Erick
All.
Erick
All.
Iowa· 6'4"· 252 lb
"The football was never the question with Erick All; the medical file was, and Cincinnati bought the blocker it needed at a discount it knew exactly how to justify."Pre-draft read
A true inline Y who lines up with his hand in the dirt and treats the run game as the entry point to everything else. All fires off with low pad level, works his hands inside on down blocks and finishes on the second level, and he is comfortable being asked to fold, wham or lead through a hole rather than schemed away from contact.
As a receiver he is a linear seam runner more than a route technician: he stems vertically, uses his size to shield defenders on the crosser and catches away from his frame with reliable hands in traffic. He will not separate against a quality nickel on a stop route, but in the middle of the field he is a chunk-gain target on play action and a tight end who finishes the second block as hard as the first.
The Bengals traditionally utilize a spread RPO and downfield passing game, emphasizing YAC and creating mismatches with tight ends.
Immediate blocking depth as a rotational Y-TE, with the chance to grow into a versatile pass-catching and blocking threat.
A run-heavy, two-back scheme that primarily asks tight ends to operate as in-line blockers with limited receiving opportunities.
All's receiving upside and competitive blocking make him a good fit for a dynamic NFL offense that values tight end versatility.
2024 NFL Draft Highlights: TE Erick All | Iowa Football
Game film cut-up of Erick All's Iowa tape.
Erick All | #𝟠𝟛
Game film cut-up of Erick All's Iowa tape.
Erick All Iowa Highlights
Game film cut-up of Erick All's Iowa tape.
A five-year, two-school tight end who arrived in the league with a defined, unglamorous identity: a blocker who catches, not a receiver who blocks. All spent four seasons at Michigan learning to play in a heavy, condensed offense and then transferred to Iowa for one final year in a system that asks its tight ends to survive as true attached players.
The production was never the argument. He finished with 75 catches for 864 yards and five scores over 40 games, with a 38-catch, 437-yard 2021 as the high-water mark and a promising 21-catch, 299-yard 2023 at Iowa cut short by a torn ACL in October. The medical file was the whole evaluation: a serious back injury in 2022 at Michigan, then the knee at Iowa, on top of a body type that had already been asked to absorb a lot of contact.
Boards had him as a top-eight tight end on talent and a Day 3 name on availability. Cincinnati, taking a local kid from Fairfield at 115, bought a run-game piece the roster genuinely lacked and accepted the durability discount as the price of admission.
- 01
Attached run blocker
Plays with real leverage and hand placement as a true in-line Y, and will fold, wham and climb to the second level without needing help.
- 02
Play-strength at the point
Sustains against strongside ends and stack linebackers, and consistently finishes blocks through the whistle rather than just tying them up.
- 03
Reliable hands in traffic
Extends and catches away from his frame over the middle, with very few drops on contested targets across two programs.
- 04
Seam-stretching size
At 6-5, 252 he is a genuine vertical problem for safeties and can box out on the deep dig and the corner route from a condensed alignment.
- 05
Scheme literacy
Four years in Michigan's heavy personnel plus a year in Iowa's tight-end-driven offense gave him full-menu comfort with motion, shifts and split-flow duties.
- 01
Extensive medical file
A back injury in 2022 and a torn ACL in 2023 make him the rare Day 3 evaluation where availability, not talent, sets the ceiling.
- 02
Limited separation quickness
He struggles to win against nickels and rangy linebackers on short-area breaking routes and needs volume from play action.
- 03
Modest yards after catch
Runs upright once the ball is in his hands and goes down on first contact more often than his size would suggest.
- 04
Thin production sample
Only one full season above 25 catches, and his best tape at Iowa was cut to seven games before the league could see it finished.
| Yr | Team | G | Rec | Yds | TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Michigan | 11 | 1 | 10 | 0 |
| 2020 | Michigan | 6 | 12 | 82 | 0 |
| 2021 | Michigan | 13 | 38 | 437 | 2 |
| 2022 | Michigan | 3 | 3 | 36 | 0 |
| 2023 | Iowa | 7 | 21 | 299 | 3 |
| Career | — | 40 | 75 | 864 | 5 |
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
A starting-caliber Y who wins on volume, availability and blocking value rather than separation.
Same blend of attached blocking and dependable middle-of-field hands if the knee ever allows a full 17-game season.
A blocking-first TE2 whose receiving role never expands beyond situational play-action work.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
He looked like a hit almost immediately. All started six of his nine rookie games, caught 20 passes for 158 yards and gave Cincinnati a tight end who could actually be trusted to block in a two-back look, which changed what the staff could call on early downs. Then, in November of 2024, he tore the ACL in the same knee he had injured at Iowa. He missed the rest of that season and, after a second surgery inside twelve months, the entire 2025 campaign as well. He returned to the practice field in June of 2026 on a controlled progression plan, telling reporters the first repair had not been done properly.
The pick still reads as defensible rather than wrong. Cincinnati identified a real roster hole, found a player whose skill set filled it, and paid a fourth-round price precisely because the medical risk was priced in. What the Bengals could not buy down was the specific risk of a re-tear on a knee that had already been operated on, and eighteen months of lost development is the cost. The football evaluation held up in his nine healthy games; the availability question simply won.