I was hoping for Nowakowski picked just ahead of Royer. I know little bout Royer.
Dane Brugler's write-up on Royer...
BACKGROUND
Joseph “Joe” Royer was born and raised on the west side of Cincinnati by his parents (Michelle and Mark). His mother, who was better
known as “Micki,” unexpectedly died at age 52 in September 2022. Royer has described his mother as his “best friend” and has her face
tattooed on his right arm. Royer has two sisters, both of whom played college soccer — Sammie at Hanover (Ind.) College; Rachel at
Western Michigan (2016-19). In June 2022, Rachel married Trey Holtz, an offensive analyst for LSU, son of Skip Holtz and grandson of
late Hall of Fame head coach Lou Holtz. Joe’s grandfather (Dick Royer) won a football championship at Ohio’s Elder High School in
1954 and played tight end and defensive end at Notre Dame. He was on the 1957 Irish team that snapped Oklahoma’s NCAA-record
47-game winning streak.
Royer also enrolled at Elder High, a Catholic all-boys school in Cincinnati and one of the top football programs in Ohio. He started his
sophomore season catching passes on the JV squad before moving up to varsity. He then posted 31 receptions for 612 yards (19.7
average) and five touchdowns as a junior in 2018, helping the program to eight wins. He had his best season as a senior and helped
Elder reach the 2019 Division I state championship (where it lost to Pickerington Central, which included Royer’s future Ohio State
teammates Sonny Styles and Ty Hamilton). Royer earned first-team all-state honors as a senior (39 receptions for 646 yards and 10
touchdowns). He also played varsity baseball and basketball at Elder.
A four-star recruit, Royer was the 14th-ranked tight end in the 2020 class and the No. 9 recruit in Ohio. After becoming a varsity starter
as a junior, he picked up his first scholarship offer, from Boston College, in November 2018. Several FBS schools quickly followed with
offers, including his hometown Cincinnati. Royer attended a one-day camp at Ohio State in June 2019 and impressed coaches enough to
leave with a scholarship offer from the Buckeyes, too. He announced a final six of Arizona State, LSU, Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State
and Wisconsin, before officially committing to the Buckeyes. Royer was the 12th-ranked recruit in head coach Ryan Day’s 2020 class
(which also included future first-round draft picks C.J. Stroud, Paris Johnson Jr. and Jaxon Smith-Njigba). He was expected to have a
breakout third season in Columbus, but he was limited by a groin injury and spent time away from the team following his mother’s
death.
After another injury-riddled season in 2023, Royer graduated from Ohio State with a degree in sport industry (December 2023) and
entered the transfer portal. He returned home and enrolled at Cincinnati for his final two seasons of eligibility. His desire for a fresh
start and the chance to be closer to home and his father were the main reasons for that move. He declined an invitation to the Senior
Bowl.
STRENGTHS
● Densely built throughout, with quality bulk in his arms and bubble
● Natural athlete and more fluid than dynamic in movements
● Outstanding hands and grabs almost everything in his catch radius
● Appears undaunted in crowded catch points
● Quick to turn upfield; ranked No. 5 among FBS tight ends in 2025 in YAC/reception (8.9)
● Willing blocker in the run game and competes through the whistle
● Able to seal backside runs versus bigger defensive ends
● Scheme versatile — split snaps evenly between attached and detached in college
● Battled injuries at Ohio State but started all 25 games at Cincinnati the past two seasons
WEAKNESSES
● A tad bow-legged, with disproportionately shorter arms compared to his longer torso
● Doesn’t have speed to easily escape man coverage
● Not a route technician and needs to be better with the little things
● Will battle for extra yards, but you’d like to see him break more tackles
● Mediocre aggression as an inline blocker
● Tends to be late with his hands, especially in space
● Managed 50-plus receiving yards in just three games in 2025
● Because of injury, missed more games than he played at Ohio State
SUMMARY
A two-year starter at Cincinnati, Royer was a Y tight end in former offensive coordinator Brad Glenn’s scheme and split his snaps evenly
between the slot (49.3 percent of snaps) and inline (45.4 percent). After injuries derailed his time at Ohio State, he reinvented himself
with the Bearcats and in 2024 broke Travis Kelce’s single-season school record for catches by a tight end. However, his usage and
production took slight declines in his final year (4.2 catches per game in 2024 to 2.2 in ‘25).
Royer is a smooth athlete for the position, with the impressive hands needed to easily adjust and frame the football, regardless of the
placement. Although he is more of a one-speed receiver down the seam, he runs hard and has some giddy-up with the ball in his hands
(only FBS tight end with multiple receptions of 60-plus yards in 2025). Though competitive as a blocker, his execution must improve for
NFL coaches to trust him. Overall, Royer lacks an explosive gear as both a receiver and blocker, but his ball skills are
above average, and he is well-rounded everywhere else. He projects as a functional TE2 for an NFL offense.
