2024 NFL Combine takeaways, grades for top TE prospects, plus other winners and losers

Day 2 of on-field drills at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis ended with tight ends demonstrating their athletic gifts inside Lucas Oil Stadium. No, this isn’t a loaded tight end group like we had a year ago, a few prospects elevated their stock with strong performances.

Here are some of the winners and losers from Friday’s on-field drills in Indianapolis, starting with a look at the measurements of the prospects in CBS Sports’ top 100 consensus rankings.

Grading the top-rated TEs

Brock Bowers, Georgia: N/A

Bowers opted against working out at the combine, and with seemingly such a “lead” on the rest of the tight ends in this class, that decision makes plenty of sense. He measured in just over 6-foot-3 and 243 pounds with quality length — nearly 33″ inches. No major changes here. 

Ja’Tavion Sanders, Texas: B

While I don’t think Sanders is a total burner at the tight end spot, barely running under 4.70 seconds surprised me a bit, especially for someone who was a monster high school recruit and did hit plenty of long plays in college. I would’ve liked to see some jumps from him, too, but he decided to wait until his pro day. He does have big hands, over 10 inches. That’s a plus. 

Ben Sinnott, Kansas State: A

A 4.68-second 40-yard dash for the nearly 6-foot-4 and 250-pound Sinnott was rock solid, and his jumps were eye-opening. It’s rare we see tight ends hit 40 inches in the vertical, and the 10-foot-6 broad will be close to the 94th percentile at the position since 1999 at the combine. Sinnott is in the discussion to be the second or third tight end off the board now, if he wasn’t already before the combine.  

Cade Stover, Ohio State: B

While his jumps didn’t compare to Sinnott’s and a few other tight ends, Stover ran a respectable 40-yard dash in the group and weighed in at a respectable 247 pounds. 

Other winners

Theo Johnson, Penn State

As we should have known, simply based on the fact he was at Penn State, which has become the elite combine performer factory during the James Franklin Era. At 6-foot-6 and 259 pounds, Johnson had a 39.5-inch vertical, which is bananas, a 10-foot-5 in the broad and ran a 4.57-second 40-yard dash. Goodness gracious. He very well could post a perfect “10” in Relative Athletic Score, which is a system and site that assigns a “score” from 0 to 10 for combine/pro day results by position. 

Devin Culp, Washington 

Culp had the fastest time of all tight ends, at 4.47, in the 40-yard dash. He weighed-in at 6-foot-3 and 231 pounds, which was the lightest of the tight end group, but 4.47 will be faster than some receivers tomorrow. 

Other losers

Brevyn Spann-Ford, Minnesota

Not that anyone was expecting Spann-Ford to light up Lucas Oil Stadium Friday night, but at 6-foot-6 1/2 and 260 pounds — close to Theo Johnson — he ran the second-slowest 40-yard dash, had the lowest vertical at 31.5 inches, and the shortest broad jump at 9-foot-8. 

The 2024 NFL Draft will take place from April 25-27 in Detroit. More draft coverage can be found at CBSSports.com, including the weekly updated draft order, mock drafts and a regularly available look at the eligible prospects. 

For live reaction from the festivities, check out Friday’s live blog.