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Round 5, Pick 173
Current TE Room
Jackson Hawes joins a great TE duo in Dalton Kincaid and Dawson Knox. Kincaid is the clear-cut TE1 of the room; his ability to get open specifically on play actions, as well as getting open against zone coverage, is at an elite level. Knox is a solid vet and will remain as the TE2 of the team. He’s an average blocker and provides great relief when Kincaid needs a snap or two on the sideline to catch his breath.
Hawes will be in an immediate camp battle with TE Zach Davidson for the TE3 role. With FB/TE Reggie Gilliam a lock to make the roster, Hawes has a fair chance at making it, as they wouldn’t have drafted him if they were confident in Davidson’s blocking ability.
Hawes’ College Stats
Despite playing six seasons, five at Yale and one at Georgia Tech, Jackson Hawes is only 24 years old. In 5 seasons at Yale, he only appeared in 29 games. His sole season at Georgia Tech allowed him to flourish and become more refined as a blocker and helped his almost non-existent draft stock while at Yale.
Jackson Hawes, to be blunt, lacks in the receiving game; despite years of college ball, he never had a single season of 20+ receptions or 200+ yards. He does provide some redzone capabilities to get open off of the play action, where he found success in 2022, but other than that, he is a non-factor in the passing game when not in goal-line packages. The following statistics are available via Chad Reuter, NFL Draft Researcher/Analyst with NFL Media since 2011, as linked in Hawes’ draft profile below.
- 2019 (Yale): Did not play.
- 2020 (Yale): Ivy League did not play football due to COVID-19 concerns.
- 2021 (Yale): Played in all 10 games as a reserve (13-135-10.3, TD). Five special teams tackles.
- 2022 (Yale): Second-team All-Ivy League. Led team with 4 receiving TDs. Started all 10 games (13-139-10.7).
- 2023 (Yale): Second-team All-Ivy League. Played in 9 games with 8 starts (9-97-10.8, TD).
- 2024: Played in 12 games with 10 starts (16-195-12.2).
NFL Combine
Jackson Hawes’ combine was fairly quiet, he was able to participate in most drills, his most notable drills were the bench press where he obtained a respectable 16 reps and like almost every rookie that GM Brandon Beane and HC Sean McDermott drafted this season, his athleticism score is better than his production score, with a score of 70, ranking him 15th among TEs in the athleticism department.
Expectations
If I were confident in any rookie season predictions, it’s Jackson Hawes. You can never have enough blockers at the NFL level, and blocking TEs are scarce; with that being said, the stat sheet will reflect that. The Buffalo Bills, however, don’t need him to be in the receiving game, with capable veteran Dawson Knox and the young potential in Dalton Kincaid, there’s only room at TE3 for Jackson Hawes Hawes just needs to win his blocking assignments and aid Josh Allen and James Cook in the run game; that’s where his value comes in.
My season predictions are as follows for the Georgia Tech product, 4 Rec, 17 Yards, 1 TD. It is not flashy, again he’s a run blocking TE and with Zach Davidson only getting 1 reception for 5 yards last season, giving Hawes a TD here is generous as I am relying on HC Sean McDermott to get him open on a designed play action delayed route.
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