Houston Texans select Cade Stover in fourth round of 2024 NFL Draft

Former Ohio State tight end Cade Stover is off the board in the 2024 NFL Draft. He was selected by the Houston Texans with the 23rd pick in the fourth round.

Stover begins his professional career following a terrific college run at Ohio State, where he was the benefactor of quite a few loaded Buckeye lineups when it came to offensive weapons. With dudes like Marvin Harrison Jr., Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Emeka Egbunu and others drawing so much attention on the outside, a guy like Stover was able to feast as a TE.

He had 77 catches for 982 yards and 10 touchdowns across the last two seasons as the full-time starting tight end in Columbus. In 2023 specifically, Stover finished second behind Harrison on OSU in receiving yards with 576 of them.

Like so many athletic tight ends, Stover was actually as a star on the basketball court as well, starring at forward on his high school hoops team. Even as a football player, Stover didn’t come to tight end naturally and started his career on the defensive side of the ball.

Prior to Ohio State, Stover attended Lexington High School in Mansfield, Ohio, where he was a four-star prospect according to the On3 Industry Rankings. He was also rated the No. 114 overall recruit, the No. 14 linebacker and No. 4 player in the state of Ohio for the 2019 cycle.

What NFL Draft analysts are saying about Cade Stover

Stover is certainly one of the more popular tight end prospects in this draft, and while he’s not a surefire first rounder or anything, Lance Zierlein of NFL.com breaks him down as a solid future player.

Here was his scouting report on Stover:

“Catch first, block second tight end whose jump in play as a receiving threat is going to be hard to ignore. Stover is a tight end conversion from the defensive side of the ball. He’s a little clunky getting off the line but really picks up the pace as the route unfolds. He starred as a high school hooper and that same athleticism can be found in his route running, high-point timing and run after catch.

“Stover possesses the tools to move in a positive direction as a run blocker but needs to upgrade his grit at the point of attack and effort as a move blocker. He’s an upside prospect with the potential to play in-line or flexed out and should become a productive starter within a couple of years.”