Welcome Payne Durham (TE- Purdue)

[Snake]

Yep

[Snake]

See:

[Kona]

Isn’t this a guy we met with 5 times?

[Snake]

Strengths

A big safety net to target in the middle of the zone.

Sticky hands to make catches despite contact from the defender.

Able to catch and break through tackles.

Approaches block targets with control and balance.

Radar for adjustments in space to find his strike.

Potential as both a move blocker and in-line blocker.

Weaknesses

Labored strides into the top of the route.

Man coverage easily carries him down the seam.

Usually smothered at route breaks by man coverage.

Wide hands prevent consistent block sustain.

Needs to improve upper-body strength for NFL blocking.

Fails to bring feet with him through base blocks.

[Snake]

Durham was a lacrosse player before choosing to play football his senior year at Peachtree Ridge High School in Georgia. He was an all-region pick that year and signed with Purdue for 2018, redshirting while playing in two games (no statistics). Durham started four of 12 games played in 2019 (9-82-9.1, four TDs) and garnered honorable mention All-Big Ten Conference honors in 2020 (16-166-10.4, three TDs in six starts). He was again selected as an honorable mention pick his junior year (45-467-10.4, six TDs) despite missing time with a concussion and playing through multiple injuries. Durham had his best year as a senior in 2022, receiving second-team all-league honors with a career-high 56 receptions, 560 yards (10.0 per) and eight touchdowns in 13 games with 12 starts. He opted out of the team's bowl game to prepare for the draft. -- by Chad Reuter

[Grahamburn]

Isn’t this a guy we met with 5 times?

Yup.

[Bootz]

Meh. Reads like a guy that would've been available after the draft. Poor man's Cameron Brate.

[Snake]

5 visits, then moved up to secure? They must see something.

[Cheb]

I predicted Durham in my big mock but as a sixth rounder. Here was that writeup:

Believe it or not, this is the only guy besides Hendon Hooker thus far who we have been confirmed to have met with at least twice. Yes, a kinda-slow 6'5" 253lb receiving tight end from Purdue. At first I was underwhelmed, but Durham grew on me. He caught 56 balls last year for 560 yards and 8 touchdowns as the Robin to Charlie Jones' Batman at Purdue. Given how much our system reportedly leans on tight ends, adding another guy like Durham wouldn't be a bad idea. He has soft hands, is a decent move and in-line blocker all things considered, and is sneaky good after the catch. His game against Illinois in particular, which had one of the better defenses in college football last year, was pretty good. Payne Durham won't win you your fantasy league, but he could be a discount Cameron Brate. He would also allow us to make bad puns in gamethreads about Bringing the Payne or Feeling the Payne, which is an important consideration. Not bad for a sixth rounder.

Payne highlights:


Payne versus Syracuse 2022:


Payne versus Illinois 2022:

[Barnzy]

If I'm reading testing right. 4.87 40 but a 1.61 10 yards split. So he's bordering on very good to elite (at this size) for initial burst then poor in long range speed. That's such a weird profile. But it makes up for the 40 time a bit. Long arms too.

Film backs up he gets open A LOT in initial first few steps. I'm cautiously optimistic he will be solid player. He also plays big. Some huge TE's are soft. This guy plays big and breaks tackles. I wanted a faster TE in this spot but don't mind the pick.

[Doctor]

TE takes extra long to develop too. I don't expect to really revisit Payne until year 3.

[Grahamburn]

His highlights fired me up. One handed grabs, running people over, breaking tackles, stiff arms. Love this guy.

[BuccaNOLEer]

His highlights fired me up. One handed grabs, running people over, breaking tackles, stiff arms. Love this guy.

There you go. He's the guy who will catch a pass over the middle or on the side, then wallop the first guy who tries to take him down.

[Grahamburn]

If I'm reading testing right. 4.87 40 but a 1.61 10 yards split. So he's bordering on very good to elite (at this size) for initial burst then poor in long range speed. That's such a weird profile. But it makes up for the 40 time a bit. Long arms too.

Film backs up he gets open A LOT in initial first few steps. I'm cautiously optimistic he will be solid player. He also plays big. Some huge TE's are soft. This guy plays big and breaks tackles. I wanted a faster TE in this spot but don't mind the pick.

You can see it in the highlights. He gets open, he makes the catch and defenders close on him quickly, but he just stiff arms their faces into the ground or runs them over. Fun pick. Idolizes Gronk, and you can see it in his game.

[Primeminister]

Cheb already posted

[13F11B]

The highlights

Think those are the same Cheb posted. Yes?

[Primeminister]

The highlights

Think those are the same Cheb posted. Yes?

Damn they are. Initially his videos only showed as still photos for me so I posted the video link. Looking at it now the video links are working.