Cardinals select Trey McBride in 2022 NFL Draft: Fantasy Football and Dynasty outlooks, scouting report, more

Trey McBride was drafted by the Arizona Cardinals when they selected him 55th overall in the 2022 NFL Draft. McBride will slot in behind Zach Ertz for 2022, but the landing spot gives him plenty of long-term upside. We were spoiled in 2021 by Kyle Pitts and Pat Freiermuth. Rookie tight ends don't produce seasons like theirs very often. And it wouldn't be fair to expect anyone from 2022 to match Pitts' 1,026 receiving yards or Freiermuth's seven touchdown catches in their rookie years. Don't expect anything close to that from McBride this season, but don't sleep on him in Dynasty either.

McBride led all FBS tight ends last year in catches (90) catches and receiving yards (1,121) in his senior season at Colorado State. While this was his first full season of elite production, he'd foreshadowed it by averaging 82.5 yards per game and scoring four times in four games as a junior. Strictly looking at production, McBride's last 16 games stand out as elite amongst college tight end prospects. 

It's everything else that separates him from someone like Pitts. McBride doesn't have elite athleticism, but his size/speed combo is certainly acceptable at the NFL level. And while he thoroughly dominated targets in his final two seasons at CSU, that's at least partially due to the fact that he was playing at a lower-level school that won three games and only scored 1.3 passing touchdowns per game.

McBride's is a game that has just enough sheen if you want to believe, but no shortage of questions about his profile. 

Age as of Week 1: 22 | Height: 6-3 | Weight: 249 | 40 time: 4.56

Comparable body-type to: Dennis Pitta

Fantasy Outlook 

McBride will have very little value in redraft for as long as Zach Ertz stays healthy. As such, he won't be drafted in the format. But, if something were to happen to Ertz, McBride could absolutely become a touchdown-dependent streamer. 

Dynasty outlook

McBride is the No. 1 tight end in this class, but the landing spot doesn't provide enough instant appeal to vault him into the top 20 in rookie drafts. He'll remain a borderline Round 2 pick in Dynasty and he should only be drafted if you're willing to sit on him for a couple of seasons. If he were to reach his potential, and Kyler Murray stays in Arizona, McBride has the upside to be a top-five tight end in this offense. For now, he's a low-end No. 2 tight end in Dynasty who fits best on a roster with a solid starter.

Scouting report

Strengths

• What he does well, separating from linebackers, he may be able to do very early in the NFL due to his maturity and the high number of reps he got doing it in live action his senior year.
• If you believe targets are earned, few tight ends have shown that skill better than McBride.
• He predominantly played inline at Colorado State, but he also showed the ability to line up and win in a variety of different alignments due to other teams focusing on him. He probably won't win out wide, but he could have success in the slot against the right matchup.
• If you believe the 40 time from his pro day, his size/speed combination is better than producers like Freiermuth and T.J. Hockenson.
• He has more ability after the catch than his athleticism would suggest. You will not have fun arm tackling him and he can jump over a diving defender.

Concerns

• The fact that he only scored 10 receiving touchdowns in 32 collegiate games is not only because of how bad the offense was. He lacks a suddenness in his breaks and he doesn't have the kind of frame that can consistently win by just boxing guys out.
• The low level of competition he faced in college makes it hard to forecast how he'll fare against NFL talent. 
• There's not really one trait that is elite, or that I could see developing into being elite. He's good at several things, he may not ever be great at anything.
• Even if he breaks tackles after the catch, you don't see him running away from people. In most cases you see him getting caught from behind or by the angle.
• He could get caught in between being a move tight end and an inline tight end with teams preferring bigger inline players and faster move tight ends.

Stats breakdown

Advanced stats to know

• McBride earned a 34% target share in his final year at Colorado State. 
• McBride's 46.3 Dominator score on playerprofiler ranks in the 99th percentile of college tight ends.

NFL comparison

I chose Dennis Pitta for the body-type comp because I didn't want anyone to think I was comparing McBride's athleticism to George Kittle or Noah Fant. He's not them. I make that distinction because I also don't want you to think that Pitta's career is McBride's upside or even projection. Pitta entered the league at 25 years old, for one thing. McBride isn't near as good a prospect as T.J. Hockenson either, but, like Fant, Hockenson hasn't exactly lived up to his pedigree yet. I could see that type of production from McBride if he develops well. The start like we've seen from Cole Kmet is probably a more realistic projection once Ertz is out of the way.