4 free agent tight ends the LA Chargers could sign to replace Jared Cook

4. Hayden Hurst

If we are talking about tight ends who do not drop the football much then we would be silly to not mention Hayden Hurst. Hurst is one of the most sure-handed tight ends in the entire league and has consistently avoided the drop bug in his four years as a pro.

Hurst has a grand total of 181 targets in his career and of those 181 he has only dropped four. All of which came in an unfortunate 2020 season as the other three years of his career he put up the old goose egg in the drops category.

While Hurst has sure hands, he has not fully lived up to his potential. After showing great potential in Baltimore early on, the Atlanta Falcons were willing to trade a second-round pick for him prior to the 2020 season after losing Austin Hooper.

Hurst was pretty good in his first season with the Falcons with 571 yards and six touchdowns. However, the team drafted Kyle Pitts in the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft and Hurst's role with the team diminished as a result. He only recorded 26 catches for 221 yards.

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That is good for the Chargers, though, as it reduced his value and with other tight ends on the market, Hurst might be more of an afterthought. The Chargers could realistically get Hurst for very close to what they got Jared Cook for and if I had to guess, I would predict that a two-year, $10 million deal gets it done.