Tight ends will play a "unique" role for Colorado

BOULDER – Taylor Embree knows tight ends.

He comes from San Francisco, where he worked with All-Pro tight end George Kittle. Kittle entered the NFL three years ago as a fifth-round draft pick. Whether his growth into being one of the absolute best at the position should be credited to coaching or self-development is unknown, but what we do know is that Embree was there to watch the process.

Now Embree is Colorado’s tight ends coach and he knows what he wants out of his group.

“It’s funny because George Kittle is putting a lot of pressure now on tight ends,” Embree said.

Kittle has become the epitome of the modern tight end; he can block, he can run and he can catch. That means he’ll be able to get open when defended by bigger defenders and make defenses pay in the passing game. If the defense puts a smaller, faster defender on Kittle, he’ll be able to bowl him over in the running game.

Kittle puts pressure on the rest of the tight ends to create the type of mismatches that Kittle can.

“You see it in the league; if you’ve got a good tight end, how impactful that is to your offense and part of that is we’re the jack of all trades,” Embree told reporters Thursday. “We’ve got to pass protect, we’ve got to block in the run game and we’ve got to win out on routes and releases and catch the ball in the passing game.”

That’s the mentality that Embree is bringing to CU and junior Brady Russell gave a hint at what to expect from his tight end group in 2020, on Thursday.

“Compared to last year, I’d say we’re being utilized in more unique ways,” Russell said. “We were used a lot last year but it was repeating the same thing a lot of the time but we got a lot of unique things that we get to do now.”

Russell expanded on what will be “unique” this year, saying that tight ends will pull block and block on the edge more in the running game and that there are more passing concepts that include a route from the tight end.

Getting the tight ends involved more creatively seems like a great idea. Russell is one of the Buffs’ more effective blockers and letting him lead the way for the running backs should blow open even bigger running lanes.

“He can play any (position) he wants,” Embree said of Russell. “He’s good at the fullback type stuff, he’s good route-running and he’s good at blocking on and off the line of scrimmage. He’s exactly what you want right in your room.”

While it’s easy to see how Russell could become an even larger piece of the running game, it’s tougher to project his usage in the passing game. Last year, Russell was Colorado’s fifth-leading receiver with 23 catches for 221 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Two of the four receivers with more yards last year left the program, so Russell could be in line for increased opportunities.

But what will those opportunities look like?

According to Pro Football Focus, Russell was targeted 30 times in the passing game. Of those 30 passes, only five were at least 10 yards downfield. Only two were at least 20 yards downfield.

Russell said that the tight ends would be involved in more passing concepts. Since the majority of the routes Russell ran were so close to the line of scrimmage, it may be fair to expect the added concepts to include more downfield routes from the tight end spot. Russell isn’t the speediest tight end but he may still be able to stretch seam effectively.

Another way to get him involved in the passing game is through manufactured touches. That means designing plays specifically to get the ball in his hands near the line of scrimmage. Laviska Shenault earned most of those touches over the last two years–primarily in the Wildcat and on screens and jet sweeps–but they’ll be up for grabs now that he’s gone.

In the NFL, screen passes, shovel passes and end-arounds to tight ends have become more popular in recent years. That’s especially true for the San Francisco 49ers, which is who Embree coached for before moving to Colorado.

Take a look at a couple of tricky tight end plays:

Then comes my favorite play from the series: the toss read shovel.

It’s the inverted veer (or QB power read) without risking your QB.

Beathard is optioning off 44 and if 44 heads up field CJ makes the shovel pass to Kittle with lead blockers.

Attacks inside AND outside. pic.twitter.com/Ii0a0kr7qb

— Oscar Aparicio (@BetterRivals) October 31, 2018

Beautiful play call.

Chiefs set up Travis Kelce for the TE screen

(via @nfl) pic.twitter.com/MXIF0nfd0B

— B/R Gridiron (@brgridiron) September 11, 2020

Whether or not Russell is dynamic enough with the ball in his hands to be effective on plays similar to those shown above remains to be seen, but he’s such a tough lead blocker that he should be able to bulldoze some defenders with the ball in his hands if he’s given a head of steam.

It’s anybody’s guess what the “unique” new ways CU tight ends will be used will look like, but expect Brady Russell to be a big part of whatever the Buffs do offensively.

“He’s really finding his role right now as a leader on the team and offense,” Embree said of Russell. “He’s really startgin to master the playbook and his technique is what you want, man. He shows up to work every day.”