Well he is correct about how bad Conklin was last year, that’s for certain. Just a really strange, terrible year compared to everything before it. I’m hoping it’s a one-off outlier, but it is very peculiar. That said, it’s also why we were able to get him for so cheap.
As for the overall state of our TE room, I’m much more fine with it than most, but then I rate LaPorta a lot higher than most people too, and I’m not immediately doom and gloom about every injury (especially one a lot of guys have returned from, though admittedly our luck specifically has been bad, but it’s a really small sample size). I think Wright/Conklin are fine at #2 and #3, not great but not the worst, and I think with the way our receivers block we will actually play 2 and 3 TEs fewer than most other teams in the league.
Finally, I think the run on TEs this year, especially any with any semblance of blocking talent, was insane. I’m glad we pivoted away from it, the entire class, even though it was deep, got overdrafted.
Well except for Carsen Ryan and Dallen Bentley, who both somehow lasted until the last 10 picks of the draft. I was really hoping either one would reach FA.
The guy from The Athletic just posted his best UDFA fits. For the Lions he chose Miles Kitselman.
This is what he wrote:
“My best NFL comp for Kitselman might actually be Lions head coach Dan Campbell. Kitselman isn’t the athlete Campbell was, but the 6-foot-5, 251-pounder is a former high school offensive lineman who is extremely serious about run blocking. He gets everything out of his body, and there’s no way the Lions won’t like him.”
You don’t know we “pivoted” away from it. I also don’t know that they didn’t…
For all we know we were happy at the position and thought it was at the bottom of team needs. Which it absolutely is considering our skill players and having almost no open targets to go to others players.
@BubbaBaker60 Also, Who says Jim Harbaugh loves TEs? Does he a have a track record for having TEs on his roster who put up big numbers? It’s a stigma or assumption because of his history coaching at Michigan and being a “run the rock” kind of coach. There’s no basis in reality on this.
I ran through every teams TE room in the last 15 minutes and the positions groups are extremely blah. There’s less than 5 teams that have impressive 2s that I think are starting caliber and almost zero 3s with the track record of Conklin.
I think they brought in Conklin to be their receiving TE because they already had two blocking TEs on the roster. Then Oronde Gadsden instantly turned into way more than they hoped as a rookie and he jumped Conklin on the depth chart. They likely didn’t want to dress 4 TEs on game day, so he was the odd man out.
Conklin has a nice resume for a TE3. You can argue he and Wright are neck-and-neck for TE2, since Conklin has been a better blocker. Then that would make Wright TE3, and he’s still better than what most NFL teams have at that spot.
Kitselman gives them an option in case of injuries. They’ll likely stash him on PS, and his best trait so far is as a blocker anyway.
Well we didn’t draft a TE, I guess if I’d say “I’m glad we didn’t draft a TE cause they all went too early,” you would have been fine with that phrasing?
You were suggesting we were interested in bringing one in in the draft but pivoted because they all went too high. I interpreted that correctly didn’t I? Maybe you meant something different…
You have been critical of others with “this guy went too early, this guy was a reach,” type comments as if we actually know. I mean how on one hand can you be critical of these statements but then literally make them yourself? Maybe TEs went right where they should’ve gone? I think even yourself would say that if the argument were flipped around…
Sigh, fair enough man. Fair enough. That is not exactly what I was suggesting, no, but I understand why you would read it that way. I will make sure to include more information with everything I write so that little tiny parts of it can’t be misconstrued.
This happens to me all the time here haha. It’s all good, I just think being critical of our TE position is nuts…that’s all. It’s literally at the bottom of this teams needs. The top 3 is very solid. It’s been a way bigger topic that it ever needed to be…and it continues.
I was part responsible for the dumbest run on of threads regarding Larry Borom. I got so much flack for that it was ridiculous…all because some predicted it months in advance and because it came to fruition, people felt smart. He was all of a sudden good enough to be a starter (as a backup plan) because “I nailed the prediction!”
That’s not directed at you as you were very cordial during the entire thing. But man did I get roasted and blocked and laughed at because of it. I’m just giving the medicine back to a position that was complete well before the draft.
But I literally said I didn’t have a problem with the TE position. I’m on the same side as you. I just chimed in to say that factually, Conklin was very bad last year. Not that he would be bad for us, not that he wasn’t good before last year, just that last year, like @BubbaBaker60 said, he wasn’t good. Again, that is no prediction about how he will be this year - like I said multiple times in here I think our TE room is fine too - just a clarification that he’s coming off an awful year. But Glasgow was too when he returned from Denver.
And even during all of those Borom conversations, I never wavered from saying I believed taking RT was plan A. I just saw paths to NOT taking RT being more possible than you did, but I never said they were the most likely. And yet for taking that stance, at some point during that conversation I got painted as the ‘Borom-lover.’ This is what I mean when I say there’s no nuance. I try and take a measured, middle-of-the-road stance (like I said, on Reddit I was arguing AGAINST a guy who wanted to start Borom outright), but because it wasn’t anti-Borom enough, I got pushed to the other extreme and become the Borom-lover, even though that’s not at all what I was trying to convey.
You weren’t the Borom lover from my viewpoint. I actually viewed your takes exactly as you intended…as a voice of reason.
You responded to me in this thread so I responded back. It started out with Bubba was correct on Conklin in 2025. Sometimes that can trigger a “pick a side” kind of response. So the opposing take is what I took from it initially.
Just another one of those unnecessary responses from me that I get into from time to time, my bad!
The Chargers had 4 TEs on their roster. They only dressed 3 on game day. Conklin was the one that sat out after they had a half season to compete for playing time. Since you put no value on blocking you will not see things the way I do. It is apparent you know nothing of the history of Jim Harbaugh. With the 49ers or his days at Stanford or Michigan the TEs were a big part of his offense. You wouldn’t understand because they were expected to also block in the running game..With the 49ers Vernon Davis, Stanford Zach Ertz, Michigan Colston Loveland.
Just at Michigan alone in his time there not only Loveland, Jake Butt. Luke Schoomaker, Eric All. You could even make a longer list of the TEs from Stanford when he was there and followed in the same offense. Maybe Harbaugh doesn’t use TEs the way you like but he has used them as much if not more than any coach in history.
I’m a die hard Michigan fan. You are making really dumb assumptions here. All the guys you mentioned, although talented, did not put up numbers suggesting that Harbaugh has a love of TEs. Michigan is my team. I could name 95% of the players who went there since the mid 90s. I can also name probably 90% of the players around the NFL currently. Thats how I know just how weak TE rooms are around the league. And Detroit’s is upper 1/3rd at minimum…
And how funny it is to suggest I’m flat out ignoring the other side of playing the position. Several have laid out as to why Conklin was left out on game days. The chargers used their superior blockers as their TE2/3 on game days. If Gadsden would’ve been out for significant time, do you think the 2 blocking TEs slide up to 1/2 and Conklin would be TE3? Doubtful…he is the likely TE1 as the receiving threat of the group. Conklin was in a really good blocking room in LA. And Gadsden was a break out star. Lastly, Harbaugh doesn’t use the TE as a primary option in his offense. If he has a love for TEs, it’s not their threat as receivers…
Crazy to me that a player who averaged 500 yards from 2021-2024 is considered bad vs all other TE3s across the league. Even as a pass blocker he has graded out above average for his career. He’s not a great run blocker, which probably explains why he was TE“4” in LA…but to suggest he isn’t a pretty darn good option for TE3 is just projection because you wanted us to go a different direction.
I think Conklin was brought in to a committee situation as the primary pass catcher with Gadsden as the #2 and the other two were the Y TEs. Conklin was beat out by the talented Gadsden which in return made him #2 pass catcher. Chargers offense does not have a need for that position. Maybe because Harbaugh doesn’t care or incorporate TEs much in his passing game
I never said I didn’t like the addition of Conklin to our roster. I said numerous times I hope he comes in with a chip on his shoulder and plays like he has something to prove. If he can beat out Brock Wright for TE2 I will be his biggest fan. After last season he was closer to being out of the NFL than the superstar you portray him as.
Profoundly different usage. He was basically seemingly a throwaway in routes in 2025 compared to an important part of a terrible 2024 Jets pass offense.
