Nate Boerkircher TE Texas A&M |
NFL Draft Profile & Scouting Report
| Jersey: #87 ROLE: Inline Blocking TE | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last Updated: 02/27/2026 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Draft Year: 2026 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| FORTY time: 4.78 seconds (49%*) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Jersey: #87 | |
| ROLE: Inline Blocking TE | |
| Last Updated: 02/27/2026 | |
| Draft Year: 2026 | |
| Forty time: 4.78 seconds (49%*) | |
| Overall Rating: | 82.2 / 100 | |
|---|---|---|
| Average rating of opposition Defense player has faced | ||
| Defense Rating: |
|
80% |
| Click the links below to view how player ranks vs other prospects. | ||
| QB Rating When targeted: | 140.4 | |
| Hands: |
|
74% |
| Short Receiving: |
|
71% |
| Intermediate Routes: |
|
81% |
| Deep Threat: |
|
00% |
| Blocking: |
|
67% |
|
DRAFT PROJECTION:
5th
Overall Rank:
#163
Position rank:
#12 (TE)
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| College Games: 50 College Snaps: 1377 | ||
| Player Comparison* (Similarity level) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Cole Turner - Nevada |
|
59% |
| Cade Otton - Washington |
|
58% |
| Josh Whyle - Cincinnati |
|
55% |
Drafted: ROUND: 2 - Pick Number: 56 (JAX)
Draft Profile: Bio
Nobody handed Nate Boerkircher anything. The Aurora, Nebraska product arrived in Lincoln as a walk-on out of a Class C-1 high school program, where he had earned all-state honors from the Omaha World-Herald and helped lead the Huskies to a perfect 13-0 season and state championship as a junior. He was also a second-team all-state basketball player, averaging nearly 17 points and over 8 rebounds per game as a senior. His only scholarship offer came from Chadron State. He chose to bet on himself at Nebraska instead.The early years in the Husker program tested that bet. After a redshirt in 2020, Boerkircher appeared in just three games in 2021 and caught a single pass. Even as he worked his way into four starts as a redshirt freshman in 2022, the stat line remained modest: six catches, 52 yards, one touchdown. The 2023 and 2024 seasons were more of the same from a volume standpoint, though his 2024 campaign showed a flash of what was coming, with six catches for 102 yards and a 17.0 yards-per-reception average. Throughout those four years, he earned Academic All-Big Ten honors and completed a finance degree in May 2024, the kind of detail that tells you about the person beyond the shoulder pads.
The real chapter started when Boerkircher transferred to Texas A&M for his final season of eligibility. Competing against multiple tight ends the Aggies brought in, including Theo Melin Ohrstrom, he won the job and delivered the most productive year of his career: 19 catches for 198 yards and three receiving touchdowns, plus a rushing score. The signature moment came against Notre Dame, when Boerkircher hauled in a game-winning touchdown. His performance throughout the 2025 season earned him an invitation to the Senior Bowl, a fitting reward for a player who spent six college seasons grinding from the bottom of the depth chart to the top of it.
Scouting Report: Strengths
- Punishing run blocker who plays with real nastiness on the move, consistently looking to put defenders on the ground and finishing through the whistle every single snap.
- Catches nearly everything thrown his way, posting an 86% catch rate in his final season on 22 targets, with soft hands that pluck the ball cleanly away from his frame.
- Understands zone coverage concepts at an advanced level, finding soft spots in the middle of the field with natural feel and giving his quarterback a trustworthy target in traffic.
- Versatile alignment profile, taking snaps inline, as an H-back, from the slot, and split wide, giving offensive coordinators multiple ways to deploy him on game day.
- Brings real pop to his initial punch when engaged on the move, using heavy hands to jolt linebackers and safeties as a lead blocker in the screen game and on outside runs.
- Competitive and physical at the catch point, winning contested situations and showing the body control to adjust to off-target throws without losing balance or the ball.
- Walk-on-to-starter trajectory speaks to a relentless work ethic and mental toughness that translates directly to grinding through NFL special teams and earning a bigger role over time.
- Showed encouraging route stem awareness in his final college season, manipulating defensive leverage and using subtle head fakes to create windows underneath and over the middle.
Scouting Report: Weaknesses
- Will turn 25 during his rookie season after spending six years in college, leaving a shorter window for development compared to younger prospects at the position.
- Career receiving sample is alarmingly thin for evaluation purposes, with just 38 total catches across five active seasons, making it hard to project his ceiling as a pass catcher with confidence.
- Lacks the explosive burst and lateral agility to threaten defenses after the catch or consistently win against man coverage at the next level.
- Tends to bend at the waist and get narrow with his base when blocking inline, allowing defensive linemen to get into his chest and control the point of attack.
- Hands can arrive late in pass protection, causing his anchor to set a beat behind and leaving him vulnerable to power rushers who get an early push off the snap.
Scouting Report: Summary
Boerkircher is a tight end who will earn his paycheck by blowing up linebackers on the perimeter, sealing edges in the run game, and contributing as a core four special teamer from Week 1. The physicality is real. When he gets his hands on you in space, you feel it. That mentality, combined with the versatility to align in multiple spots, gives him clear Day 3 value as a TE2 who can hold up in heavy personnel packages and provide a coordinator with a dependable extra blocker who does not take plays off.What makes Boerkircher more interesting than a typical blocking tight end is the receiving flashes that showed up at Texas A&M. The catch rate, the contested grabs, the feel for zone coverage, the route stem work that started to show up late in the year. None of it came in overwhelming volume, but the tape suggests a player who was consistently underutilized in the passing game throughout his college career. A 10.4 yards-per-catch average does not scream big-play threat, but his work in the intermediate range showed enough feel and reliability to suggest he can handle more than just flat routes and delayed releases at the pro level. That game-winner against Notre Dame was not an accident; he ran a clean route and won at the catch point against good competition.
The age is the elephant in the room, and there is no getting around it. At 25, the developmental runway is shorter, and he does not carry the kind of athletic upside that makes you dream on a late bloomer. But Boerkircher is not a projection; he is a floor. Teams that value toughness, effort, and positional flexibility in their tight end room will find a player here who has fought for every opportunity he has ever gotten and delivered when it mattered. The blocking will keep him employed, and if the receiving game continues to develop the way it trended in College Station, there could be a useful TE2.
Nate Boerkircher percentiles vs other Tight Ends (NFL Combine historically - higher value represents better perfomance)
How other scouting services rate Nate Boerkircher (Overall Rank)
All Scouts AverageOverall Rank
123.7
All Scouts AveragePosition Rank
11.0
*Percentile Ranking in Player's Position Group (NFL Combine Historical Data): This percentile reflects how a player's specific statistics rank
in comparison to historical performances at the NFL Combine, specifically within their position group. A higher percentile indicates a better performance.
For instance, being in the 90th percentile for a particular stat means the player outperformed 90% of their peers in that category.
*Similarity Percentage: This percentage is calculated based on a comprehensive analysis of various factors, including height, weight, 40-yard dash times, on-field performance statistics, and overall player rating. The analysis is conducted against our database of draft prospects from 2021 to 2023. This similarity score helps in evaluating how closely a current prospect aligns with past prospects. It is important to note, however, that this score reflects similarities based on college production and attributes, and does not account for eventual success or performance in the NFL.
*Similarity Percentage: This percentage is calculated based on a comprehensive analysis of various factors, including height, weight, 40-yard dash times, on-field performance statistics, and overall player rating. The analysis is conducted against our database of draft prospects from 2021 to 2023. This similarity score helps in evaluating how closely a current prospect aligns with past prospects. It is important to note, however, that this score reflects similarities based on college production and attributes, and does not account for eventual success or performance in the NFL.