Perhaps the most understood offensive trend exiting the 2025 NFL season was how Sean McVay and the Los Angeles Rams inundated defenses with TE-heavy formations. According to Sumer Sports, the Rams ran 30.5% of their plays out of 13 personnel (1 RB, 3 TE) — twice the rate of the second-highest (Steelers, 14.2%). That rate was unprecedented for the 2020s, as the league leaders in 13 personnel for 2024 and 2023 finished at just 16.4% and 11.5%.
This comes with little surprise, as Kyle Shanahan and the San Francisco 49ers had experimented with TE-heavy formations (top-5 in 22 personnel each season since 2022), and in retrospect, McVay adding current offensive coordinator Nathan Scheelhaase to his staff in 2024 was an early signal that the Rams were TE-curious too. Scheelhaase spent six seasons at Iowa State as an offensive assistant between 2018-23. In that time, the Cyclones ranked 6th in the FBS in TE snaps. After serving as the passing game coordinator for the Rams last season, Scheelhaase has been handed the keys as OC for 2026.
The Rams’ successful TE usage inflated the value of the position going into the 2026 NFL Draft in April, and 22 were drafted — the most since 2002.
Many of those TEs were drafted significantly above expectation, such as:
Jaguars’ Nate Boerkircher (expected at 162, taken at 56)
Texans’ Marlin Klein (expected at 169, taken at 59)
Bears’ Sam Roush (expected at 108, taken at 69)
Dolphins’ Will Kacmarek (expected at 218, taken at 87)
Ravens’ Matthew Hibner (expected at 227, taken at 133)
Vikings’ Max Bredeson (not on the Consensus Big Board, taken at 159)
Steelers’ Riley Nowakowski (expected at 223, taken at 169)
Dolphins’ Seydou Traore (expected at 373 (by value rank), taken at 180)
There are more, but these were the earliest by expectation within the first five rounds. Teams were zealous to get the TE that fit their offensive plans, regardless of any perceived draft value lost. And there is a reason why.
Versatility is the key attribute for TEs in McVay’s offense. The four most-involved TEs in 2026 ranked as follows:
Davis Allen: 27th in block rate (65%), 46th in targets (33)
Colby Parkinson: 42nd in block rate (58%), 18th in targets (71)
Terrance Ferguson: 55th in block rate (47%), 50th in targets (31)
Tyler Higbee: 60th in block rate (45%), 28th in targets (40)
There is a clear lean toward receiving snaps, as all four ranked in the top-50 for TE targets — in a league of 32 teams. But when they were called upon to block in the run game, they performed well, all grading in the top-30 among TEs, according to Pro Football Focus.
Claiming that TEs must be versatile in the NFL is not an original thought in 2026, but the Rams’ usage of their TEs is clearly shifting the expectations for TEs among the other teams in the league. The chart below shows disaggregated blocking rates among draft classes from 2023-26.
Here, there is a slight trend toward higher blocking rates, particularly higher pass-blocking rates, among 2026 TEs. To make this trend slightly more obvious, raw snap counts show not only the increase in pass-blocking snaps among 2026 TEs but also the sheer volume of snaps the NFL is ingesting via the TE position this year.
Six of the top 10 TEs in pass-block rates since 2023 were drafted in this draft class.
Why is it notable that these TEs have elevated pass-blocking rates? Well, first, Colby Parkinson and Davis Allen were in the top-3 TEs in the NFL for pass-blocking rate with the Rams in 2025. But also, it signals versatility — being a pass-catching threat while also being used as a weapon for physical influence on the interior and in space — and versatility opens up possibilities for matchup advantages. This is key against modern defenses, in both college and the NFL, as defensive coordinators are maximizing multiplicity in personnel and scheme.
Sam Roush, drafted by the Chicago Bears out of Stanford, recorded the highest pass-blocking rate among drafted TEs since 2023 during his college career, even though he also ranked 5th among FBS TEs in targets last season (80). That career 14.7% pass-blocking rate would have tied Michael Mayer of the Las Vegas Raiders for the 8th-highest among NFL TEs in 2025. But Mayer, also shown in the graphic above, ranked 4th-lowest among drafted NFL TEs since 2023 for pass-blocking rate in college. In fact, three of the bottom-10 TEs on the list above finished their 2025 NFL seasons ranked in the top-12 for pass-blocking rate, and only one of them (Sam LaPorta, 24th) graded inside the top-32 on pass-blocking snaps.
This isn’t to say those who didn’t pass-block often in college aren’t valuable in the NFL — they certainly are! — but teams also want blocking TEs, even if they have to ask pass-catching-first TEs to do it. That’s what made McVay’s TE corps effective — there were no particular specialties, so they could play anywhere. The NFL is collectively looking to this crop of rookie TEs to build out their own versatile rooms, as shown by the wide array of 2026 draft picks on the chart below — ranging from Tanner Koziol’s insane target volume at Ball State/Houston to Max Bredeson’s 17 career targets on just 279 pass plays at Michigan.
Perhaps the most poised to fit into a 13-personnel system among this TE draft class is Riley Nowakowski out of Indiana. No collegiate TE played quite like Nowakowski in 2025, and it unlocked multiple dynamics within the Hoosier offense. He ranked 6th among FBS TEs in pass-block rate (38.3%!) while also playing 31.1% of his snaps at slot or wider. His 10 missed tackles forced (5th-best in FBS) led to 7.7 YAC/reception (15th-best), and he graded 10th on run-blocking snaps. The versatility is certainly there with Nowakowski, but his landing spot — the Pittsburgh Steelers — suggests an immediate role, as the Steelers were second in the NFL with a 14.2% 13-personnel rate in 2025 and led the league in 2024, with 16.4%. While the Steelers have a new administration post-Mike Tomlin, new OC Brian Angelichio has been a TEs coach in the NFL since 2012.
Comments
Nothing yet. Say the first thing.
Sign in to join the conversation.