Mike McDaniel on Elijah Higgins: Converting WR to TE isn’t as hard as before

Mike McDaniel on Elijah Higgins: Converting WR to TE isn’t as hard as before

The Miami Dolphins were in search for a tight end in this year’s draft. Well, they got one … kind of. Miami drafted Stanford wide receiver Elijah Higgins in hopes of turning him into a tight end, and now Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel says it’s not as hard as it used to be when converting a wideout to a tight end.

The Dolphins drafted the Stanford standout for his size and athleticism. They selected him with the 197th pick in this year’s draft.

Elijah Higgins 2023 NFL Draft Profile

McDaniel spoke on the drafting of Higgins and the project he will be as a player.

“First of all, I’m just excited to add the competitor,” McDaniel said of Higgins, via ProFootballTalk. “You see through his game tape that he’s a guy that strains with the ball in his hands. But specifically for the tight end position, drafting a guy that plays wide receiver and converting him to tight end — I think the first time in my career that I was a part of that was Niles Paul back in 2011 out of Nebraska. For me and my history, there’s a lot of traits that he resembled in his competitiveness, in his size and in his strength.“

“And really, this day in age, converting a receiver to a tight end isn’t as abstract as it used to be only because half the teams are playing spread and two-point [stances] anyway. Even if they’re called a tight end, they’re playing receiver stuff anyway. So you get kind of used to projecting people to do things like that and we felt very comfortable and confident that he fit the bill for that, so we’re excited to have him.”

At 6-foot-3 and 235 pounds, the Dolphins look to make Higgins a big part of their up-and-coming offense this season.

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