Tight End Bucky Hodges Drafted by the Minnesota Vikings

The Minnesota Vikings selected Bucky Hodges in the sixth round on Saturday with pick number 201 overall

Let’s face it, when Virginia Tech Hokies tight end Bucky Hodges declared for the NFL Draft back in January, he was not expecting to be waiting as long as he did this weekend.

Things don’t always go as planned, especially in the NFL Draft, but nevertheless, Bucky found his home on Saturday afternoon with the Minnesota Vikings, who selected him during the sixth round with the 201st overall pick.

Hodges should have an excellent opportunity to compete for playing time right away when he arrives in Minneapolis. The 6’6″, 256 lbs. Hodges ran in the mid-4.5s in his pre-draft workouts, quelling all notions that he would not be fast enough as a receiver at the next level.

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Despite his freak athleticism, Hodges likely fell as low as he did due to his struggles as a blocker. That part of his game will need to continue to develop in the NFL, where blocking by the wide receivers is crucial to the success of the running game.

As a natural quarterback coming out of high school, Hodges was asked to move to tight end/wide receiver when he arrived in Blacksburg. Because of this, Hodges is still making adjustments to hone in on the little things in his positional switch to receiver.

This past season was Hodges’ third full year on the field as a receiver, so there is still plenty of development to be expected moving forward for him. It will be fascinating to watch how comfortable the Vikings are with where he’s at as a complete wide receiver when the NFL season kicks off this September.

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