2018 Rookie Profile: Mark Andrews, TE Oklahoma

Dan Sainio Posted On April 13, 2018

Tight end has been a mess for fantasy football in the very recent past, as it is such a volatile position. In most cases, streaming the position has been the answer unless you could get your hands on one of the top options like Rob Gronkowski or Travis Kelce. However, last year we saw a nice boost to the TE depth with some explosive pass-catchers being added. 2018 will have another infusion of solid TE talent, and it starts with Mark Andrews.

The Stats

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Statistics from sports-reference.com

Andrews started his college career in 2015, after redshirting for the 2014 season. The wait was certainly worth the added production in the Oklahoma offense. Andrews received second-team Big 12 honors as a redshirt freshman because of big-time touchdown production, even though he was used rather sparingly. The tight end’s transition from wide receiver looked to be off to a great start.

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In 2016, his redshirt sophomore year, Andrews finished with a solid 31-489-7 line and was given first-team all-Big 12 honors. Another boost in his production came from continuing to progress at the the position, as well as gaining a rapport with top quarterback Baker Mayfield. Though the passing offense mainly went through Biletnikoff winner Dede Westbrook, Andrews added solid TD production and big plays to an already explosive offense.

In his final season, Andrews officially broke out while leading the Sooners in catches and touchdowns. This didn’t go unnoticed, as he was given the John Mackey Award for being the nation’s top tight end over Wisconsin’s Troy Fumagalli and Penn State’s Mike Gesicki. A great way to top off a solid career, and finishing as Oklahoma’s all time leader in receiving yards at the tight end position.

The Film

Straight from Baker Mayfield’s mouth, Mark Andrews was the best tight end in college football in 2017. This video helps prove it. Andrews is a big-time pass catcher and red zone monster. Boasting great route running, and strong hands, he’s able to go up and get most anything thrown his way whether he already has his man beat or fights for a 50/50 ball. He’s also very good at adjusting his routes on the fly to find space in zones, or meeting the QBs needs once flushed from the pocket.

A very underrated part of Andrews’ game is his ability to shake would-be tacklers using his impressive footwork paired with his great field awareness. This might be surprising as he isn’t an explosive athlete, which we’ll touch on in the next section. Also, he certainly isn’t a guy to catch the ball and wait to be hit. More often than not he’ll get his footing, turn upfield, and finish the play strong.

His glaring weakness on tape is that he isn’t a dominant blocker. I wouldn’t go as far as to say that he’s a liability in the running game, but he’s definitely below average at it. The times we did see him function as a blocker, he was matched against smaller defenders who didn’t really stand a chance against his size. He’ll need to work on that if he wants to be a top all-around TE at the next level. But he’ll most likely work exclusively as a pass catcher.

Measurables

Thanks to Mock Draftable, we are able to see that Andrews has a great combination of size and straight-line speed. On tape, the straight line speed is noticeable once he gets going. The “gets going” part is what is a little underwhelming. He didn’t test as well as I had hoped he would in the jumps, but that wasn’t likely to happen as the explosiveness doesn’t show on tape.

The shuttles and 3-cone were a bit surprising, as he is very fluid in short areas and running tight routes. Explosiveness obviously plays a part in that, but I still believed he’d do better in those drills. Again, though, he doesn’t win with explosiveness. He wins by just being a really good football player. I wouldn’t call Andrews a Combine loser, but he didn’t improve his stock like other tight ends did.

Dynasty Value

According to ADP, Andrews is currently being drafted as the TE3, and overall as the 29th rookie off of the board. While I have him as my TE1 – in the back end of the second round – I really can’t argue with his current community valuation. I expect Andrews to be a TE2 in PPR formats early on, as he can most definitely be a day one contributor in almost any NFL offense that needs TE/receiving help. I know historically tight ends don’t produce in year one, but Andrews’ body and game are built for today’s NFL.

Conclusion

As I mentioned earlier, this is another strong TE class but Mark Andrews is NFL-ready. Other players will likely need a little time to develop their game. Plenty of teams are in the market for a pass-catching TE, who also happens to be one of the younger ones in the class. Expect Andrews to contribute early in the NFL, but also don’t do anything crazy like drafting him in the first round of your rookie drafts. This is a deep class and there isn’t a good reason to spend a top-20 pick on a volatile position.

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