players.
The key for success with Musgrave is can he stay on the field and get into an offense that can use him to his abilities. There are some offenses more than others that would be preferable. Cincinnati would be a good fit. New England would not.
Cons
Luke Musgrave is a willing blocker. When he is asked to do it he will attempt to do so. He seems to never get his feet fully set to actually drive the defender back. While I give praise for blocking, he has a lot more work to do to become really good at it. This is possible by the likes of Josh Oliver a few years ago. A once real athletic tight end that wanted to stay in the league and is now one of the better blocking tight ends. Musgrave could do that.
However, Musgrave may have a little bit more talent then Oliver did coming out. Like stated above, he is fast. Watching his film it seems his on the field speed was even faster than what he tested at. With this he did just run past defenders and not really have to work on his route running. They are more sluggish then crisp. He rounded off almost every route and we have no idea if he has a plant foot at all.
Then the big elephant that is in the room. Can he stay healthy. WIth a knee injury hurting his senior season. It will hurt is draft stock because there still is the notion that a lot of people believe that if you get hurt in college, you will in the NFL too.
Embed from Getty ImagesSummary
In the 2nd or 3rd round of the NFL Draft Luke Musgrave will get drafted. With it finally being draft month we will finally get that answer sooner than later.
Although, Musgrave is tough to analyze, his highlights are still nice to watch as you can here:
He has similar builds and reminds me a lot of Dawson Knox and OJ Howard coming out of college. Knox is a starter for the Bills and OJ Howard, is still a decent option if he can get on the field. In dynasty rookie drafts non premium, you can probably get him off the waiver wire when you need a spot tight end or the starter gets hurt.
If you have a taxi squad, I would use any 3rd round pick on him because of his potential alone. Tight end premium leagues, I would still only use a 3rd round pick on him because you do have a very nice tight end class with the top guys starting to get taken in the 2nd round.
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I will be keeping my eye on him in my drafts, will you?
2023 Dynasty Rookie Draft Projection: 3rd round on
Ideal Role: Starting Tight End potential, Backup role to start
Player Comp: Dawson Knox, OJ Howard
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