STRENGTHS
Greg is a master at catching the football. He has those diaper-changing soft hands that make babies happy to have their diapers changed. He is smart and an excellent zone receiver. Greg has that “feel” for the soft area of zone coverages while he is running the route. He has solid speed and solid overall athleticism. Greg has the soft diaper changing hands, and the high football IQ to become an impact TE/H-back style receiver in the right system for the team that selects him.
CONCERNS
Greg’s numbers at the combine are equal to Zack Ertz when he came out and yet, Greg is not the athlete Zack is. He looks slow and very heavy-legged, clumping down the field instead of running down the field. Greg is not a “break a tackle” type of player so there will not be much run after the catch yardage for him. His athletic talent to block on the line of scrimmage or in open space is lacking and expecting him to work on blocking and getting better is a reach. Nevertheless, he has those diaper-changing soft hands, a high football IQ, and a “feel” to run routes against zone coverages.
BOTTOM LINE: 3.33
Greg is too slow, yet he runs as fast as Zack Ertz, and all his other combine numbers are equal to Zack’s when he came out. Greg can’t block but… Zack Ertz had to do a lot of work to improve as a blocker too. Zack Ertz became the impact player that he has become because of his ability to catch the football, high football IQ and he was coached by Chip Kelly. Does Greg remind me of Zack Ertz? No way…my first impression of Greg was that he did not have the athleticism to play at the next level. He looked slow, heavy-legged, couldn’t block, couldn’t get off the line, not much separation, and in general, was not going to make it at any position at the next level. Nevertheless, when I watched film of Greg, I could not understand how he got open all the time. Truthfully, I did not want to do a profile on Greg because I didn’t think he deserve a bad one from me. After all, he was productive and worked hard I just didn’t think he was a good enough athlete. So, I went back to the film because his name kept coming up. I saw a player in a system that helped Greg impact and made use of his soft diaper-changing hands and football intelligence. Then I went back to Zack Ertz’s combine numbers and saw the similarities and now I see Greg’s potential. Maybe I’m just seeing something that really isn’t there and maybe Greg, in the right system and with the right coaching can impact like Zack Ertz. I do know this, I’m a lot more interested in drafting him than I was when I first saw him play…a lot more.
