Zack
Kuntz.
Zack
Kuntz.
Old Dominion· 6'7"· 255 lb· 4.55s 40
"The most athletic tight end ever tested at the combine was still a seventh-round flier for a reason: the Old Dominion production never matched the 4.55 speed, and the NFL never gave it time to."Pre-draft read
Kuntz is a 6-foot-7 flex tight end who lived detached at Old Dominion — slot, wing, split out — and worked as the offense's designed first read. He is a strider, not a twitchy separator: patient off the line, gathering speed through the stem, finishing with a catch radius almost nobody at the position matches.
The secondary trait is straight-line burst after the catch; once he turns upfield, stride length becomes a coverage problem on seams and deep crossers. In the run game he is a positional blocker, better shielding on the move than digging an edge defender off the ball. The signature is the vertical mismatch — a champion hurdler's body control on a 251-pound frame.
Spread passing offense that uses the tight end as a detached big slot — 11 personnel, empty sets, and a red-zone package built on isolation throws
Year 1: developmental TE3 who plays only in obvious passing and red-zone packages while rebuilding his blocking base. Ceiling: a 45-catch mismatch tight end who forces a safety onto the field
A gap-scheme, two-tight-end run offense that needs its No. 2 tight end to block a 6-technique on first down and cover kicks on Sunday — he can do neither
His value is entirely coverage-dependent: he must be schemed onto linebackers, because he does not win contested reps against NFL safeties with a running start.
Zack Kuntz | Old Dominion Monarchs TE
Full Old Dominion reel showing the detached alignments, seam work and catch radius that drove the 2021 breakout.
Zack Kuntz (Old Dominion Highlights)
Cut-up of his target volume in the Monarchs offense, including red-zone isolation throws against linebackers.
Zack Kuntz: The Most Athletic Tight End EVER!!! | 2023 NFL Draft Report
Pre-draft scouting profile pairing the Combine testing with tape of his blocking limitations.
Kuntz arrived as a four-star Penn State recruit stuck behind Pat Freiermuth, transferred to Old Dominion in 2021, and became the centerpiece of a passing game that used him as a big slot rather than a traditional Y. The identity is unambiguous: a matchup tight end whose value lives in the route tree, in the red zone, and on any call that leaves a linebacker alone on him.
The production spike came in one season. He caught 73 passes for 692 yards and five scores in 2021, second nationally among tight ends in receptions, and was first-team All-Conference USA. Yards per catch stayed at 9.5 because the offense fed him underneath, so the vertical projection came from traits, not tape volume. Then 2022 ended after five games and 12 catches with a knee injury, wiping out the year meant to answer questions about his blocking and whether the usage would scale up.
Boards had him as a Day 3 developmental tight end with the highest athletic ceiling in the class and the thinnest recent resume — 4.55 in the 40, a 40-inch vertical and a 6.87 three-cone at nearly 6-foot-7. The knee, the level of competition and the blocking pushed him to the back of the draft, and the Jets took the swing at 220: no cost, all upside, a redshirt year built in.
- 01
Catch radius
At nearly 6-foot-7 with 34-inch arms, he expands the strike zone on every throw and turns high, wide and late passes into routine completions.
- 02
Vertical athlete
A 40-inch vertical and 128-inch broad jump show up on tape as leaping ability that wins jump balls and back-shoulder throws in the red zone.
- 03
Long speed
The 4.55 forty is not a track-only number; he eats cushion on seams and pulls away from linebackers once he stacks them on deep crossers.
- 04
Volume production
73 catches in 2021 ranked second nationally among tight ends and proved he can handle a first-read workload rather than complementary targets.
- 05
Change of direction for his size
A 6.87 three-cone and 4.12 shuttle at 251 pounds are rare, and they show in his ability to sink and snap off option routes.
- 01
Blocking
He shields more than he displaces, losing leverage against edge defenders and struggling to sustain when asked to be a true in-line Y on downhill runs.
- 02
Durability
The 2022 season ended after five games with a knee injury, cutting short the year that was supposed to confirm his 2021 breakout at a higher level.
- 03
Level of competition
His production came in Conference USA against linebackers and safeties who could not match his size or speed, inflating the separation on tape.
- 04
Play strength at the catch point
Despite the frame, he can be knocked off his route stem and rerouted by physical defenders who get hands on him early.
— — — positional median (p50)
- 40 yd
- 4.55sp50
- Vertical
- 40inp50
- Broad jump
- 128inp50
- Three-cone
- 6.87sp50
- Shuttle
- 4.12sp50
- Bench
- 23repp50
| Yr | Team | G | Rec | Yds | TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Penn State | 1 | 1 | 8 | 0 |
| 2019 | Penn State | 13 | 2 | 18 | 0 |
| 2021 | Old Dominion | 13 | 73 | 692 | 5 |
| 2022 | Old Dominion | 5 | 12 | 144 | 2 |
| Career | — | 32 | 88 | 862 | 7 |
Old Dominion seasons verified against cfbstats.com 2021 and 2022 player pages (73-692-5 in 13 games; 12-144-2 in 5 games). Penn State 2018 (1-8) and 2019 (2-18) per Penn State/Wikipedia records. He appeared in seven games in 2020 without a recorded reception, so that season is omitted rather than zero-filled. Season totals sum exactly to the career line of 88 receptions, 862 yards and 7 touchdowns.
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
A Day 3 tester with elite measurables and no in-line role who bounces between practice squads while teams try to invent a position for him.
The optimistic version: a converted big-slot athlete who takes two or three years and a change of scenery to turn rare size-speed into a real receiving role.
A high-ceiling athletic tight end whose blocking and availability never caught up, leaving him as a camp body across several organizations.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
The Jets never treated him as a rookie contributor. He was waived at the 2023 cutdown, re-signed to the practice squad, and only promoted to the active roster on December 27, appearing in one game with no targets. The 2024 season followed the same script — waived in August, back to the practice squad, one appearance, still no receptions — and a reserve/future deal in January 2025 bought him another camp before the Jets released him for good in the August 2025 roster cuts. Two career games, zero catches, and no evidence that the athletic profile ever translated into a defined NFL role.
The 2026 tour tells the rest of it. He was selected by the DC Defenders in the UFL draft, signed a futures deal with Miami instead, was waived in May, caught on with Las Vegas on July 31, was released five days later, got claimed by Dallas, and was waived again at final cuts on August 30. In hindsight this was a pick that priced athleticism as if it were a skill. The one thing scouts flagged — that Kuntz was a receiving specialist who could not block and had one healthy season of production — was exactly the thing that kept him off active rosters, because the 53rd spot on an NFL depth chart belongs to tight ends who can survive on special teams and in-line. The Combine number was real; the football role never was.