Tight End 

Oregon

6-4 250

40 time: 4.67

Draft board overall prospect rank: #86

Draft board tight end rank: #5

Overall rating: 73*

                11/23/09: Dickson is one of the best receiving tight ends in the 2010 NFL Draft class. He has three straight great statistical seasons, which I like because it shows consistency. He runs extremely well for someone of his size. He has good, reliable hands and good height and he’s tough to bring down in the open field. He isn’t the biggest tight end and one can argue that he’s undersized for an NFL tight end, but he’s stronger than a looks and can bench 400 pounds and that bulk makes him tough to tackle. He is not a great run blocker and doesn’t use his hands right on blocks. He doesn’t use his weight correctly either on blocks and doesn’t get correct leverage. His best skills are his abilities to catch the ball at its highest point and his elusiveness and ability to break big gains in the open field. He doesn’t run a ton of routes in Oregon’s offense and when he does, they aren’t sharp enough and he tends to round them off so that needs to be improved. He breaks off the line well and overall is one of the more talented tight ends in a weak tight end class. He could be a 2^nd round pick when it’s all said and done, but most likely will be a 3^rd round pick. He has good potential and could be a very good starting tight end in the league if he works in a few things like run blocking and route running. He’s still a bit raw.

NFL Comparison: Jermichael Finley

*=For a breakdown of what this means, click here