Picking Dalton Keene in the third round of the 2020 NFL Draft required confidence from the New England Patriots that two conditions can be met.
Patriots offensive coaches have to successfully coach up the athletic tight end to refine his blocking and route-running skills, and Keene needs to be a quick learner. The latter shouldn’t be a major issue. At Keene’s last stop, he switched positions upon enrolling at Virginia Tech and started 12 games as a true freshman.
But there’s a lot of work to be done with Keene once Patriots rookies are actually able to get into the Gillette Stadium facility.
Keene’s college production was lacking throughout his three-year career with the Hokies. He caught 59 passes for 748 yards with eight touchdowns in his time at Virginia Tech. He caught just 21 passes for 240 yards with five scores and carried the ball 11 times for 33 yards as a junior in 2019.
And most of that production came when Virginia Tech schemed Keene to get open. Rarely did Keene produce on traditional routes. Many of his biggest plays came when he was wide open. He was able to haul in this contested catch against Virginia in 2018.
That being said, Keene flashed impressive hands with the Hokies. And once he got the ball in his hands, he was extremely dangerous and impressive after the catch, showing power to keep the chains moving and speed and agility to avoid defenders.
He put it all together on this 67-yard catch and run against Duke in 2018.
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While many college tight ends are just big, glorified wide receivers, that’s not the case with Keene, who was asked to block even more than he produced as a receiver. Keene opened up lanes in the running game as a tight end and H-back, lead blocked as a fullback and H-back and stayed in to pass protect from H-back/tight end and running back.
He certainly brings and embraces an element of physicality to the game.
Va Tech hback Dalton Keene enjoys pancakes for lunch. He’s a little extra with the finish and I love watching it. pic.twitter.com/vtFZVyyZk5
— Lance Zierlein (@LanceZierlein) January 24, 2020
As you might be able to tell, Keene displayed impressive versatility at Virginia Tech, lining up at inline tight end, flex tight end, H-back, fullback, running back, wide receiver and slot receiver. He even received seven handoffs in Virginia Tech’s 2019 win over UNC. It will be fascinating to see how and where the Patriots use him. Based on what he showed with the Hokies, we could see him playing either tight end position and fullback in the NFL. The Patriots undoubtedly will flex him out at wide receiver and in the slot in certain situations. He could even be used as a short-yardage back.
Keene tends to play a little out of control as a receiver and blocker and will need to get reined in. He certainly has the strength and willingness to block, his technique will need to be improved, however. Many times, he would just put his head and shoulder down and bang into a defender rather than keeping his helmet up and engaging with his hands.
What gives Keene the most upside is his athleticism. He was the most athletic tight end invited to the NFL Scouting Combine, running a 4.71-second 40-yard dash with a 4.19-second short shuttle, 7.07-second three-cone drill, 34-inch vertical leap and 10-feet, 5-inch broad jump at 6-foot-4, 253 pounds. To combine that with his blocking prowess makes the potential for a complete tight end.
While Keene might have seemed like a bit of a reach in the third round, it’s extremely easy to see why the Patriots liked him so much. He’s raw, but with a little bit of honing, Keene could make a big impact all over the field for the Patriots.
