Klare is the kind of tight end modern offensive coordinators dream about scheming up — a fluid, crafty route runner who separates like a big slot and punishes zone coverage with advanced feel for soft spots. His route tree is legitimately ahead of his peers at the position, with the ability to sell fakes, decelerate into breaks, and work across defenders' faces on intermediate concepts. The blocking remains a major question mark: he's improved markedly from a near-liability in 2024 to functional in 2025, but his 246-pound frame simply doesn't have the mass to anchor against NFL edge players on run downs, and his path to the field narrows without it. If a team deploys him as a detached weapon in 11-personnel and lets him cook on crossers, seams, and play-action concepts while the blocking develops, there's a real Sam LaPorta-lite outcome here — but the floor is a one-dimensional sub-package receiver who never earns three-down trust.
- Elite route-running nuance for a tight end — sells fakes with tempo and footwork, decelerates sharply into breaks, and manipulates leverage at the stem like a polished receiver
- Advanced feel for zone coverage with the ability to find and settle into soft spots at the intermediate level, making him a quarterback-friendly chain mover
- Underrated explosiveness to his top speed; genuine vertical threat down the seam who can stress safeties and linebackers alike
- Alignment versatility — experience lining up inline, slot, wing, and detached, giving coordinators real pre-snap flexibility
- Meaningful improvement as a blocker from 2024 to 2025, showing the willingness and coachability that suggests continued development
- Light frame at 246 pounds with below-average functional strength; gets walked back by NFL-caliber edge defenders at the point of attack and cannot sustain blocks against bigger bodies
- Concentration drops are a recurring issue — seven drops in 2025 per Jeremiah, with a noticeable focus problem that undermines otherwise soft hands
- Did not participate in athletic testing at the Combine, leaving a significant unknown about his explosiveness profile and creating a testing-dependent swing in his draft stock
- Production dipped at Ohio State (YPRR from 2.22 to 1.63, aDOT from 8.8 to 6.2), and while context explains it, the tape didn't produce the splash plays evaluators wanted to see from a TE2 candidate
Jeremiah directly comped Klare to the Lions star. Both are route-running-first tight ends who win with craft, tempo, and feel rather than overpowering athleticism. LaPorta's early-career production came primarily as a move piece in Detroit's scheme — that's exactly how Klare would need to be deployed. The comp assumes the hands clean up and the blocking develops; if not, the range slides toward a Dalton Schultz type who contributes but doesn't dominate.