Last year then rookie tight end Cornelius Ingram was outrunning linebackers down the middle of the field and making fans think he was going to team up with starting tight end Brent Celek and make an impact in his first season.  Of course you know what happened.
He injured one of his knees, missed the season and was forced to sit and watch as he rehabilitated his leg.  Ingram is back from the injury now but the burst which he had a year ago seems to reappear at times then it disappears.
Ingram has had trouble separating from the linebackers.¬† Maybe it’s because they’re faster than the guys from a year ago but it hasn’t stopped rookie tight end Clay Harbor from getting open.
In the first days of camp with the rookies, Ingram was unable to dominate.¬† They tried to work on the red zone attack by getting him isolated on a linebacker, but he would catch a pass, then fail come down with a couple.¬† He couldn’t establish any consistency.
So far, Harbor has out-shined Ingram.¬† He’s been the backup tignt end with the burst and ability to get an opening between himself and the pass defenders.¬† Ingram’s legs have looked fatigued for most of the camp, while Harbor has been accelerating to the corner or down the middle to the post or across the field on a crossing route.
The last couple of days I’ve seen Ingram come on some with a bevy of catches, but the former Florida Gator has got to put together a few quality practices.
I haven’t been impressed with either one of them as run or pass blockers.¬† They both need to get stronger in their legs and upper bodies to have any chance of blocking the linebackers and defensive ends in the NFL.¬† For the most part in the blitz pick up drill they ran this morning, the only tight end who consistently blocked the blitzing linebackers was Brent Celek.
Good stuff G and verifies a lote of what I’ve been hearing by observors..
How does the other M Rucker look so far in camp to you.. I’ve been hearing some good things about him too.. maybe Ingram isn’t NFL ready at this stage of his career with basically missing the last 2 years and injured…
I think you correctly stated this years group of LBs are faster. We had good success in the red zone when we had Bartrum because we could use 3 TEs and all three could play. Last year we were down to one (Celek really) these 3 could be key
Cornelius of course has potential but this is just the Eagle’s doing what they do. Taking a flyer on a guy with damaged knees. Be nice to see it work out once in a while tho.
Ingram does seem a little tentative in the highlights and lacks that explosion that he had before his injury last camp, which is understandable, but he is going to have to pick-it up before Harbor takes the back-up spot from him…