Bottom Line
27th-percentile production model, 6.2 RAS, and a Day 3 landing spot behind Mark Andrews — Cuevas is a deep TE-premium dart throw, not a redraft asset. Pass at rookie ADP unless he falls to the back half of the third round.
Team Fit & Opportunity
Baltimore spent pick 173 on a developmental TE2/3 behind Mark Andrews and Durham Smythe. Andrews remains Lamar Jackson's red-zone safety blanket, and Smythe is the entrenched in-line option. The 63 vacated targets exist on paper but funnel through Flowers, Bateman, and Andrews first. Cuevas's path to relevance is Andrews aging out in 2027 and Smythe walking — even then, Baltimore has historically rotated TE bodies rather than feeding a clear TE2. Year-1 role is special teams and 12-personnel depth.
Talent Profile
The athletic profile is the problem: 4.65 forty and a 6.2 RAS at 245 lbs means he's neither a vertical seam threat nor a true Y-blocker. The 34th-percentile production score reflects a college role that never centered the offense at Alabama. There are flickers — 60th-percentile explosiveness, 61st-percentile route versatility, 58th-percentile YPRR over expected — suggesting he wins on technique and feel within structure rather than physical traits. PFF's pre-draft note that he "lacks prototypical" size/speed tracks. He's a possession TE without a possession-TE frame.
Strengths
- Route feel above athletic baseline: 58th-percentile YPRR over expected and 61st route versatility hint at a savvy route-runner who finds soft spots in zone.
- Explosiveness sub-score outpaces the forty: 60th-percentile explosiveness suggests short-area burst that may translate to seam and flat work better than the 4.65 implies.
- Landing spot stability: Baltimore develops backend roster pieces well; Harbaugh's staff will give him a real two-year runway to carve out a TE3 role.
Concerns
- Athletic floor is the ceiling: 6.2 RAS for a non-blocking move TE is the bottom decile of viable NFL archetypes — there's no separator trait.
- Blocked by Andrews and Smythe: The current depth chart offers zero target share in 2026, and TE breakouts almost always require a clear TE1 role.
- 27th-percentile model with TE15-of-20 class rank: The aggregate signal says backend TE2/3 outcome, not a sleeper.
Historical Comp Read
The comp set — Mitchell Evans, Jordan Leggett, Cade Stover, Davis Allen, Grant Calcaterra — is a graveyard of backup TEs and camp bodies. Calcaterra carved out the most viable role and still topped out as a TE3 in Philly. Leggett never produced. Stover and Allen are roster fillers. The signal is clean: Day 3 TEs without a standout athletic or production marker rarely hit, and Cuevas doesn't break the pattern on either axis.
Outlook
Year 1 is a redshirt — inactive most weeks, special teams when up, single-digit targets. The three-year arc requires Andrews leaving in 2027 free agency *and* Cuevas beating out a future draft pick or veteran add for the move-TE role. Catalyst: a clean TE2 promotion with 50+ targets in 2027. Risk: cut by final roster in Year 2. In TE-premium leagues he's a cheap stash; in standard formats he shouldn't be rostered.