Cameron
Latu.
Cameron
Latu.
Alabama· 6'4"· 242 lb
"A converted edge rusher who found the end zone before he found the position, Latu was drafted on a release package and a red-zone habit that still needed a runway San Francisco never gave him."Pre-draft read
Latu was Alabama's move tight end, a converted edge rusher who lived in the middle third. He aligned attached on early downs, flexed to the slot in 11 personnel, and did his damage on play-action seam benders where the frame let him high-point safeties. His release mechanics were his cleanest trait: a jab step, a swipe of the linebacker's hands, and a stacked path vertical in a hurry.
The secondary trait was red-zone body control: he tracked the fade, adjusted late, finished through contact. As a run blocker he was willing and physical at the point of attack, if inconsistent in sustain. He was a long strider rather than a twitchy separator, and the signature was the burst off the snap: the pass rusher's first step never left him.
Wide zone play-action offense with a Y/F hybrid role
Year 1: TE2 who blocks in the wide zone game and works play-action seams; ceiling is a starting move tight end with double-digit red-zone targets.
An Air Raid or empty-heavy spread that asks the tight end to win one-on-one from a static slot alignment on option routes — he needed a stem with momentum and a defined landmark, not isolation snaps against nickel corners.
Value spikes in offenses that condense formations and manufacture crossers off run action.
Cameron Latu Alabama TE Highlights || Burst Release
Release package and seam work that defined his 2021-2022 tape.
Cameron Latu | The Next Great TE | Alabama Highlights | 2021
His eight-touchdown 2021 season, mostly seams and red-zone finishes.
Bryce Young touchdown pass to Cameron Latu
Red-zone connection with Bryce Young showing his catch radius in tight space.
A late convert who found the position that fit him. Latu arrived in Tuscaloosa as an outside linebacker, spent two years on defense, and only became a full-time tight end in 2020. By 2021 he was Bryce Young's most reliable seam and red-zone target.
The production tells the story of that conversion. Latu caught 26 passes for 410 yards and eight touchdowns in 2021, then followed with 30 catches for 377 yards and four scores in 2022 — 56 receptions, 787 yards and 12 touchdowns across his two seasons as a receiving tight end, with nothing on the ledger before that. The touchdown rate was the calling card; the yardage ceiling was the flag. He was not a chunk-play creator after the catch, and a knee scope before his final season cost him spring reps and never let him show a cleaner burst.
The board had him as a Day 2 to early Day 3 blocker-receiver hybrid rather than a first-option tight end. San Francisco, with George Kittle in place and a system that asks the No. 2 tight end to block in the wide zone game, took the swing at 101 as a developmental complement rather than a plug-and-play starter.
- 01
Release package
Jab step, hand swipe and a stacked path off the line let him clear linebackers and get vertical without wasted motion.
- 02
Red-zone finisher
Twelve touchdowns on 56 career catches; he tracked the fade and back-shoulder ball and finished through contact in tight windows.
- 03
Contested-catch frame
At 6-5 with a long catch radius, he consistently played above defensive backs on seams and corner routes.
- 04
Willing blocker
Attacked the point of attack in the run game and did not shy from edge setters, giving him early-down snaps.
- 05
Positional upside
Only three seasons at tight end after converting from edge, so his technique arrow was still climbing at 23.
- 01
Limited after the catch
A long strider without a second gear; he rarely turned a five-yard hook into a chunk gain against pursuit.
- 02
Sustain in the run game
Locked on with good initial pop but let defenders disengage late, especially against heavier edge players.
- 03
Separation vs man
Struggled to shake physical safeties past the stem, which capped him as a volume target in the intermediate game.
- 04
Medical questions
A knee scope before his senior year cut into his spring work and his 2022 explosiveness never fully returned.
| Yr | Team | G | Rec | Yds | TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Alabama | 15 | 26 | 410 | 8 |
| 2022 | Alabama | 11 | 30 | 377 | 4 |
| Career | — | 26 | 56 | 787 | 12 |
Receiving production covers only 2021-2022; Latu played outside linebacker in 2018-2019 and had no receiving statistics before 2021 (verified vs cfbstats season pages; 26+30=56 rec and 410+377=787 yards match the career total). Games played in 2018-2020 not itemized here.
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
Honors
- CFP national champion (2020)
- Alabama receiving TD leader among tight ends (2021)
Big frame, blocking willingness and situational red-zone work as a TE2 rather than a target-earning starter.
Same big-bodied red-zone target profile with usable inline blocking, but Freiermuth's hands and volume were a level better at the same stage.
Converted athlete whose position change never translated to NFL production, surviving on special teams and practice squads.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
San Francisco never got a rookie season. Latu tore his meniscus in the third preseason game of 2023 and went on injured reserve on August 29, wiping out year one before it started. He returned to camp in 2024 and was waived on August 27, then spent the fall on Cleveland's practice squad, released in December and re-signed on New Year's Eve. Philadelphia signed him to a reserve/future deal in January 2025, cut him at the end of camp and brought him back on the practice squad, and he finally reached an active roster on September 24. His fingerprint that season was on special teams: he blocked a punt against Tampa Bay in Week 4 that Sydney Brown returned 35 yards for a touchdown. He played 15 games with 11 tackles and no receptions. Philadelphia waived him on August 30, 2026 and New England claimed him the next day.
In hindsight the pick reads as a medical loss more than a talent misread. The evaluation of the player was reasonable — a converted edge with a real release package, red-zone value and blocking willingness — but every projection assumed a rookie year of reps behind Kittle to build the technique, and that year vanished in August. By the time he was healthy he was a camp body, and the receiving trait that justified pick 101 has yet to produce a single NFL catch. Third-round tight ends who need runway are a bet on availability, and Latu never got any.