Contextualization Of TE Dax Raymond’s 2018 Pass Targets At Utah State (9 Games)

The Pittsburgh Steelers signed free agent tight end Dax Raymond on Monday and now the Utah State product and former undrafted player of the Chicago Bears will compete for a roster spot in the team’s upcoming training camp. In his final season at Utah State in 2018, Raymond caught 27 passes for 345 yards and 2 touchdowns in the 10 games that he played in. After finding nine of those 10 games, I was able to contextualize all of the targets Raymond had in them and below is that data that’s also complete with links to the video of every play.

Raymond’s average depth of target on the 33 total targets in these nine games from 2018 was 7.1 yards and his average completed distance from the line of scrimmage was just 6.4 yards. It’s worth pointing out that just two of Raymond’s 25 total contextualized receptions from 2018 were caught more than 15 yards down the field.

17 of Raymond’s 25 receptions that I contextualized came 5 or less yards past the line of scrimmage. Two of those were caught behind the line of scrimmage.

On the 25 total contextualized receptions from the nine 2018 games of Raymond’s that I charted, the tight end registered an average of 7 yards after the catch. However, 33 of his 175 yards gained after the catch in 2018 came on one reception.

10 of Raymond’s 25 total receptions in these nine games came in the middle if the field and thus between the hash marks. He averaged 16.6 yards per reception on those 10 middle-of-the-field catches.

Raymond has fairly reliable hands as I only observed two drops on these 33 total 2018 targets from the nine games I contextualized. He also caught passes out of various original alignments on the field, both attached and detached, and on both sides of the formation.

The two positive traits that stick out the most in these targets is Raymond’s ability to get yards after the catch in addition to him showing nice traits of being able to get himself open down the field whenever the quarterback needs to extend the play. In 2018, at least, Raymond, who was primary being thrown passes from quarterback Jordan Love, wasn’t targeted much down the field. He also wasn’t targeted much inside the red zone, either. He was mainly used as a possession-type pass catcher and a lot of times detached and in the slot.

Raymond is far from being a polished route runner and he’s not a tight end that’s going to run away from many defenders. His blocking also seems to be hit and miss, although that wasn’t my primary focus in these nine games I hurried through to find his targets.

If I get a chance in the coming days, I’ll try to contextualize as many of Raymond’s targets from the 2017 season that I can as he had a lot more of them that season than he did in 2018. In the meantime, these 33 contextualized targets from the 2018 season should give everyone a good idea as to what kind of receiving weapon Raymond was coming out of Utah State.

2018 Pass Targets For Utah State TE Dax Raymond