It’s a group that features Rob Gronkowski, Aaron Hernandez and Jimmy Graham among others. If Tony Moeaki were able and healthy this year, he would likely be named often as another example of the dynamic group of tight ends selected in the NFL Draft of 2010. His loss is one of the reasons why the Chiefs offense has sputtered in 2011 and yet his rookie glimpse was enough for Dan Pompei to include him in the conversation of possibly the best tight end class in NFL history. Pompei writes:
What has enabled the growth of 12 personnel packages is the availability of good tight ends. Newsome suggests in the past, some of these tight ends were playing outside linebacker, defensive end or even basketball. Case in point: Jimmy Graham, who has been the most productive tight end in the league this year for the Saints, was primarily a basketball player in college.
The 2010 tight end class may turn out to be the best in history. Its members include Gronkowski, Dickson, Graham, Hernandez, Pitta, Cincinnati’s Jermaine Gresham and Kansas City’s Tony Moeaki. "We had two or three tight ends we liked in every round of that draft," Newsome said.
So the Ravens, and Patriots each took two with the idea that if opponents had difficulty covering one of them, they really would have a hard time with two.