Zach Davidson NFL Draft 2021: Scouting Report for Minnesota Vikings TE

HEIGHT: 6'6 5/8"

WEIGHT: 245 lbs

POSITIVES

—Brings good height and athleticism to the TE position. 

—Natural athlete and fluid mover. Good bend and balance and looks natural with the ball in his hands. 

—Good acceleration and long speed. Consistently threatens defenders on down the field routes and would overwhelm his competition.

—Absolutely dominated his level. Highly productive when he became a full-time starter at TE.

—Has legit punter positional versatility. Averaged over 42.6 yards per punt over his college career.

NEGATIVES

—Played against Division II competition.

—Extremely raw at TE. Has only recently been exposed to the position.

—Still learning just about every detail at TE. Wavers on his routes and is just playing backyard football at times. 

—Will need to continue to add play strength and weight to his frame.

2019 STATISTICS

13 G, 40 rec., 894 yards, 22.4 avg., 15 TD

NOTES

—2019 first-team All-American (TE)

—2019 first-team All-MIAA (TE and Punter)

—2020 season was canceled because of COVID-19.

OVERALL

Zach Davidson started his college career as a punter before given the opportunity to try the TE position his sophomore year and running with it, both literally and figuratively. Davidson has legitimate punter ability to create one of the weirdest positional versatility combinations a prospect can have with being a TE and punter.

Davidson has good height and is a good overall athlete, he's an easy mover and shows good body control, bend, acceleration, and long speed that helped him dominate his level of competition. He also shows natural hands when the ball comes his way and plucks throws easily. Davidson is extremely raw in the details of the TE position and is merely an athlete at this point, he needs to improve his route tree and details, as he currently wavers and will take too long trying to get open. He also has just average arm length, which will hinder his blocking ability unless he quickly develops good technique to overcome it.

Overall, Davidson is a strange evaluation but has the athleticism that will lead to a team taking him as a developmental prospect that will probably spend most of his rookie season on practice squad. The punter versatility is a nice cherry on top for value.

GRADE: 6.5/10 (Round 7)

OVERALL RANK: 246/300

POSITION RANK: TE9

PRO COMPARISON: Gerald Everett

Written by B/R NFL Scout Nate Tice