Evan Moore

[Chip Banks]

Evan Moore TE 6�7 236 Stanford

By: Robert Davis

 

Moore came to Stanford with the hopes of playing both football and basketball. He did both as a freshman, but once his sophomore season came around he realized his future was on the gridiron. As a sophomore, he hauled in 39 receptions for 616 yards and six touchdowns. In the first game of the 2005 season, he dislocated his hip after catching three passes for 66 yards and a touchdown and missed the rest of the year. He returned a year later, but this time was hindered by a stress fracture in his right foot and he managed to catch just 14 passes for 242 yards and three touchdowns. Moore closed out his Cardinal career with a solid season, hauling in 39 passes for 481 yards and a touchdown.

 

Moore has an excellent combination of talent. He has an excellent frame, with the potential to get even bigger. He is also an excellent athlete, and knows how to use the combination of size and athleticism to go up and get the football. He has the potential to be a real difference maker as a receiver from the tight end position.

 

All the potential in Moore�s game dates back to the talented he displayed as a sophomore. Injuries have slowed him the past two seasons. Durability has to be an issue with him being hindered for much of those two seasons. He also is a receiver for the Cardinal, and will definitely be playing tight end in the NFL. He will need to learn how to block players considerably bigger than him to develop into an all around threat.

 

Moore�s game and draft ranking are all on potential. He had a solid year to re-establish himself as a prospect. As long as he can stay healthy, he is a player to keep an eye on because he creates a mismatch no matter who is lined up against him.

[BrownIndian]

all i want is one decent TE who can catch the simple ball .... am i asking for too much ?

[Chip Banks]

all i want is one decent TE who can catch the simple ball .... am i asking for too much ?

Kid can catch. Question is can be show enough blocking to get on the active roster and can he stay healthy:

 

"Evan Moore doesn’t know what all of the fuss is about.

 

The undrafted tight end runs his routes crisply with a knee-high stride. He makes hard cuts, flashes his hands immediately and catches the ball away from his body.

 

As a starting wide receiver in college such fluidness was expected. As an undrafted tight end in the pros it has players and coaches buzzing.

 

Through last week’s minicamp there were plenty of double-takes fired in Moore’s direction.

 

"No one really has any expectations, so anything you do is a big plus," Moore said. "I haven’t experienced that since my freshman year in college. Here you make a play and people say, ‘Hey man that’s an unbelievable play,’ and I say, ‘That’s what I always do.’ It’s kind of nice to be the underdog."

 

In late April, Moore, a Stanford grad, expected to be drafted ... as a wide receiver. Neither happened. Teams were scared off by Moore’s injury history, which included a season-ending dislocated hip and a stress fracture in his foot.

 

But he’s fully healthy now. Moore said he doesn’t even know where the Packers’ training camp is located. And he’s in a great situation to make a realistic run at a roster spot. Six tight ends are on the Packers’ roster. Other than starter Donald Lee, nobody in the lot possesses better pure receiving skills than the towering 6-foot-6, 240-pound Moore, who also played two years of basketball at Stanford.

 

Still, it’s been a "big adjustment," Moore admitted. Instead of reading cornerbacks and safeties, Moore is pinpointing linemen and linebackers at the line and blocking behemoths with 50 pounds on him is a major hurdle he’ll cross five weeks from now.

 

But while Moore is learning a completely new position on-the-fly, basic pass-catching skills are engrained in him. And he expects nothing less.

 

While his chief competition for the No. 3 tight end job, Tory Humphrey, dropped several intermediate passes during minicamp, Moore was a vacuum. On one play last Wednesday, quarterback Matt Flynn looked left, turned right and hit Evan Moore slicing down the seam for a big gain. Moore caught an identical pass from Brian Brohm the previous day in practice.

 

"I like to think that’s just a play that I make," Moore said. "They haven't seen that here yet, so they were hyped about it. I’ll relish that role."

 

Moore started at wideout from the get-go at Stanford. While playing for dismal teams, he was often Trent Edwards’ favorite target. In fact, Moore and the Buffalo Bills’ starting quarterback are "like brothers."

 

In his ’04 sophomore year with the Cardinal, Moore caught 39 passes for 616 yards and six touchdowns. A hip injury sidelined Moore for all but one game in ’05. He was rendered to a part-time role in ’06 after suffering a stress fracture in his right foot and caught just 14 passes in eight games. But as a senior, Moore returned to form with 39 catches for 481 yards and one TD.

 

Injuries aren’t an issue anymore and Moore has already caught the eye of Green Bay’s new starting quarterback.

 

"He’s made some nice plays for us," Aaron Rodgers said. "He’s in a tough spot. He’s got some guys in front of him with a lot of talent, but he just needs to keep making plays and he’ll be where he needs to be."

 

Rodgers said Moore reminds him of Garrett Cross, who he threw passes to at junior college, the University of California and briefly in minicamps of his rookie season with the Packers.

 

"(Evan) is a tight end with the same body type that can run and catch like Garrett," Rodgers said. "He’s done a nice job picking it up mentally, and physically he’s got all the tools. His biggest transition – and I’ve seen guys who’ve made position changes like this – is going to be blocking. It’s going to be taking on 270-pound defensive ends who have good leverage."

 

So there was Moore waiting in line during a simple blocking drill at Tuesday’s practice. The tight ends needed to explode out of their stance and attack the outside "shoulder" of a pad. As the other tight ends waited idly, Moore went through the motions of the drill, simulating his first step out of the stance. Again and again.

 

Fundamental tight end nuances, such as a three-point stance are foreign to him. The OTAs and minicamp helped, but Moore isn’t an overnight miracle. The potential needs polishing.

 

"It’s only been three-and-a-half weeks," Moore said. "And while I do have high expectations for myself, I’m not going to be unrealistic and think I can pick this up in a month. It’s going to take a little bit of time to get comfortable doing this kind of stuff."

 

General manager Ted Thompson constantly preaches that the "best football players" make the team. Number-crunching at each position is rare. Hence, in 2006, four tight ends earned roster spots. Last season? Two. Now with a wide-open field behind Lee, Moore is playing with a "nothing to lose" attitude – a sensation he said he hasn’t felt since his freshman year in college.

 

Equal opportunity advancement sure is an effective stress-reliever."

[DawgTracker]

Exactly the type of guy we need to be scouring the country for, someone with lots of upside