FOX Sports’ Greg Olsen on the Growing Importance of TEs in NFL Offenses

The tight end is no longer the auxiliary piece. It is the position the league is building around, and FOX Sports' Greg Olsen explained why on The Rich Eisen Show.

Rich set the table by pointing at the trend in plain sight. Loveland gets drafted by the Chicago Bears, who already had Cole Kmet. The Los Angeles Rams keep stacking tight ends. Around the league, the requirement is now two, three, sometimes four players who can fill the role.

"16 personnel's coming in this league," Rich said.

Olsen agreed and joked about the next step. He and Rich used to riff about 05 personnel, an offense with no running backs, no traditional receivers, and every eligible body lined up as a tight end.

Olsen then walked through what the draft told him about the league's direction.

The first piece is supply. When Olsen came into the league, the tight end position was a destination for converted receivers, former basketball players, and high school quarterbacks who had run out of room at their old position.

"Now, kids grow up playing tight end," Olsen said. "Now, kids are high school tight ends, college tight ends. It's a premier position. Some of the biggest stars around the NFL now play the tight end position."

The pipeline has changed. The position is no longer a landing pad for athletes who topped out elsewhere. It is a destination position drawing kids from the start.

The second piece is scheme. As defenses got smaller and shifted to bend-but-don't-break shells with deep coverage, offenses identified the inverse opportunity. Get bigger. Add tight ends. Get under center. Run the ball.

That is where the Rams come in as Olsen's case study. The success Los Angeles had down the stretch, mirrored by Seattle on its way to the Super Bowl, was built on heavier personnel. The threat to run forced defenses to match the size with their own bigger packages, which then opened the field for receivers like Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Puka Nacua working out of those same heavy looks.

"There's a little cat and mouse there," Olsen said. "Now, as offenses are going to react to what defensive strategy is, and getting big guys on the field, as many of them as you can, but with the idea being, yes, we want a threat to run at you, but we really want to have a threat to throw the ball at you."

Rich added the latest example. The Philadelphia Eagles drafted Eli Stowers to pair with Goedert. The pattern is repeating itself across the league.

The takeaway: heavier personnel is no longer a short-yardage tell. It is the formation more teams are willing to live in for full drives, because the same group can punish a defense with the run and torch it through the air. Tight ends, plural, are the personnel package that makes that possible.