Brandon Pettigrew knew the question was coming.
Each team he met with at February’s NFL Combine started with the same question — the character question. No one could question Pettigrew’s talent. At Oklahoma State, he showed he could clear space for the run and make big catches.
But there was a blotch on his record.
Last June he pleaded guilty to a reduced charge in connection with an assault on a police officer in Stillwater, Okla., five months earlier. He had been charged with felony assault of a police officer but pleaded down to a misdemeanor of assault and battery and public intoxication. He received a fine and one year’s probation, as well as the stain of the incident for teams thinking of taking him.
“Every team at the combine, when we sat down at the meeting they wanted to know about it right away,” Pettigrew said in a telephone interview. “I just told them straight. They all knew about it. There was no reason to beat around the bush. They wanted to hear it from me. I told them exactly what happened. They got to see my personality and got a good feel for me and I think they saw that wasn’t characteristic of me.”
The answer will come Saturday during the first round of the NFL Draft. Pettigrew, the consensus best tight end in the draft, could go anywhere from 11th to the bottom of the first round.
The Jets could grab him with the 17th pick. The team drafted Dustin Keller in last year’s first round, but it needs a run-blocking tight end to replace Chris Baker, who signed with the Patriots.
At 6-foot-6, 253 pounds, Pettigrew fits the bill.
“The thing I love about Pettigrew is he helps you in both phases of the game,” NFL Network draft analyst Mike Mayock said. “He’s the best run blocking tight end in this draft at 253 pounds. And he’s a better passing receiver than people give him credit for.”
Pettigrew met with the Jets at the combine and again at his pro day. The team quizzed him on route reading and evaluated his mental grasp of the game.
The 24-year-old thinks he proved to the Jets and other teams that he’s not an off-the-field risk. That seems to be the only question surrounding him.
“I think that I’m a complete player,” Pettigrew said. “I bring great skill to the running game and the passing game, as well. I believe I can stretch the field. Leadership is a big part of my game, as well.”
The Jets have taken four tight ends in the first round since 1992, and none have had long-term success (the jury is still out on Keller). If the team passes up its other needs of receiver and quarterback in the first round to take Pettigrew, the front office must believe it has found a special player.
“We have researched Brandon Pettigrew and if he’s our pick, then we have come to the conclusion that he has done nothing that would preclude him from being a Jet,” said Joey Clinkscales, the team’s VP of college scouting. “I think he’s a fantastic talent. He’s big, he’s athletic, he can catch the ball, he can block. Those are all attributes that if I was his size, I would love to have.”
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The Jets signed free agent Michael Kracalik, a 6-foot-8, 337-pound offensive tackle who spent the past three seasons with the Ravens.
