Luke
Schoonmaker.
Luke
Schoonmaker.
Michigan· 6'5"· 251 lb· 4.63s 40
"Dallas paid a second-round price for a blocking tight end with dependable hands and no separation gear, and three seasons later that is exactly, and only, what the Cowboys got out of the 58th pick."Pre-draft read
Schoonmaker is a true in-line Y tight end who wins with size, hands and effort rather than separation quickness. He aligns attached to the tackle on early downs, flexes to the wing in condensed sets, and works the middle of the field on play-action crossers and seam benders. His release package is functional against linebackers, and once the ball is in the air he plays big, tracking it late and finishing through contact with soft, reliable hands.
The blocking is the identity. He fits with leverage in the run game, sustains on down blocks, and competes as a lead blocker in the flat. Athletically he tests better than he plays — long strides, average burst — so the ceiling is a complete second tight end rather than a target hog.
Play-action, condensed twelve-personnel offense built on gap and duo runs, where a Y tight end blocks first and works crossers and seams second.
Year 1: TE2 who blocks on early downs and works the middle on play-action. Ceiling: dependable every-down Y in a run-first offense.
Spread, empty-heavy passing game that detaches the tight end and asks him to win one-on-one against nickels and safeties in space.
His value rises with every extra tight end the offense keeps on the field.
Career Highlights: Michigan TE Luke Schoonmaker | Michigan Football | 2023 NFL Draft
Michigan career reel: in-line blocking, seam work and contested finishes.
Luke Schoonmaker Michigan TE Highlights || Big Target
Senior-season cutups showing target radius and hands over the middle.
Luke Schoonmaker Highlights vs Seahawks
NFL usage as a Dallas TE2 in twelve personnel.
A five-year Michigan tight end who arrived as a project and left as the trusted every-down piece of a run-first offense, Schoonmaker built his profile on availability, blocking and the kind of dependable hands that coaches trust on third down. He was never the focal point of the passing game, but he was always on the field.
Production came late. He caught two passes as a freshman, sat behind veterans, and finally broke out as a senior with 35 receptions for 418 yards and three scores while blocking for a Big Ten championship offense. Evaluators liked the toughness and the finishing at the catch point; they flagged the age — he turned 25 during his rookie season — and a foot procedure that limited his spring work. Separation was the other flag: he wins on contested throws, not on route quickness.
The board landed him early in Round 2 to late Round 3, and Dallas took him at 58 to pair with Jake Ferguson in twelve personnel. It was a call about floor over ceiling — a plug-and-play blocker who could catch, chosen at a slot where teams usually chase upside.
- 01
Hands at the catch point
Plucks the ball away from his frame and finishes through contact rather than trapping throws against his chest.
- 02
In-line run blocking
Fits with leverage, sustains on down and combo blocks, and plays with the temperament of a sixth lineman.
- 03
Size and target radius
Builds a wide catching window at 6-5, 251 and adjusts to throws behind him or above his head.
- 04
Third-down reliability
Sits down in zone windows and consistently converts on possession routes over the middle.
- 05
Football maturity
Five years in a pro-style Michigan offense left him fluent in protections, alignments and motion adjustments.
- 01
Separation quickness
Rarely uncovers against man coverage; his production depends on the throw arriving into coverage.
- 02
Long speed after the catch
Builds up slowly and gets run down from behind rather than turning short catches into chunk plays.
- 03
Age curve
He turned 25 as a rookie, which compresses the runway for the developmental jump teams usually buy in Round 2.
- 04
Limited college volume
One productive season on tape, so the passing-game projection rested on traits more than repeated evidence.
— — — positional median (p50)
- 40 yd
- 4.63sp50
- Vertical
- 33.5inp50
- Broad jump
- 127inp50
- Three-cone
- —s
- Shuttle
- 4.27sp50
- Bench
- —rep
| Yr | Team | G | Rec | Yds | TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Michigan | — | 2 | 54 | 1 |
| 2021 | Michigan | 14 | 17 | 165 | 3 |
| 2022 | Michigan | 12 | 35 | 418 | 3 |
| Career | — | 34 | 54 | 637 | 7 |
Verified via cfbstats (2021, 2022) and Michigan's official stats archive plus StatMuse career totals. 2020 is not listed as a season line: he was on the roster for the six-game COVID season and recorded no receptions, and per-game participation for 2019-2020 is not verified, so those games are left null rather than filled with zeros. Season receiving totals sum exactly to the 54-637-7 career line.
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
Blocking-first TE2 with dependable hands and a small target share.
Size-and-hands seam target if the receiving usage had ever scaled up.
Roster-bubble depth tight end living on special teams and blocking snaps.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
Three seasons in Dallas as a blocking-first TE2 behind Jake Ferguson: 51 games, 49 receptions, 438 yards and three touchdowns, with a career-high 27 catches in 2024 before falling back to 14 in 2025.
Dallas used him exactly as advertised, and the results were exactly as modest. He played all 17 games as a rookie in 2023 but caught only eight passes for 65 yards with two touchdowns, working behind Jake Ferguson and mostly earning his snaps as a blocker. The 2024 season brought the biggest workload of his career — 17 games, 27 receptions, 241 yards and a touchdown — with Ferguson banged up and the offense in flux. In 2025 the arrow pointed back down: 17 games again, but just 14 catches for 132 yards and no scores, a pure TE2 role in a passing game that found other answers. Through three seasons he sits at 49 receptions, 438 yards and three touchdowns.
The hindsight verdict is that the floor was real and the ceiling never showed up. Schoonmaker has been available, dependable and functional as a blocker, which is a legitimate NFL job — but that job is usually filled in Round 5, not with the 58th pick. By the summer of 2026 he was fighting for a roster spot against undrafted competition, the clearest sign that the pick bought a role player at a premium price.
Data note: Verified via cfbstats (2021, 2022) and Michigan's official stats archive plus StatMuse career totals. 2020 is not listed as a season line: he was on the roster for the six-game COVID season and recorded no receptions, and per-game participation for 2019-2020 is not verified, so those games are left null rather than filled with zeros. Season receiving totals sum exactly to the 54-637-7 career line.