Film Room: Erick All can Do it All

All that and a Bag of Chips.

The Cincinnati Bengals finally drafted a tight end.

A Fairfield High School graduate, Erick All to the scenic route home to Cincinnati. After 4 years at Michigan, where he was a team captain, he missed most of his final season due to a back injury. All transferred to the renowned tight end factory that we call Iowa, where he started strong with 21 receptions for 299 yards and three TDs in just seven games before tearing his ACL in his right knee.

If healthy, All would have never been a Day 3 pick. In fact, former and now current teammate DJ Turner was quoted this weekend as saying he would have been a first-rounder.

Injuries make the pick risky, but as the tape shows, his potential is worth the risk.

Let’s start with what everyone wants to see…

All catching a seam.

Here All flies by the underneath defender into the gap between the corner and the free safety. All makes a nice adjustment, and hauls in the pass for a big gain.

We talk about seams a lot, but the buzzword around tight ends who are threats in the passing game is “crafty.” Basically, “crafty” means that he finds a way to get open.

Here. All threatens the defender to the outside, then gives a shoulder fake. As the defender breaks outside, All cuts to the inside and is wide open for the catch.

Here is a similar rep from a slot alignment.

Once again, he gets the defender to commit to the outside, then cuts back inside. He adjusts to the ball that is thrown behind him and is still able to pick up a few yards after the catch.

And speaking of running after the catch…

Here we see All’s true potential as a playmaker. He takes a short pass and turns it into a 47-yard touchdown after cutting it up field and turning on the burners.

All runs away from the pride of Nittany Lion defensive backs, showing rare speed for a tight end and destroying their pursuit angles.

Of course, he is a tight end, and a lot of his run after the catch yards are going to come the hard way. All is a physical runner who is not easy to take down, as you can see from this tight end screen touchdown.

And if rough is what you like, rough is what you are gonna get from All in the run game.

Here, he is lined up as a wing and comes around as the lead blocker on the counter play.

He gets a nice pop-in on the linebacker to keep the hole clean for the running back.

Not bad for a guy who was less than a year removed from back surgery at the time.

Here, he is actually lined up as a fullback and is the lead blocker on the iso play.

Iso is a real old-school football play that relies on you having an absolute beast at fullback. As you would imagine, you don’t see it very often these days.

All runs straight at the linebacker, bends his knees, and delivers a blow. After the linebacker absorbs the initial hit, All comes through with his hips and gets his feet moving. This is an excellent block, and this play does not work without it.

While iso is rarely seen these days, zone is the bread and butter of modern football.

One of the most common ways to run zone is to have all of the offensive lineman step in the direction of the play and have an h-back type swipe back across the formation to block the backside end.

That is exactly what All does here. He drives the defensive end a few yards downfield before pancaking him.

But hey, it’s the 21st century, so to avoid getting All labeled as an infamous “blocking tight end,” I’ll end with a passing play.

All starts in the backfield on this play-action pass and chips the defensive end before making a very difficult short-range over-the-shoulder catch for the score.

All is a fantastic player. He is a versatile tight end who can line up on the line, in the backfield, or in the slot and is effective as both a pass-catcher and a blocker. He will walk into Paycor as the most complete tight end on the roster.

He will compete for reps this year, probably swiping the most from veteran Drew Sample. After 2024, the team will probably let Mike Gesicki walk in free agency, and All will leap-frog Sample to become TE1. His health is, of course, a concern, but if they can keep him on the field, the Bengals found a Day 3 gem.