The gap between where consensus has Klare and where this evaluation finishes is worth addressing directly, because it is not a close call. He was the third-choice tight end at Ohio State for a reason; the two players ahead of him on that depth chart were there because they were better, and the tape that informed that decision is the same tape available to the rest of the league. What consensus has priced as a top-three tight end is a player whose profile reads as a functional rotation piece at the next level, no more and no less.

There are genuine positives in the profile and it would be dishonest to omit them. His short-area agility is real; he handles pivot routes, motion work and sharper underneath concepts with a mechanical efficiency that shows some genuine athleticism in space. The bang-post against Illinois was a well-executed rep, showing he can generate enough force off the plant foot to create legitimate separation on the right route at the right leverage. His transition from catch to runner is smooth and his contact balance keeps him upright through partial hits, which gives him some functional value on possession conversions. He understands the structure of the offense and executes assignments correctly, which is a meaningful quality that not every prospect in this range can claim.

In the run game, his best work comes when the assignment is clearly defined and he is working as the second man into a block. He can seal edges competently and occasionally finishes with enough force to generate displacement when he arrives square. The cross-formation block that put a defender on the floor against Illinois showed the ceiling of his run game contribution: he got there fast, arrived with proper positioning and finished. That kind of work is useful, even if it is not consistently replicable across every game.

The pass blocking tape is where the concerns become clearest. Indiana identified his anchor limitations early in their game and attacked the mismatch directly, getting physical at the point of attack and winning too often for comfort. He has very little natural anchor against genuine power, and stronger defenders will be able to run through him if an offensive coordinator allows opponents to isolate him. The hand placement is too narrow to generate lateral strength, and once a defender gets a clean grip on him the engagement is over. This will be exploited at the NFL level more systematically than it was in college.

His route running lacks the technical detail that would compensate for the blocking limitations. The releases are readable, the cuts are flat rather than sharp and he does not do enough to manipulate leverage or disguise his intentions at the stem. Illinois’s corner back stayed on him through every man coverage rep in their game, which tells its own story. The slim athletic profile means he cannot separate through athleticism either, leaving him dependent on structural opportunity rather than individual creation.

The accumulation of limitations is what makes this evaluation land where it does. No single element is catastrophic but there is no elite trait compensating for the weaknesses either. Poor anchor in pass protection, flat route running without meaningful manipulation, no consistent contested catch presence and unreliable aiming points as a lead blocker combine into a profile that projects as a reliable depth option rather than a rotation cornerstone. The sum is less than the parts individually suggest, because none of the parts are strong enough to carry the rest.

His time at Ohio State did not help him develop the blocking profile that NFL teams will need from him. He was rarely asked to work in isolation against defensive ends or to function as the primary protector, and the watchable tape from his Purdue season suggests the scheme limitations were consistent rather than a one-year anomaly. The adjustment to a full NFL blocking workload will take time, and the receiving tools do not provide enough of a compensating asset to cover that timeline the way a true receiving tight end’s profile would.