The Cincinnati Bengals landed an absolute steal when they selected tight end Erick All in the fourth round of the 2024 NFL Draft. When the former Iowa Hawkeyes and Michigan Wolverines star declared for the NFL Draft after tearing his ACL last October it was unclear how soon All would be ready to see the field. Now, just nine months removed from surgery, All is already on the practice field looking like his old dominant self.
Erick All Looks Impressive as Always
Tuesday marked Erick All’s first time participating in team drills and he showed out right away, making a big contested catch over the middle (as you can see in James Rapien’s post below).
#Bengals rookie Erick All with a nice catch in team drills. He’s participating in team drills for the first time today, so this is a BIG play🏈 pic.twitter.com/ALopxwK3Bf
— James Rapien (@JamesRapien) July 30, 2024
This kind of contested catch used to be commonplace for All when he played for both Iowa and Michigan in college. At 6’5″, 250 pounds with speed to burn defenders of all kinds, All was a matchup nightmare when healthy. Unfortunately, All did struggle with injuries on numerous occasions throughout his college career.
Shortly after he became a team captain following his 38-reception, 437-yard 2021 campaign with Michigan, his 2022 season was cut short with the Wolverines. All began the year by trying to play through a herniated disc and significant back injury, but it just kept getting worse. He inevitably elected to have life-changing surgery that allowed him to get back close to normal ahead of his final collegiate season following a transfer to Iowa.
Erick All’s Upside at Tight End
Although we didn’t get to see just how athletic Erick All truly is at the NFL Combine since he was recovering from his torn ACL we do have some pretty clear evidence that he’s one of the most impressive size-speed specimens in the league.
If you watch the play in the post below, Erick All takes a simple shallow cross to the house for a 42-yard touchdown, which is pretty wild by itself. But when you realize the three defensive backs he burned on the way to the end zone run forty-yard dash times between 4.46 and 4.61 seconds you begin to realize just how fast All truly is.
Your preseason ranking of Erick All (TE 83) is too low pic.twitter.com/im3hHrYaRi
— Draft Guy Jared (@DraftGuyJared) July 16, 2022
If All gets back to that level of speed and athleticism the Bengals might have their tight end of the future. Cincinnati fans just need to hope he stays healthy.
When asked about the nice catch and hit at practice today, and what that felt like after just getting back to nearly full health All had this to say:
“It was cool…I was expecting the ball, but at the same time I wasn’t expecting to get hit…I was more worried about how it was going to feel getting hit and falling down…but I was good. It felt like normal…Really the number one thing is getting coaches to trust me, with me being a rookie…I’m trying to limit the mess-ups and get the job done for coach and for the team.”
Business as usual for All. He’s always played tough, worked hard, and got the job done when called upon. There’s a reason he was a team captain for the Michigan Wolverines as a pivotal part of their climbing back towards greatness in the last few years. Hopefully All can play an instrumental part in taking the Bengals to special places here soon too.
