From now until the 2024 NFL Draft takes place, we hope to scout and create profiles for as many prospects as possible, examining their strengths, weaknesses, and what they can bring to an NFL franchise. These players could be potential top 10 picks, all the way down to Day 3 selections and priority undrafted free agents. Today, a scouting report on Colorado State TE Dallin Holker.
#5 DALLIN HOLKER/TE COLORADO STATE-6033, 241 pounds (Junior)
Combine
MEASUREMENTS
| Player | Ht/Wt | Hand Size | Arm Length | Wingspan |
| Dallin Holker | 6033/241 | 10 1/4″ | 33 5/8″ | 78 1/8″ |
| 40-Yard Dash | 10-Yard Dash | Short Shuttle | 3-Cone | |
| 4.78 | 1.71 | 4.21 | 6.83 | |
| Broad Jump | Vertical | Bench Press | ||
| 10’2″ | 32.5″ | N/A |
THE GOOD
-Shows alignment versatility considering he lined up just about everywhere for Colorado State
-Stood out in a great way for three testing measurables. His shuttle is in the 90th percentile, his broad jump lands in the 91st percentile and his 3-cone falls in the 97th percentile
-Able to hold on to catches through contact which is attributed to his toughness
-Shows a knack for tracking the ball despite a defender being on him
-His elite agility numbers show up on film with his ability to make defenders miss after the catch
-Gains speed the longer he runs which can make it harder for defenders to gauge angles
-Basketball background, which has shown to be great for developing tight ends as they can utilize their boxing-out ability with smaller defenders
THE BAD
-Lacks good technique as a blocker, tends to struggle to find a body to block and overrunning his assignments
-Very inconsistent ability to catch unfavorable balls outside of his frame resulting in drops
-Handful of bad testing measurables. Weight fell in the 22nd percentile, bench put him in the 25th percentile, height fell in the 32nd percentile, a 10-yard split fell in the 44th percentile, and his 20-yard split landed in the 47th percentile
-With missing so much time with injuries and his Mormon mission, he is more of a project than your usual older prospect
-Below average initial burst which can make it a struggle for him to gain separation off the line or after the catch
-Doesn’t have the production to stand out in this class with only one season of multiple touchdown catches and over 235 yards
BIO
-24 years old (April 7th, 2000)
-28 games played for BYU from 2018 to 2022 and 12 games played for Colorado State in 2023
-108 offensive touches, 1,304 scrimmage yards, 10 scrimmage touchdowns and 12.2 yards per catch in his college career
-65 receptions, 768 receiving yards, 7 receiving touchdowns and 12.0 yards per catch in 2023
-Season-ending 2022 ankle injury and 2023 knee injury that kept him out of practices
-Three-star TE in his 2018 high school class from Lehi, UT
-Spent the 2019 and 2020 seasons in Vina del Mar, Chile for his Mormon mission
-Top three in Colorado State school history for single-season receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns
-Caught 97 receptions 1,766 yards and 22 touchdowns as a senior in high school despite missing two games
-Played basketball in high school
-Fluent in Spanish
Tape Breakdown:
Dallin Holker had a touchdown in every game I watched that came from a trick play or a chance play rather than pure skills. Against Colorado, his Colorado State team ran a play where wide receiver Tory Horton threw the ball to Holker on a streak. In this play, you can see just about the entire defense getting faked out with the trickery, and their eyes getting lost in the backfield. Despite this fact, Holker has very little separation on his defender. Now, we can’t see Holker’s defender throughout the entire play to see if he also got faked out a little bit by the play, but it is a commonality in Holker’s film to create little to no separation. Horton threw a beautiful pass on a rope into Holker’s breadbasket for the touchdown. To Holker’s credit, it was a great catch in the back of the end zone with a defender on his back. However, the majority of the credit should go to the play call and Horton’s pass in my opinion.
Against Middle Tennessee State, Colorado State ran a fake field goal with Holker on the receiving end of it. Despite it being a trick play, it is actually pretty well-defended. Holker has a defender attempting to guard him, but the likelihood that 296-pound Shamar Crawford would succeed in that is very low. Holker essentially got a 42-yard untouched score handed to him from the Colorado State play call.
— Steven (@Elspedd2) April 3, 2024
Holker doesn’t have many of the building blocks to being a great blocker. His height, weight and bench press all fall below the 35th percentile. However, as I explained in my Ja’Tavion Sanders article, for skill position players I mainly look for effort rather than actual skill. That being said, I felt even from an effort standpoint Holker left much to be desired. He allows defenders outside his frame, struggles to find a body to block and over-pursues his assignments. Holker could easily grow as a blocker and he may have to in order to find a consistent role in the NFL, but as it stands right now, he hasn’t shown much in that category.
— Steven (@Elspedd2) April 3, 2024
Holker has shown a few times on film that he can struggle to catch unfavorable passes outside of his frame. He struggled with quarterback play a little in college, and as a result, was forced to make a play on passes that were outside of what he normally liked. Considering the tight end is supposed to be a security blanket for the quarterback when all else fails, I am a firm believer that tight ends should be able to make catches outside of their frame pretty consistently. Against Boise State, Holker had two noticeable drops in this area, and it made me start to worry about what he will do in the NFL potentially with a bad quarterback situation.
— Steven (@Elspedd2) April 3, 2024
— Steven (@Elspedd2) April 3, 2024
Going back to catching passes outside of your frame, Holker did it once in the games I watched. It was against Colorado and set up a long 35-yard touchdown. Holker is lined up in-line with a drag route across the field. He has a defender draped all over him due to creating no separation off the line. The ball is thrown low towards the ground but Holker is able to make a great hands catch and reel it in. After the catch, Holker is essentially off to the races with only green in front of him. Plays like these raise Holker’s stock, but the fact is, there were very few of them.
— Steven (@Elspedd2) April 3, 2024
CONCLUSION
My first exposure to Colorado State tight end Dallin Holker came during the NFL combine where he incorrectly finished the gauntlet drill. He held on to the second to last ball thinking it was the final catch which forced him into a difficult one-handed catch for the actual final ball. When he made that impressive snag I was intrigued to see what his film had to offer.
However, after watching his film, I was not as impressed with what I saw. The hands were more inconsistent than I thought they would be, with him at times struggling to reel in difficult catches and other times doing it with ease. His combined testing directly correlated to the film. You saw his speed numbers get higher in their respective percentiles as he continued to run and on his film, this is a guy who gains speed the longer he runs with a slow initial burst.
This slow initial burst does bring issues like creating separation off the line and also after the catch. We saw multiple times Holker was forced into a tough catch due to limited or no separation. His testing numbers weren’t consistent either, with three scores in or above the 90th percentile and five below the 50th. Holker also had a scary amount of production off-chance plays or trick plays.
This was seen against Boise State where Holker caught a Hail Mary off a batted down ball for the 33-yard touchdown. This is also brought up in the Colorado game where he scored a touchdown off a trick play and wide receiver Tory Horton threw an absolute dime in Holker’s bread basket. Finally, against Middle Tennessee State, Holker scored another long touchdown off a fake field goal. All of this production comes off plays left up to chance or being schemed up rather than true skill from Holker.
With the inconsistencies in his traits, production and testing numbers, Holker is a true flier, and nobody really knows what kind of player they are getting. With missing so much time due to injuries and his Mormon mission in Chile, he is more of a project than your usual older prospect. Teams may not desire to build up a 24-year-old project who has a history of lower body injuries these past two years. I think he projects as a late-round guy with the ceiling of a decent backup.
Projection: Late Day Three
Depot Draft Grade: 6.5 – End of Roster/Practice Squad (Sixth/Seventh Round)
Games Watched: Boise State (2023), Colorado (2023), Middle Tennessee (2023)
