NFL Draft
2/23/25
6 min read
Jake Briningstool 2025 NFL Draft: Scouting Report For Clemson Tigers TE
Height: 6052 (verified)
Weight: 234lbs (verified)
Year: Senior
Pro Comparison: TBD
Scouting Overview
Clemson Tigers tight end Jake Briningstool offers some likable qualities that should afford him the opportunity to develop his game throughout the course of his rookie contract. Briningstool is a smooth mover with good separation quickness from the slot as a route runner.
His receiving potential is notable, and he is a player who has won down the field and with the ball in his hands. Still, there are a number of size and stature thresholds teams will struggle with on Briningstool’s resume, making him a bit of an outlier if he ultimately becomes an NFL starter.
2025 NFL Combine Results
| Position | Name | School | 40-Yard Dash | 10-Yard Split | Broad Jump | Vertical Jump | 3-Cone Drill | 20-Yard Shuttle | Bench Press |
| CB | Dorian Strong | Virginia Tech | 4.5 | 1.55 | 116 | 36 | 15 |
Positives
- Offers route running that echoes more of a big slot than at tight end with short-area quickness to boot
- Consistent receiving profile year over year
- Does illustrate high-level strain and effort in all phases, playing with an added edge
Negatives
- Is going to have a hard time commanding reps in the core from any alignment or usage at his current weight
- Does not pass thresholds for hand size (8.88”), which becomes apparent when he tries to catch the ball through traffic or away from his frame
- Can be more consistent at the top of his routes to squeeze back to the ball and slam the door shut on defensive backs
Background
Briningstool is from Brentwood, TN, and played high school football for Ravenwood HS. His father, Tony, played linebacker for Michigan State in the late 1980s. Jake was a consensus 4-star recruit leaving high school and received offers from major programs like Alabama, Georgia, Miami, Michigan, Penn State, Oregon, Texas A&M, and others. He ultimately committed to Clemson as a member of their recruiting class of 2021.
As a true freshman in 2021, Briningstool played sparingly and caught only a handful of passes while playing in eight games. 2022 saw him take on a larger workload for the Tigers — he teamed with teammate TE Davis Allen to be the first combo of tight ends to both post four or more receiving touchdowns in a single season in program history. Briningstool played in 14 games with one start that season before assuming a starting role in 2023. He’d go on to start 25 of the next 26 games and was selected Third Team All-ACC in both seasons.
Briningstool accepted an invitation to play in the 2025 Reese’s Senior Bowl.
Tale Of The Tape
Briningstool was one of the more conflicting evaluations I conducted this season. He clearly has some potential and moves with a special level of fluidity and smoothness for a player of his stature. You don’t often see 6-foot-5 guys adjust their bodies as effortlessly with speed in space as Briningstool. However, the lack of even modest tools to be a multi-faceted player at the position and some of his catch-point flaws likely make Briningstool a developmental talent with a lower price point for teams.
In the passing game, Briningstool is a tall frame with good burst off the line of scrimmage. He offers alignment versatility from the backfield or in the slot — these are usable alignments for him in the NFL if you can reconcile his lack of true threat as a blocker. Briningstool runs a number of routes, including flares into the flat, sit routes over the ball, hitches, crosses, fades, wheels, and more. His ability to quickly snap his head around at the top of the stem allows him to locate the football quickly and change the angles for defenders.
Athletically, he has good runaway speed from linebackers and can defeat man coverage with routes across the middle. Clemson asked him to do this at times, and he was successful. However, his work at the catch point did leave a few too many throws exposed to being contested.
On sit routes and hitches, Briningstool would benefit from sharpening his angles to ensure that he’s not drifting at the top of the stem. These reps expose his catching technique and can generate forced incompletions.
Briningstool offers sub-9-inch hands, which appear to manifest themselves in how he receives the football when square to the quarterback. Many of these throws get into his frame, reducing his catch radius. When receiving the football over the middle of the field with defenders on his frame, tough catches haven’t always become conversions.
These are elements of his game that you may be willing to live with if you feel confident in his versatility to impact the game in other ways. But he’s collected no real valuable experience as a special teams contributor. And at under 235 pounds, he struggles with consistency in any phase without the ball. Neither his run-blocking reps nor his pass-protection opportunities don’t offer the functional strength and power required for winning reps.
The effort level is everything you want, and he plays scrappy. Still, his punch does not create displacement or offset defenders. When engaged in hand-to-hand combat, he often fails to break even, and he can be uprooted or displaced far too easily. As he works to offset these issues, oftentimes, his base breaks down, and he’ll spin off the block.
This leaves Briningstool in awkward limbo as a tweener. A team will need to make peace with these phases and implement him in a hyper-specific role as a big slot or look to develop his frame and try to raise him to a baseline level of size, mass, and strength to play modestly in the core.
Ideal Scheme Fit, Role
Briningstool projects as a developmental flex tight end for the NFL. He has easy-to-like body control and route running ability and plays with an edge that will give him a puncher’s chance to make the leap.
His NFL team should be focused on trying to break through the ceiling of his body mass to give him a better chance to last playing in the core. Without success there, he’s likely to be relegated to an oversized slot.
Grade: 69.00/100.00, Sixth Round Value
Big Board Rank: TBD
Position Rank: TBD
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