Cincinnati’s Josh Whyle enjoyed a solid career, making a lot of winning plays for a program that enjoyed great success. Sounds somewhat like another ex-Cincinnati tight end.
Might have heard of Travis Kelce?
This is not to suggest that Whyle will come close to having the career that the future Hall of Famer Kelce has enjoyed with the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs, but there are some comparisons, beginning with they both played for the Bearcats.
Kelce, who missed one year while being suspended from the team reportedly for testing positive for marijuana, really only had one big season at Cincinnati, his senior year.
That year Kelce had 45 receptions for 722 yards and eight touchdowns. He also rushed for 47 yards and two scores. Cincinnati went 10-3 overall and 5-2 in the Big East, sharing the title with Louisville, Rutgers, and Syracuse.
A little history, Cincinnati clinched its share of the 2012 Big East title with a 34-17 win at Connecticut in a game Kelce caught two touchdown passes and threw another, 39 yards to QB Brendon Kay.
That season enabled Kelce to get drafted in the third round of the 2013 NFL draft, the 63rd overall player selected. After appearing in just one game in his rookie season, he has been a force ever since.
Just for kicks, here are the tight ends taken ahead of Kelce in the 2013 draft.
Round/Pick Player (College) NFL team
1/21 Tyler Eifert (Notre Dame), Cincinnati
2/35 Zach Ertz (Stanford), Philadelphia
2/47 Gavin Escobar (San Diego State), Dallas
2/55 Vance McDonald (Rice), San Francisco
So as we see, this NFL draft stuff is not an exact science.
Two more comparisons between the Cincinnati TEs – Kelce is listed at 6-5 and 250 pounds. Whyle was measured at the NFL Combine at 6-6 ½ and 248 pounds.
At the NFL Combine, Kelce ran the 40-yard dash in 4.63 seconds. Whyle ran the 40 in 4.69 seconds.
Kelce had the bigger single season, but Whyle had more sustained success. This past season, Whyle had 32 receptions for 326 yards and three touchdowns.
Whyle played in a program that didn’t feature the tight end a lot. In 53 career games, he had 88 receptions for 1,062 yards and 15 touchdowns. His 15 touchdown receptions are a school record for a tight end, breaking the mark of Brent Celek, who had 14. Celek would enjoy a long career with the Philadelphia Eagles.
In 35 career games at Cincinnati, Kelce had 59 receptions for 875 yards and 10 touchdowns.
What Team Drafted Josh Whyle?
Whyle was drafted by the Tennessee Titans in the fifth round with the 147th overall pick.
Josh Whyle Draft Profile
Whyle has the misfortune of being in a very strong tight-end class. Entering the combine he was the ninth-highest-graded tight end, with a grade of 6.14, courtesy of NFL.com.
A grade of 6.10 to 6.19 is considered a good backup with the potential to develop into a starter.
Whyle made more big plays as a junior when Cincinnati became the first Group of Five team to earn a berth in the college football playoff. The Bearcats were 13-0 in the regular season before losing a 27-6 decision to Alabama in the semifinal.
As a junior, he had 26 receptions for 332 yards and six touchdowns. In Cincinnati’s closest regular season game that season, he had four receptions for 60 yards and two touchdowns in a 27-20 win at Navy.
The next week in a 31-12 win at Tulane, he added four receptions for 79 yards and two scores.
A player such as Whyle is hard to grade because as mentioned earlier, he didn’t play in an attack that frequently emphasized the tight end.
At Cincinnati, he showed good hands and was a solid blocker. And with his size, he can be an obvious threat in the red zone.
Whyle, who turns 24 in September, spent five seasons at Cincinnati, redshirting the first year, playing 12 games but making just two catches his second season before enjoying three solid seasons in which the Bearcats went 31-6 and won two American Athletic Conference championships.
NFL teams will be getting an experienced player, one who was a winner and didn’t complain about his role in the offense but contributed greatly to his team’s success.
