Quote Originally Posted by the_real_MSU_is_us View Post
I'm going to be the the devils advocate here and defend our lack of TE.

1) All those years of Mullen starting a TE, and the TE never did anything. Waste of an on field coach

2) the TE has to be able to block blitzing LBs that already have a head of steam, help the OT block NFL 1st round DEs, get out in space and block, and -to be useful pass catchers- be able to get free of a LB/S and or leap over them and make a grab. Have you seen SEC LBs? This is a true freak athlete. It's hard to find someone that can be anything other than an undersized OT. Which can be useful in certain situations, but not often.

3) How many TEs have truly been "dominant"? The best TE in the SEC has 846 yards this season, meaning there are 7 WRs with more yards. The 2nd best TE has 515 yards, meaning 19 WRs have more yards. Last year Pitts had the most dominant TE seasons I've ever seen, and he still didn't lead the team in yards or receptions. It's simply really really hard to find the freak athlete needed fro the position

4) "But TEs block! A WR can't protect the QB". I'd argue that my having a TE, you're allowing the other team to place another man in the box. If you replace the TE with a WR, the D takes a man out of the box.

5) "You can use a TE like a chess piece to out scheme the D!". That's true, you can use the TE to take advantage of an undisciplined LB/S. But that's hard to do vs competent defenses. And if we concede to the TE not being a schematic advantage vs the best 4-5 teams we see every year, then why not have a WR on the field and give us some speed and big play potential? It's hard to be smarter than everyone you play, and I'm not so confident in our ability to do that that I'm willing to give up WR speed for the chance for our coach to find a flaw in their D.

6) Every team uses a TE. Maybe being different is the best way to catch defenses making mistakes
I think this is basically it. I remember before people figured out Joe Lee Dunn's defense, they would try to counter it by bringing in TEs to have extra blockers to pick up blitz's, which of course was the exact wrong thing to do, because it just gave him even more options as far as how to blitz and from where.