{"id":62465,"date":"2019-04-01T20:52:19","date_gmt":"2019-04-02T00:52:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lwosonnfl.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/?p=62465"},"modified":"2021-06-01T06:22:31","modified_gmt":"2021-06-01T10:22:31","slug":"kaden-smith-2019-nfl-draft-profile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2019\/04\/01\/kaden-smith-2019-nfl-draft-profile\/","title":{"rendered":"Kaden Smith 2019 NFL Draft Profile"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Position<\/strong>: Tight end<br \/>\n<strong>Height<\/strong>: 6\u20195\u201d<br \/>\n<strong>Weight<\/strong>: 255 pounds<br \/>\n<strong>School<\/strong>: Stanford Cardinal<\/p>\n<p><strong>Combine Performance Data<br \/>\n<\/strong><strong>40-yard dash<\/strong>: 4.92 seconds<br \/>\n<strong>Bench press<\/strong>: 15 reps<br \/>\n<strong>Vertical jump<\/strong>: 32 inches<br \/>\n<strong>Broad jump<\/strong>: 9 feet<br \/>\n<strong>Three-cone drill<\/strong>: 7.08 seconds (third-best among tight ends)<br \/>\n<strong>20-yard shuttle<\/strong>: 4.47 seconds<\/p>\n<h1><strong>Kaden Smith 2019 NFL Draft Profile<\/strong><\/h1>\n<p>Stanford Cardinals tight end <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/kaden-smith-1.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kaden Smith<\/a><\/strong> is declaring for the 2019 NFL Draft after just 20 games at the collegiate level. While he probably would have benefitted from another year at Stanford, Smith has put up enough tape to ensure that he\u2019ll hear his name called during the draft. Smith appeared in nine games during 2018, recording 47 receptions for 635 yards and two touchdowns. His impressive play made him a Mackey Award finalist and a Second-Team All-Pac 12 selection.<\/p>\n<p>Smith initially joined the Cardinals back in 2016 as a five-star recruit. However, Smith didn\u2019t see the field during his first year in college. The Texas native earned a spot on the field in 2017, showing promise as a red zone threat. Appearing in 11 games, Smith recorded 23 receptions for 414 yards and five touchdowns.<\/p>\n<p>Throughout the course of his two-year collegiate career, Smith has recorded 70 receptions for 1,049 yards and seven touchdowns. Stanford has a long history of developing NFL-caliber tight ends, and Smith is looking to be the next product of that impressive program.<\/p>\n<h2>Strengths<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>NFL-caliber size and speed for the position;<\/li>\n<li>good lateral movement and agility;<\/li>\n<li>ability to get open in the seam;<\/li>\n<li>above-average catch radius;<\/li>\n<li>wins contested catches at an acceptable rate;<\/li>\n<li>15.0 yards-per-reception in college shows his ability to pick up chunk yardage.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Weaknesses<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>subpar athlete across the board;<\/li>\n<li>struggles to gain separation against speedier linebackers;<\/li>\n<li>lack of strength makes him a liability as a run blocker;<\/li>\n<li>route tree lacks polish;<\/li>\n<li>overall raw player who needs more time to develop.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>NFL Comparison: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/C\/ChanSc00.htm?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Scott Chandler<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Teams With Need at Position:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/cardinals\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Arizona Cardinals<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/bills\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Buffalo Bills<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/dolphins\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Miami Dolphins<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/raiders\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Oakland Raiders<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/cowboys\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dallas Cowboys<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/texans\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Houston Texans<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Projection: <\/strong>Rounds five to six<\/p>\n<h2>Bottom Line<\/h2>\n<p>Despite coming from a school known for tight ends, Kaden Smith doesn\u2019t bring anything special to the table. The Texas native appeared in just 20 games throughout his college career and his inexperience shows on the tape. Smith isn\u2019t as fast or strong as you\u2019d like, and he\u2019s a one-dimensional tight end who doesn\u2019t bring much to the blocking game. Making matters worse, Smith had one of the worst Combine performances of anyone in attendance.<\/p>\n<p>That said, there is a reason Smith decided to declare for the NFL Draft in the first place. The former five-star recruit has a knack for picking up chunk yardage and making big plays in the passing game. He\u2019s best when going up the seam but his strong contested catch ability ensures that he can make a big play at any time, even if he\u2019s not open. While his overall game remains unpolished, he has the raw ability to develop into an above-average route runner.<\/p>\n<p>Smith will get a shot to earn a spot on an NFL roster, but he\u2019s no guarantee to make a team. In all honesty, it might be best for him if he starts the season on a practice squad. Smith is still an incredibly raw prospect and spending time focused solely on his own development could be the best thing for him. However, even if he reaches his ceiling, his low athleticism means he\u2019ll probably never be anything more than a TE2.<\/p>\n<p>Main photo:<br \/>\n<a id=\"nTBN0nsMTfhfZSCIly8o2w\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1066326676\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'nTBN0nsMTfhfZSCIly8o2w',sig:'12lL-0-NX7yYenqXkS-vRrYIgDpwJjMloOOAMM9jcxQ=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1066326676',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Texas native Kaden Smith is looking to be the next Stanford tight end to make it as a professional in the 2019 NFL Draft.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2376,"featured_media":62466,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1647],"tags":[4070,61,5019],"class_list":["post-62465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl-draft","tag-2019-nfl-draft","tag-football","tag-kaden-smith"],"modified_by":"David Latham, Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2376"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62465"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62465\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62466"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}