Krull looking to prove doubters wrong
Lucas Krull was not one of the 21 tight ends invited to the NFL Combine two weeks ago. After posting 38 catches, 451 yards, and six touchdowns in the 2021 season on Pitt’s ACC Championship team, Krull felt he did enough to earn an invite, but one never came.
He used that slight as motivation. Krull wanted to prove himself and on Monday, he was given the stage to do just that.
“No disrespect to anybody, but I felt like I should have been there,” Krull told reporters following his workout at Pitt’s pro day. “It’s a thing that you want to do, you grow up it’s something that you want to do and didn’t get the opportunity and I knew I had to come here and prove everyone wrong.”
Krull did his best to show he is a viable NFL Draft prospect on Monday. He checked in at 6’6” and 253 pounds. The former Pitt tight end registered a 35-inch vertical and ran his 40-yard dash in the 4.5’s. Krull’s best assets are his size and athleticism, and they were on full display for 31 NFL teams at Pitt’s pro day.
“I ran routes great, did all my shuttles great, can’t complain, did what I came here to do,” Krull said after his strong showing.
While Krull missed out of the big stage of working out in Indianapolis, he was given a pretty good opportunity on Monday. Kenny Pickett is one of the top quarterbacks in the draft, and he is being monitored closely, to put it mildly.
The Pickett hype train brought out 31 NFL teams with multiple head coaches in attendance. The throwing session for the former Pitt quarterback was televised by both the ACC Network and NFL Network, which gave Krull an ever bigger audience as he ran routes for Pickett.
“Everyone was saying I had a really good day,” Krull said of his instant feedback from some of the scouts. “So I feel like people have kind of not really been looking my way as I thought they would. It’s something that I came here to prove, and I think I did that well.”
Krull has had a long journey to get to this point. After only catching nine passes as a member of the Florida Gators, he transferred to Pitt ahead of the 2020 season. An early season injury limited Krull to just one game that season.
He earned a reprieve, though. The 2020 season that was overshadowed by the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and had the NCAA grant all players an extra year of eligibility, and Krull ran with it.
“Super grateful for it,” Krull said of the unexpected extra year. “With Covid, I got that extra sixth year for me. I got hurt when I got here, so obviously I didn’t know before I didn’t know what was going to happen.”
Krull helped Pitt to an 11-3 season in 2021, and was a big weapon for Pickett throughout the season. His 38 catches were the most by a Pitt tight end in a single season since Dorin Dickerson caught 49 back in 2009. His presence unlocked a much needed part for the Pitt offense.
“It was a whole another year to prove myself and be the guy that I needed to be,” Krull said of his 2021 season. “It was huge milestone for me, and it was just the beginning. I have a lot of stuff that I need to continue to work on and I just can’t wait to get the opportunity at the next level.”
Krull said he will remain in Pittsburgh to continue to prepare and workout for the NFL Draft. He will also spend the next few weeks visiting different teams before returning home to Missouri to be with family for the draft.
“As a player there’s always things you need to improve on and work on, so obviously during that time I just wanted to emphasize and show them that I can move well and show them that I can move better than they think too and I think I did that really well today.”