2023 NFL Draft Profile: Air Force TE Kyle Patterson
The big Falcons tight end hopes to become the latest cadet to crack the NFL ranks, but could his injury history dash those hopes?
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You can’t teach size, but questions remain.
The Air Force Academy doesn’t have an extensive history of selections in the NFL Draft, but the opportunity to have a player selected in two straight years is right there for the Falcons thanks to tight end Kyle Patterson.
A native of Gilbert, Arizona, Patterson elected to become a cadet and, in 2020, became the first Air Force tight end to lead the team in receiving since 2002. He also built a reputation as a punishing run blocker, a pre-requisite for thriving in Mike Thiessen’s offense, doing his part when on the field to help the team win ten games in both 2021 and 2022.
Now, he’ll look to follow the footsteps of both former teammate Jordan Jackson and his father, Shawn, and hear his name called at this year’s NFL Draft.
Measurables (taken from Mockdraftable)
Wingspan: 78 1/4″
Bench press: 17 reps
Highlights
Kyle Patterson (TE 88)
Finding the soft spot in coverage pic.twitter.com/mhd1QVkkKK
— Draft Guy Jared (@DraftGuyJared) February 24, 2023
Air Force TE Kyle Patterson doesn't have a ton of production over the last two season. 2020 wasn't terrible in regards to production (considering the offense).
His father, Shawn, played for the Green Bay Packers from 1988 – 1993. He ended up with 11 career sacks for the Packers https://t.co/C5ZZ6vvVZ5 pic.twitter.com/ta082aRuc0
— Russell Brown (@RussNFLDraft) February 8, 2023
Strengths
One thing you can expect out of any contributor in the Air Force offense is that they’ll know how to block and Patterson is no exception. If you ignore Pro Football Focus’s snap minimum, his 84.4 run-blocking grade in 2022 ranked second among all FBS tight ends and marked the second time in three seasons he posted a grade better than 80.0 (81.1 in 2020).
That’s not to say he can’t also run and catch a little bit, though. In 2020, Patterson’s best overall season, PFF notes that he averaged 3.53 yards per route run (for the sake of comparison, Florida’s Kyle Pitts averaged 3.26 Y/RR that same year). And though he had only 18 career catches at Air Force, Patterson averaged 17.7 yards per reception and, as The Athletic’s Dane Brugler noted, 16 of them went for a first down or a touchdown.
Weaknesses
Can he stay healthy? For as strong as he’s been when Patterson has seen the field, it hasn’t been that often over the past couple years. After appearing in five of Air Force’s six games during the 2020 season, knee injuries limited him to four starts in 2021 and five in 2022.
That history may also put a cap on the athleticism that teams can expect from Patterson. No one was going to confuse him with Pitts, but NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein pointed out that it could impact his ability to expand his catch radius while NFL Draft Buzz has concerns about “suddenness” in the open field. If the ceiling is that of a second tight end best suited to playing inline, then teams may decide that’s not worth spending draft capital upon.
NFL Comparison
Drew Sample
Draft Prediction
No prospect in the Mountain West has the track record of injuries that Patterson does. Much like former Nevada quarterback Carson Strong last April, that’s likely to be the one factor which determines whether a NFL front office decides to take a flyer. If you want to be optimistic, the ceiling is that of a seventh-round selection, though it seems more likely Patterson will be a hot commodity as an undrafted free agent.
