Playing in Gus Malzahn's spread offense at Auburn, Uzomah was not a conventional tight end. But at 6'5", 264 pounds with 4.6 speed in the 40-yard dash, the 22-year-old from Georgia has the prototypical size and speed to play the position in the NFL.

"We think his strength is his versatility," said tight ends coach Jonathan Hayes. "He can run, he can get downfield and stretch the seam. Those are the things that you're looking for at this position now and possibly creating mismatches with his body size, his catch radius, and just continuing to get him to grow into the position."

After electing not to re-sign Jermaine Gresham as a free agent, the Bengals selected two tight ends in this year's draft – Uzomah and third-round pick Tyler Kroft. Both rookies flashed NFL potential in OTAs and the team's mandatory minicamp.

"I think having a great coach like Coach Hayes and veteran guys like (Tyler) Eifert and Hewitt in front of us definitely helps the younger guys come along a heck of a lot quicker," said Uzomah. "I'm roommates with Tyler Kroft and we're in our playbooks like no other when we get back from practice. Obviously there are going to be occasional busts and looks that we're not familiar with, but for the most part we try to make sure that we go in there and know what our assignment is so that we can play fast."

"The point that I make to the coaches all the time is that we want to continually bring in people who are mentally and physically tough, have physical traits and upside, and are smart enough," said head coach Marvin Lewis. "Those things have to all fit together. Sometimes smarts need to be measured a little differently. It needs to be measured on the football side of it too – it can't be book-smart, it has to be football-smart. That's very, very important."

My broadcast partner Dave Lapham says that he was impressed by Uzomah's rapid improvement this spring – particularly how the rookie tight end consistently put himself in position to make blocks. But that was without pads. Now C.J. will have to prove he can finish blocks in training camp.

"I'm really anxious to show the coaches what I've got," said Uzomah. "They took a chance on me not being a traditional tight end. They said, 'You're going to have to prove yourself as a blocker and prove that you're physical enough to do this.' I'm getting chills right now just thinking about proving to them that the interest and the investment that they've given to me is going to be worth it."

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