NFL Draft prospect Trey McBride speaks to Sky Sports about life as the No 1 tight end in the nation, playing for the Denver Broncos, his breakout season, growing up in Fort Morgan and almost entering the NFL early...
Monday 18 April 2022 21:13, UK
Trey McBride embodies the stock-rocketing impact of a breakout season, having manifested an NFL dream he once refrained from overselling into a reputation as the No 1 tight end prospect heading into the 2022 Draft.
It took until late in his Colorado State career for McBride to afford himself acknowledgement of a likely future at the next level, small-town confines once threatening limited opportunities and a global pandemic lurking as another hurdle before 2021 offered respite in the form of recognition.
McBride led all tight ends in the country with 90 catches for 1,121 yards along with a touchdown from a 34 per cent target share over 12 games last season, comfortably surpassing his production over the previous three campaigns combined to pad and polish the resume of a two-way asset.
An undiscovered small-market gem more so than a late bloomer, perhaps.
"You always dream of being an NFL player, that's what you dream of your whole life but the odds are against you," McBride told Sky Sports.
"I went to college, I wanted to play, I wanted to just get on the field and as I kept developing and getting better I knew I kinda had a chance at this.
"The last couple of years it was like 'this is what I want to do, I want to play football' and my whole focus became to be the best football player I could possibly be."
A package of smooth routes at all three levels, sticky hands, steamroller yards-after-catch power, hit-absorbing balance, a nasty blocking ideology, a willingness to freelance for assignments and six 100-yard outings earned him the John Mackey Award as the best tight end in the nation.
Even further testament to his ascent has been stability at the top of a tight end class considered among the deepest of all positions ahead of the Draft.
"Truly it's unbelievable. It's something you dream of your whole life, to be the best, you want to be the best, that's why you play the game," he said.
"To be the best tight end in the country, to be talked about as the first tight end coming out is so special to me. It means so much to my family.
"I'm just very grateful, there are so many people I can thank. My teammates and coaches are truly the reason I'm here. I'm speechless."
With gratitude comes a stay-the-best mindset of a player that can attest to being the rounded, multi-faceted resource demanded in a modern tight end.
Offered a chance to turn the tables amid the seasonal influx of scouting reports, McBride explained what makes him the standout candidate in his role.
"I think I'm a competitor, I'm a winner, I'm a guy who will make the play when the ball is thrown to him, most of all I'm a tough, physical, gritty guy who really can do it all," he said.
"I'm a complete tight end, I think I'm one of the only complete tight ends in this class where I can block, I can do the nasty run game stuff, I can go out and make a play in the pass game.
"That's what's really unique is about me, I've played special teams my whole career so I can really do it all. I think I'm just an asset to your team and a guy you'll want to play with."
He jokes he may be biased in believing he plays the best position in football, though McBride would certainly go unopposed in highlighting the extent at which it has evolved in unison with modern schemes.
It is from those that have catapulted the wage bracket for players of his mould that he nabs and personalises traits.
"Joel Dreessen, who played tight end in the NFL, was really a guy I looked up to my whole life," he explained. "I wanted to be just like him. That was special.
"Then obviously George Kittle, Mark Andrews, Darren Waller, Travis Kelce, you name it, all these guys are unreal. There are so many great tight ends in the NFL nowadays, it's very cool to go and watch these guys and take different tools from them and try to use them in your own game."
"This is a time to be a tight end, there's no doubt!"
Dreessen marks an obvious reference point of inspiration for McBride as a fellow product of Colorado State, spending eight seasons in the NFL from 2005 to 2013 having been a sixth-round pick for the New York Jets.
He finished his career with the Colorado-situated Denver Broncos, whose recent loss of tight end Noah Fant in the Russell Wilson trade has naturally forwarded the possibility of McBride playing at Mile High - just an hour from his home town of Greeley.
"Being from Colorado. that would be something so special - being in my home state playing for my home town team. That would be so cool," he said.
"Truthfully that would be a dream come true but I just need an opportunity anywhere to showcase my talents."
Such was the size and nature of his surroundings in Fort Morgan, the 22-year-old admits there was little else to do but play sport. And so he stumbled across "the best sport in the world".
"Being from Fort Morgan, it's such a small and unique place where it's hard to get out of there, especially playing athletics at the next level, especially playing in the NFL," he explained.
"I'm very fortunate to be in the position I'm at. A little bit about Fort Morgan, it's a small farm town, a little place, but you work hard, you do the right thing, you're good to people and good things will happen to you. I loved living there but I'm excited to put on for my city."
McBride was a three-sport athlete at Fort Morgan High School, glossing his gridiron talent with school records in points in basketball and career home runs in baseball.
Nothing could top football, though.
"I think to me it was I just loved it more, I always wanted to play football, that was my dream and most of all that was where my passion was at," he continued.
"I loved all my sports but I wanted to play football, that's what my brothers did, that's what I wanted to do and that's why I decided to play football. It's working out for me, so I love it."
As for his brothers, then. One twin and two older brothers to make up five kids in total alongside their younger sister, all of whom were raised by their two mums.
The McBride bros would race to the car, race to see who could drink water the fastest, beat one another up for the title of strongest sibling. Hence the fire with which he plays to this day.
"We were always competing in everything so we wanted to be better than one another and that's what kind of got us into this sport, he said. "Our parents threw us into football and here we are."
'Here we are' might well have meant the NFL by now had McBride acted on the prospect of leaving college early on the back of the Covid-shortened 2020 campaign, across which he managed 22 catches for 330 yards and four touchdowns in four games.
What's more, it had been in doubt at one stage as to whether he would see out his college career with Colorado State, McBride having considered transferring before the 2020 season due to Covid.
"I was in the transfer portal because at the time Colorado State wasn't going to play a football season so I wanted to go play football and potentially leave after that year as well, but ultimately I decided to stay at Colorado State because they decided to play a football season," he explained.
"I wanted to play for the new head coach (Steve Addazio). I wanted to be developed by him and then I had the decision of 'did I want to leave after that season, did I want to go to the NFL last year, or did I want to come back?'.
"That was a tough decision and took a little while for me to decide that but ultimately I decided to stay in Colorado State and play another year of college football.
"I loved every second of it, didn't look back and tried to make the most of it. I wish I could play their forever."
With school records in single-season and career receptions and receiving yards by a tight end in addition to a Mackey Award, the decision to stay put has been more than justified.
"I always wanted to have a breakout season, I've worked so hard for this," he said. "My coaches put me in a great position to be successful, my teammates believed in me and ultimately I was able to make the play when it was thrown to me.
"I loved it. I've been waiting for this, I've been preparing for this my whole life so I knew it was coming, I just didn't know when."
Come the end of April, McBride is projected as a second-round pick and the first tight end off the board.
