Jets Can’t Stop Praising The 7th Round Pick Zack Kuntz “A Freak Who Loves Football”

Zack Kuntz, an Old Dominion tight end and the seventh overall choice of the Jets in the 2022 NFL Draft, has agreed to terms on a rookie deal with the Green & White.

Jets Can’t Stop Praising The 7th Round Pick Zack Kuntz “A Freak Who Loves Football”

“I’m going to go out there and work my tail off,” Kuntz said after being taken with the 220th overall selection. “I could be the first pick in the draft or the last pick in the draft, it wouldn’t make a difference for me. I’m going to go and do whatever I can to be the best version of myself. Like I said, refuse to lose and do whatever I can to help the team.”

In 2021, Kuntz, who played in 21 games for Penn State between 2018 and 2021, made a name for himself after moving to ODU for his redshirt junior season. Kuntz participated in 10 games and finished ninth with 692 receiving yards and second among tight ends in the nation with 73 receptions.

In addition, he had five games with eight or more receptions and tied for the team lead with five touchdowns. In five games last season, he caught 12 passes and scored twice before suffering a knee injury that ended his season.

In his junior year of high school, Kuntz won the state championship in the 110-meter hurdles in addition to being an excellent basketball player.

Zack Kuntz received some audacious praise from Jets head coach Robert Saleh this week at a news conference, who referred to him as a “freak that loves ball.”

“There’s an old saying, ‘Always take the freak that loves ball.’ And if you do, usually they pan out,” Saleh said according to the New York Post. “So, he’s got freakish ability and he’s got a love for football, so now we just got to work with him.”

According to Next Gen Stats, Kuntz (6-8, 251) had the highest athleticism rating of the entire tight end class at the NFL Combine with a score of 94. In his testing, he ran the 40-yard sprint in 4.55 seconds, had a 40-inch vertical, a 10-8 broad jump, and completed 23 repetitions of the 225-pound bench press.

“We were sitting there at the top of the seventh round and just going through some of the guys who just had that freak factor to him and he was right there at the top — the size, the speed, the length, the jump, just everything,” said GM Joe Douglas, “and another guy who may have been drafted a little sooner if not for the injury this year.”

“I’m going to go out there and work my tail off,” Kuntz said after being taken with the 220th overall selection. “I could be the first pick in the draft or the last pick in the draft, it wouldn’t make a difference for me. I’m going to go and do whatever I can to be the best version of myself. Like I said, refuse to lose and do whatever I can to help the team.”

 

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