TIGHT ENDS BEST ON SHORT ROUTES 2028 NFL Draft

2028 TIGHT ENDS BEST ON SHORT ROUTES

Short routes are the bread and butter of tight end production: flats, stick routes, quick outs and the option routes that keep a drive alive on third and four. The grade reflects how reliably the player gets open, catches the ball and picks up yards after contact in that range. Jason Witten (Tennessee) turned exactly this skill into a Hall of Fame career.

Below, draft-eligible tight ends are ranked by short route grade, with their medium and deep route grades, hands, blocking and overall rating for comparison.

2028 Tight Ends ranked by SHORT RECEIVING

RANK Player Pos Team HANDS SHORT MEDIUM DEEP BLOCKING Rating
1

JJ
Buchanan

TE
Utah   Mascot
Utah Mascot
85 78 87 85 57
81.7
2

Kylan
Fox

TE
Purdue   Mascot
Purdue Mascot
63 49 43 63 59
62.9