Is Hayden Hurst Flying Under the Radar?

Everyone seems to be overlooking the Panthers' new tight end.

In a recent poll conducted by Jeremy Fowler of ESPN, coaches, executives, and scouts did not rank Hayden Hurst among the top 10 tight ends in the NFL. 

Furthermore, Hurst was left off the honorable mentions list AND the section of "others receiving votes" which has Josh Oliver of Ravens, who caught just 14 passes a year ago.

I'm not sure how this happens, especially considering the fact that Hurst was one of Joe Burrow's favorite targets this past season aside from his No. 1 guy, Ja'Marr Chase. Hurst caught 52 passes (14th among all tight ends) for 414 yards (23rd among all tight ends) and two touchdowns.

In this Carolina offense which features a rookie quarterback, Hurst will likely see an increase in targets thus an increase in production. 

"Very tight end friendly," Hurst said of the Panthers' offense. "When you're in the red zone, it's very tight end centric. I think everything kind of goes through that especially when you have a young quarterback. It's exciting to be in those progressions and in those reads. I think you just look at his track record and what he's done with all those tight ends, those Fs. [Antonio] Gates, [Zach] Ertz, Eric Ebron when he was in Indy. Being that hybrid, it's fun. You can move all over the place. You can be at one, two, three. You can be isolated on the backside, so it's fun. It's a good offense to be a part of."

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