Paul Domowitch: Pettigrew a rare tight end who can catch and block

INDIANAPOLIS - It shouldn't be that hard to find a multipurpose tight end who can both block and catch the football, but it is.

Once upon a time, when the veer and the wishbone were the offenses of choice in college football, there were tons of tight ends who could help open a hole for a running back, but precious few with a knack for getting open and catching a

forward pass.

Now, with the spread offense all the rage on campuses, the tight end position is chock-full of bulked-up former wideouts with 4.5 speed and 70-catch seasons on their resumés. But finding one who also can set an edge or put a linebacker on his butt, well, they're tougher to find these days than upbeat economic news.

"To find a guy who can do both things, it's almost impossible," Eagles general manager Tom Heckert said last week. "They don't have 'em anymore. You look at the athletic ability and the receiving ability and you just hope they'll give you something as a blocker."

"College football has changed," said Kevin Colbert, the player-personnel brains behind the Super Bowl-champion Steelers. "There's not a lot of [true] tight ends [in college], not a lot of fullbacks. The colleges do what they have to do to win, and we have to do what we have to do to evaluate their systems and see if those guys will fit. Because it's not going to change any time soon."

Which brings us to Brandon Pettigrew.

The 6-6, 265-pound tight end out of Oklahoma State is the closest thing there is to a "complete" tight end in this year's draft, which is why he will be the first tight end taken, and probably the only one selected in the first round.

"He's one of my favorite players in the draft," NFL Network draft analyst Mike Mayock said. "To me, he's the best of both worlds. He's not going to run a 4.6 [40] or anything. He doesn't have explosive speed. But I know some coaches in the bottom half of the first round that are praying he runs a slow time here [at the scouting combine] so that he slides to them. He's that good of a football player."

The Eagles' Andy Reid is likely one of those coaches. His team owns the 21st and 28th picks in the first round. A tight end might not be at the top of Big Red's offseason shopping list, but it's pretty high up.