Dynasty Prospect Scouting Report: Charlie Kolar
Charlie Kolar, TE, Iowa State
Height: 6’6.5
Weight: 252
Age: 23.2
Pro Day Results:
Kolar attended the Combine but didn’t take part in the athletic testing.
40-yard dash: 4.62 seconds (still 80th percentile adjusted)
Broad: 120 inches (79th percentile)
Vertical: 35.5 inches (78th)
3-cone: 6.98 seconds (82nd*)
Short shuttle: 4.35 seconds (54th)
Even with 0.05 added to his 40 time for pro-day results running traditionally faster than Combine testing, Kolar still shaved 0.22 off the 40 time he registered as a 2017 college prospect. He also added 8.5 inches to his vertical. His adjusted 40 time at 252 pounds gave him an 87th-percentile speed score (109.6) among NFL TEs.
*According to Stathead, no TE prospect has ever recorded a 6.98-second 3-cone time – even though we’ve seen 6 guys at 6.99 seconds, 3 at 6.97 and plenty more just to either side of those numbers. The percentile rank here is based on the 6.99 time, so Kolar rates even better than what’s listed.
College Career:
Kolar completed a highly productive high school career in Oklahoma (139 catches, 2,440 yards, 31 TDs) as a 3-star recruit. He landed at Iowa State despite both of his parents working at Oklahoma University. (The Sooners never offered him a scholarship.)
Kolar redshirted as a 2017 freshman. His mere 11 catches in 2018 ranked just 6th on a team that included RB David Montgomery and WR Hakeem Butler, but the debut campaign was good enough to land Kolar a 2nd-team All-Big 12 nod from the coaches. His 3 TDs ranked 3rd on the team.
With Montgomery and Butler gone to the NFL for 2019, Kolar enjoyed a breakout campaign. He leaped from 3.6% target share to 16.7%, ranking 3rd on the team in receptions and yards and pacing the Cyclones in TD catches. (Only freshman RB Breece Hall scored more total TDs.)
In 2020, Kolar graduated from John Mackey Award semifinalist to finalist on the strength of top-5 numbers among TEs in catches, receiving yards and TD receptions. Of Kolar’s 44 catches for the season, 35 produced a 1st down or a TD. He earned multiple All-America nods, as well as a 2nd straight spot on the all-conference team.
Kolar wrapped up his career with a 3rd straight increase in target share (21.6%) as a redshirt senior, finishing 2nd on the team in receptions and receiving yards and once again leading ISU in TD catches. He set school single-season records for receptions and yards by a TE and won both the William V. Campbell Trophy and the CoSIDA Academic All-America Football Player of the Year awards as the nation’s top scholar athlete. Kolar graduated with a 3.99 GPA in engineering.
And just in case you don’t care how smart he is, here are his market shares for the final 3 seasons.
2019: 16.2% rec, 17.3% yards, 24.1% TDs
2020: 17.7% rec, 20.4% yards, 35.0% TDs
2021: 19.8% rec, 22.0% yards, 27.3% TDs
Film Review:
Games watched: Baylor 2021, Oklahoma 2021, Oregon 2020, Oklahoma 2020 (Big 12 Championship)
Don’t expect to be blown away if you watch Kolar. Then again, if you’re looking for some college tape to blow you away, you should just steer clear of this TE class. But Kolar might just sneak into relevance under cover of a class that is exciting no one.
The 1st thing that stood out to me was strong, confident hands.
Kolar regularly catches the ball away from his body with ease, at various levels and in varying coverage situations.
He can take those confident hands with him for a low ball.
And as you might expect from a 6’6.5 TE with above-average hops, he can go get a high one (and still get both feed in bounds when he only needs 1).
Kolar doesn’t quite look speedy in route or with the ball in his hands. But he moves plenty well for the position and saw a lot of slot usage at Iowa State. According to Pro Football Focus numbers, Kolar spent 58.0% and 57.5% of his pass snaps in the slot the past 2 years and carried average target depths of 10.7 yards or more each of the past 3 seasons.
This rep comes against a shorter DB (5’10), but shows some of how Kolar can be a tough matchup from the line of scrimmage …
The sample of games didn’t show a lot of contested situations in the end zone, but this clip from his 2019 Watch Stadium reel points to what the former basketball player might be capable of in that area.
Fantasy Outlook:
No one’s getting excited about any TEs in this class, but that doesn’t mean none will prove fantasy relevant. And Kolar brings about as strong an upside package as anyone.
He’s tall and relatively fast. He’s smart. He brings a history of production. And he’s more receiver than blocker. (PFF never graded him strong in run blocking or pass blocking for a full college season.)
The NFL team that drafts him is likely to view Kolar as a potential short-to-mid-range target, and he has the tools to factor into red-zone schemes.