Old-school blocking tight end with a finisher's mentality who will plant defenders on the ground at the second level and earn a roster spot on Day 1 with his run-game physicality and special teams value. Boerkircher's receiving flashes at the Senior Bowl — crisp stems, contested grabs through contact, and natural feel for settling in zone windows — hint at a player who was chronically underutilized in the passing game across six college seasons. The play strength concerns are real: he bends at the waist and gets narrow-based inline, allowing NFL-caliber defensive ends to collapse his anchor, and the 32⅝-inch arms limit his ability to sustain blocks at the point of attack. The floor is a TE3/special teams ace who can hold up in 12-personnel run packages; the ceiling, if the receiving development continues, is a poor man's Josiah Deguara — a versatile H-back/TE2 who gives coordinators a moveable chess piece.
- Elite effort and physicality as a run blocker on the move — wipes out linebackers at the second level and finishes through the whistle with a nasty disposition
- Surprising route stem manipulation and zone acumen as a receiver, consistently finding soft spots in vacated space over the middle of the field
- Reliable hands with a strong catch radius — 19-for-22 targets with just one drop in 2025, 86.4% separation rate per PFF
- Positional versatility to align inline, as H-back, or in the slot, giving coordinators schematic flexibility in personnel groupings
- Elite character, competitiveness, and work ethic — walked on at Nebraska, earned scholarship, won starting job at Texas A&M over multiple recruited TEs, hauled in game-winning TD vs Notre Dame
- Tends to bend at the waist and get narrow with his base when blocking inline, allowing defensive linemen to control the point of attack and collapse his anchor
- 32⅝-inch arm length and 245-pound frame raise serious questions about sustaining blocks against NFL-caliber edge defenders one-on-one
- Hand technique at the catch point is inconsistent — visible instability noted at Senior Bowl despite the overall positive week
- Extremely limited receiving production sample size (19 catches in best college season; 36 career catches total) makes projection as a two-phase player speculative
Similar body type, blocking-first mentality with H-back/inline versatility and modest but intriguing receiving flashes. Both are high-effort, high-character players who carved out roles through physicality rather than athleticism. Deguara's early career arc as a TE3/special teamer who grew into a TE2 role is Boerkircher's most realistic NFL trajectory.