Khalil Dinkins built his perfect NFL tight end out of his former Penn State teammates

NFL Draft season is upon us! With the NFL Scouting Combine taking place up in Indianapolis, many former Penn State Nittany Lions are trying to position themselves to hear their names called in the latter part of April. While the Drew Allar hype train is starting to get out of control again, keep your eyes on a potential late-round steal in the form of tight end Khalil Dinkins. He could be a great one.

One of the reasons for this is he appears to have learned from the very best while at Penn State.

"Clutch factor like Tyler (Warren), size like Theo (Johnson), blocking ability like Brenton (Strange). I'm not really sure who's one of the fast guys for tight ends, but hopefully, I can be one of them. They always say like speed ... I'm not even there yet. So having a big body like Rob Gronkowski..."

Here is what Dinkins had to say at the podium when it comes to building the perfect NFL tight end.

Dinkins mentioning his former Penn State teammates Tyler Warren, Theo Johnson, and Brenton Strange was impressive. Speaking this glowingly about the guys who came before him at Penn State is huge. It shows that Dinkins can be a sponge and learn from all of the players around him's best attributes. Of course, referencing Rob Gronkowski is something every NFL tight end aspires to be.

Right now, Dinkins projects to be a very late day three pick out of Penn State in the 2026 NFL Draft.

Khalil Dinkins learned so much from his former Penn State TE teammates

When mentioning Warren, Johnson, and Strange off the cuff, it shows that Dinkins is well aware that what they did on the college football gridiron all got them drafted relatively high. Warren was a total freak, so he went to the Indianapolis Colts in the first round last spring. Strange was a second-round pick by the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2023. Johnson went to the New York Giants in the fourth in 2024.

What this should tell NFL scouts and talent evaluators is smart and savvy players like Dinkins will find unique edges to win games. People tend to forget that Rob Gronkowski was only a second-round pick by the New England Patriots out of Arizona. He did not play all that much while in Tucson. Some pundits panned the pick. They were wrong... What about other notable tight ends who had success?

Well, George Kittle is on a hall-of-fame trajectory out of Iowa as a fifth-round pick. Travis Kelce was a former quarterback initially at Cincinnati before becoming a second-round pick out by Kansas City. Jason Witten was a third-round pick out of Tennessee by Dallas. Heck, Pro Football Hall of Famer Antonio Gates did not play a down of football at Kent State. He was a former basketball player there.

In the end, tight end is one of those position groups where the cream does rise to the top, eventually... It is not a position that is easy to forecast to the next level because there are only so many passes to go around in the college game. Yes, there are no-doubt blue-chippers coming out like Warren and guys like Brock Bowers and Kyle Pitts before him. However, there will be a place in the NFL for Dinkins.

Right now, Dinkins just needs to continue to put his best foot forward to make sure he gets drafted.