More love for TE Dallin Holker (another Saints "steal" in the '24 draft?) (1 Viewer)

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His initial journey to the NFL follows a similar path as Taysom Hill, a former BYU player that is a bit older entering the NFL having spent time committed to his mission then going undrafted and eventually landing with the Saints. I expect TH7 will mentor Holker with all he can share, especially what he can from the TE position.

Holker has as good of a shot as anyone else on the Saints roster at this point to take the Jimmy Graham slot at TE unless holdover players from last years practice squad in Tommy Hudson and Michael Jacobson step up their game. As of now, they are the two players vying with Holker for that spot.
 
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Every year is another UDFA TE prospect. A bit like QB, if you keep taking one, there's a chance they pan out.

If they turn out to be an Antonio Gates, rather than a Chris Manhertz, then you've won the positional lottery. If not, buckle up and keep looking.
 
joe87 said:
There’s not really any other competition for the slot Jimmy Graham held last season. If they decide to keep 4 TE’s, he’s pretty much a lock to make it.
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Michael Jacobson is an interesting project having played college basketball at 6' 7", 244 lbs. and has been on practice squad rosters with the Seahawks, Colts, and the Saints. The Saints saw enough of him at the end of the 2023 season to re-sign him to a reserve/future contract on January 8th, 2024. He's entering his 4th year in the NFL as a project TE transitioning from basketball to football. There's no college football film to judge him on and we haven't seen anything on tape as a pro. Big ???

Another TE with size is Tommy Hudson at 6' 5" and 255 pounds now entering his 5th year in the NFL, Hudson has been on the practice squad of the Titans, Broncos, and the Saints in 2023. The Saints saw enough of him to re-sign him to a reserve/future contract on January 8th, 2024.

While it can be said that both of these players went undrafted as did Holker, and the Saints went through the draft without selecting a TE, that doesn't mean they felt solid about either Hudson or Jacobson as a player that will fill the last TE spot vacated by Jimmy Graham. Had the Saints had more draft capital it's highly likely they would have drafted one of the higher rated TEs in the 2024 draft class. It appears that Holker is a value undrafted rookie free agent signing at this point.

These are most likely the players that will go to camp and compete for the "Jimmy Graham Vacated Spot" in 2024. That doesn't rule out the possibility that the Saints won't make a trade before the season begins or pluck a TE off the waiver wire after the final cuts are made to fill this spot.

Holker is basically the same size (6' 4", 235) in a natural build as Juwan Johnson is (6' 4", 231) in a beefed-up build. I'm all for him coming in and bringing some extra juice to the TE position, especially in the passing game. With that said, he'll have to earn it first.
 
There's zero guarantees the Saints will carry 4 TE into the regular season. Jimmy was a rare active player last season, because more than 3 TE up on gameday is unusual.

Look also at what the Saints do at FB, in terms of roster numbers.
 
TribuneUK said:
Every year is another UDFA TE prospect. A bit like QB, if you keep taking one, there's a chance they pan out.

If they turn out to be an Antonio Gates, rather than a Chris Manhertz, then you've won the positional lottery. If not, buckle up and keep looking.
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Yep.
My first thought was that he's this year's Krull. I'll admit I too was hyped about him (Krull)....and was wrong. Anyhow, maybe he will end up being the UDFA gem we're always hoping for.
 
Artifactual said:
Michael Jacobson is an interesting project having played college basketball at 6' 7", 244 lbs. and has been on practice squad rosters with the Seahawks, Colts, and the Saints. The Saints saw enough of him at the end of the 2023 season to re-sign him to a reserve/future contract on January 8th, 2024. He's entering his 4th year in the NFL as a project TE transitioning from basketball to football. There's no college football film to judge him on and we haven't seen anything on tape as a pro. Big ???

Another TE with size is Tommy Hudson at 6' 5" and 255 pounds now entering his 5th year in the NFL, Hudson has been on the practice squad of the Titans, Broncos, and the Saints in 2023. The Saints saw enough of him to re-sign him to a reserve/future contract on January 8th, 2024.

While it can be said that both of these players went undrafted as did Holker, and the Saints went through the draft without selecting a TE, that doesn't mean they felt solid about either Hudson or Jacobson as a player that will fill the last TE spot vacated by Jimmy Graham. Had the Saints had more draft capital it's highly likely they would have drafted one of the higher rated TEs in the 2024 draft class. It appears that Holker is a value undrafted rookie free agent signing at this point.

These are most likely the players that will go to camp and compete for the "Jimmy Graham Vacated Spot" in 2024. That doesn't rule out the possibility that the Saints won't make a trade before the season begins or pluck a TE off the waiver wire after the final cuts are made to fill this spot.

Holker is basically the same size (6' 4", 235) in a natural build as Juwan Johnson is (6' 4", 231) in a beefed-up build. I'm all for him coming in and bringing some extra juice to the TE position, especially in the passing game. With that said, he'll have to earn it first.
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Good points about the practice squad/futures development TEs on the roster. This information is applicable as TEs take longer to develop so teams usually carry a few developmental guys with the hopes of one of them developing into a decent or better player. The Bengals best TE last year was a guy who bounced around practice squads until finding a home with the Bengals and he was pretty good.

Juwan is 250lbs now. He made the comment during training camp last year that he put on 20lbs in the offseason for the transition to TE. Most websites are lazy to update the height/weight numbers on players, but he's 250lbs, not his listed weight of 231lbs.
 
SigFreudianSlip said:
Yep.
My first thought was that he's this year's Krull. I'll admit I too was hyped about him (Krull)....and was wrong. Anyhow, maybe he will end up being the UDFA gem we're always hoping for.
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Same here. Krull may get there yet, too...but looks unlikely. These TEs just typically take so dang long to develop into something well rounded enough to be utilized. LaPorta was a pretty big outlier.
Either way I like Holker--most sites I noticed had him highly ranked--even a few in the top 5 or top 3, so it's a pretty big score imo.
 

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