clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

NFL Draft 2013 Seahawks sleepers: TE T.J. Knowles, Sacramento State

The "Seahawks Sleepers" series is a flurry of quick scouting reports on some players that I've identified as potential targets for Seattle. My goal with this series is to identify players that John Schneider, Pete Carroll and their scouting team might be interested in, and to give a brief synopsis as to why. For the most part, I'm high on the guys that I'll be pointing out - and I'll be monitoring them during the Draft and in Rookie Free Agency.

TE T.J. Knowles, Sacramento State - 6'8, 254

Knowles is a former JUCO All-conference WR that apparently had a growth spurt at some point and moved to TE. He's listed at 6'8, 254 and had a vagabond experience in school, starting at West Texas A&M, moving to South Florida and then Saddleback JC in Mission Viejo, CA before finishing up at Sacramento State.

He's more of a red-zone type threat than a deep threat and the tape shows he's not exactly an explosive athlete. However, he does have an absurd catch radius and with the way Russell Wilson throws a the fade pass or deep out to the sideline, Knowles is an intriguing idea as big-slot WR or move TE. He caught 38 passes for 381 yards in 2012, with five TDs. He reminds me a little bit of a poor-man's David Nelson.

Why Seattle?

The Seahawks take their small-school scouting seriously and have even used several of their ever-valuable draft picks on low-profile players.