Scouting Chris Gragg

by Site Admin

Yesterday, the Jets announced that they had signed former Bills tight end Chris Gragg.

The 27-year old Gragg is 6-foot-3 and 244 pounds and was a seventh round draft pick for the Bills in 2013. In his first three years with the Bills, he caught 24 passes for 251 yards and a touchdown, but he missed all of last season after tearing his ACL in preseason.

Background

Gragg was recruited to Arkansas as a wide receiver but caught just one pass for 25 yards as a freshman and then suffered an injury which caused him to redshirt his sophomore year.

After converting to tight end, Gragg developed into a productive player. Initially, he was backing up DJ Williams before becoming a starter in his redshirt junior season and finishing 10th in the SEC with 41 catches.

Unfortunately, he was banged up in his senior year and limited to just five games, although he was productive when he played, registering a career-best three touchdown receptions. He ended his college career with 72 receptions for 1,003 yards and seven touchdowns.

After a solid performance at the scouting combine, Gragg was selected by the Bills in the seventh round and gradually increased his role with them over his first three seasons. His 12 catches and 150 yards in 2015 represented career highs and he was having an impressive offseason in 2016 before landing on injured reserve with a preseason knee injury.

The Jets signed Gragg, who is reportedly now healthy again, yesterday.

Let's move onto some more in-depth analysis of what Gragg brings to the table, based on extensive research and film study.

Measurables/Athleticism

Gragg turned some heads with excellent numbers at the scouting combine, as you can see:

He improved on his short shuttle time with a 4.35 at his pro day, which is just above average for the position.

Usage

Gragg is undersized, so he's regarded as an H-back type, who will go in motion or line up in the slot. However, he's had plenty of experience as an inline tight end in a three-point stance.

Gragg also occasionally lines up out wide or in the backfield.

Deep threat

With his speed, Gragg can be a potential match-up nightmare running down the seams. With his experience as a wide receiver he can get over the top and make over the shoulder catches.

Gragg has made several downfield catches in preseason and regular season action. Here's one on a deep crosser for 31 yards:

via GIPHY

Routes

Once again, Gragg's experience as a receiver helps him here, as he looks pretty good running routes. While he lacks explosive acceleration, he can break smoothly and adjust to the ball, making the most of either a size or speed mismatch depending on who is covering him.

He beats his man early here and breaks to the open corner as the defensive back cannot recover:

via GIPHY

Hands

While he isn't very big, Gragg has a good catch radius and isn't afraid to go over the middle.

He can be prone to occasional lapses in concentration which may lead to dropped passes. He also didn't seem to fare too well on contested catches, as he didn't always bring the ball in cleanly.

While he's only fumbled once in a preseason game, ball security after the catch would sometimes be an issue for him in college:

via GIPHY

Yards after the catch

Gragg will turn upfield and gain extra yardage after the catch and is tough to bring down when he gets a head of steam. He isn't particularly elusive, but uses a stiff arm well to fend off would-be tacklers.

Here's a play where he caught the pass underneath and slipped a tackle to get into the end zone:

Red zone

Gragg has the potential to be a good red zone threat, although he never had more than three touchdowns in a season in college and hasn't shown much in the way of coming down with jump balls.

Nevertheless, he has caught a couple of short touchdowns in NFL regular season action. One was in garbage time against the Steelers, but the other, which saw him leak out to the back of the end zone, tied the score late in Detroit, helping the Bills to an eventual 17-14 win.

Run Blocking

You perhaps wouldn't expect too much from an undersized converted wideout in the running game, but Gragg actually displays some good ability here.

He gives a good effort and attacks his man, looking to drive him downhill. He also transitions smoothly to the second level and does a good job of finding a target in space. The main thing he needs to work on is pad level because he'll sometimes be too upright when he engages his man and this can lead to him being stood up.

On this play, Gragg (#89) shows impressive hustle to take his man to the ground with a cut block:

via GIPHY

He helps spring this touchdown run by lining up as an inline tight end on the right side and handling Rob Ninkovich well at the point of attack:

via GIPHY

Pass Blocking

Gragg wasn't asked to pass block much by the Bills in his first few seasons but was required to do more of it as his role expanded in 2015. He held up reasonably well, although Jadaveon Clowney did beat him for a sack.

He had plenty of experience as a pass blocker when he was at Arkansas.

Special Teams

Gragg has made some contributions on special teams, primarily on the placekicking unit and as a blocker on the kick return unit.

However, he also had one tackle in kick coverage in preseason action, along with this blocked punt:

via GIPHY

These are the sort of contributions which could give him the edge as he competes for a spot in preseason.

Instincts/intelligence

As noted, Gragg can be prone to lapses in concentration when catching passes and he had an embarrassing play in London a few years ago that went viral where he was wide open but lost track of where he was on the field and caught the ball out of bounds:

Penalties haven't been an issue for Gragg, whose only penalty in preseason or regular season action was an illegal block on a kick return.

Attitude

Gragg impressed scouts and coaches by changing his body and expanding his skill-set when he moved from receiver to tight end. He's also shown good toughness in terms of coming back from or playing through injuries.

He's a hard working player who gives a good effort on the field. The only real negatives here are that some people were annoyed that he celebrated his first touchdown which came in the final seconds of a blowout loss and that some people were rubbed the wrong way by the fact that he was laughing after the play where he went out of bounds.

Injuries

Injuries have provided Gragg with setbacks a few times over the course of his career. Other than the ACL tear last August, Gragg had a dislocated ankle in 2008 and a bone bruise in his knee that caused him to miss several games in 2012. He also missed three games with another knee injury in 2014.

Conclusions

Gragg is an NFL-level talent who was a decent contributor as a reserve with the Bills, and looked set to come into his own right before he suffered his knee injury.

Depending on how badly the injury will have compromised his athleticism, it may be difficult for Gragg to get up to speed again. However, if he can make a full recovery, he was just about to enter his prime and could provide the Jets with a nice low-cost option.

As with the other tight ends competing for a spot, Gragg's hopes are boosted by the fact that projected starter Austin Seferian-Jenkins will miss the first couple of games due to a suspension. That could provide an excellent opportunity for some early season playing time and is sure to mean the team is keen to feature the other tight ends heavily in preseason as they look for someone to step up.