All of these clips are brought to you by Krossover, NDT Scouting’s film partner for the 2018 NFL Draft season.

When the NDT Scouting staff voted on their 2018 Preseason All-Draft Eligible team, one of the most surprising votes was the selection of Oklahoma TE Mark Andrews as the 1st team player designated at the position. With stiff competition in big school players like Mike Gesicki and Troy Fumagalli, plus a small school gem in Dallas Goedert, Andrews’ selection was a bit of a surprise.

So what did the majority of the NDT Scouting staff see in Mark Andrews to lead to him being selected on the 1st team? For starters, he’s an excitable open field athlete. That manifests itself both in his route running and his run after the catch skills. When Andrews is isolated with linebackers, his athleticism is truly able to shine and allow him to shake free for some chunk gains.

TE Mark Andrews is pretty apt to slip the first guy to arrive to the ball. pic.twitter.com/qcfhlUQv05

— Kyle Crabbs (@NDTScouting) August 23, 2017

This is a great natural reaction to slip off of an early arriving tackler. One of Andrews’ best traits is this exact situation, he often flips his eyes up the field and shows good start/stop skills to break a pursuit angle. For a player listed at 254 lbs, he’s got some nifty moves. Creating run after the catch yardage adds an extra element to Andrews’ receiving game and it pops on nearly every game.

And again, Andrews gives first would be tackler the wave. pic.twitter.com/eNDonioPyR

— Kyle Crabbs (@NDTScouting) August 23, 2017

Good action by Andrews here when flipping his eyes up the field to use his free hand and clear the tackler. But pay note to the fluidity he carries through his out route as well. This route hits quickly, allowing him to fit in directly behind the vertical release.

That run after the catch skill is great, but a vertical element is something teams covet in highly drafted Tight Ends as of late. Tracking the ball down the field is essential for potential high draft picks.

You'd expect this one out of Mike Gesicki. Nice play! pic.twitter.com/va8dsZSaSy

— Kyle Crabbs (@NDTScouting) August 23, 2017

Check. A great adjustment to the football here from Andrews. In today’s day and age of TE play, Andrews seems to have the baseline skill set to be an early target. Playing in Oklahoma’s spread offense, the space will be present for Andrews to continue to showcase his skills both in the short and deep areas of the field.