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philibusters
The 1st Round Pick
I watched Max Klare’s 2024 tape against Oregon, Penn State, and Indiana (back when he was still at Purdue), and I came away a bit more impressed than I expected. I already knew the 2024 tape was considered better than 2025, but even with that expectation, he popped more than I thought he would—especially as a blocker. At around 240 pounds, he’s not a power player, but he was consistently effective getting the job done, which was probably the biggest surprise.
As a receiver, he’s a really fluid athlete with natural acceleration. There aren’t a lot of wasted steps in his stems or releases, and you see some jab steps, a bit of salesmanship at the top of routes, and good hip sink. In the Oregon game, he had a couple reps where he created real separation, including cooking LB Jeffrey Bassa (a safety convert who ended up going in the 5th round to the Chiefs) for a couple yards separation. He also looked comfortable on scramble drills, adjusting with the QB and finding space. The biggest issue was against press—there were a few nice reps where he used a handswipe and got cleanly into the route, but there were also multiple snaps where the jam completely disrupted him. His hands are fine, not special—one drop and another bobble across roughly 15–20 targets in these games, plus a fumble against Oregon that went out of bounds. A lot of his production, especially against Indiana, came on chip-and-release concepts. After the catch he’s a bit of a mixed bag—he turns upfield well and can be elusive in space, but he’s not running through people. He’ll try to set defenders up and did force a couple missed tackles, but there weren’t any reps where he took on contact and broke through it. He had a nice TD against Penn State after the catch, but overall you’re looking at probably 4.55–4.6 speed on this tape. It’s my understanding he added about 10 pounds in 2025 to get up to 250, and it sounds like he may have lost a bit of that fluidity and speed.
Where he really stood out was as a blocker. Again, it’s not about overwhelming strength—he’s not blowing people off the ball—but he’s very effective because of his technique and movement skills. On stretch runs, he can sustain blocks against linebackers with good hand placement, and his ability to swivel his hips lets him seal lanes consistently, even against defensive ends. He had reps holding his own against a 4i defensive tackle, which you don’t always expect at his size. He lined up in-line a lot and was used as a lead blocker multiple times. Against Abdul Carter (the third overall pick last year), it was a mixed bag—Carter’s speed gave him issues at times and Klare couldn’t always sustain, but those reps were often on the backside where they didn’t impact the play. Overall, he’s good on combo blocks and down blocks, though there was one rep against Indiana where the DE split a combo and blew up the play. When climbing to the second level, he’s patient and fluid, which really helps him be effective despite average play strength. It’s a good example of how important movement skills and technique are for blocking at the position.
Based on these three games, I would put Klare somewhere in the late first to mid-second round range. The tricky part is how to weigh that against the 2025 tape, which by most accounts wasn’t as good—not just statistically, but on film. It doesn’t sound like an Oscar Delp situation where the usage didn’t match the talent; it sounds like the performance itself dipped. Maybe he was dealing with an injury, maybe the added weight hurt his movement skills more than it helped his strength, or maybe it’s something else. Either way, that’s the key question in his evaluation. If you’re buying the 2024 version, he’s great value at 71. If you’re weighting 2025 more heavily, he probably looks more like a Day 3 guy in the 5th round range.
As a receiver, he’s a really fluid athlete with natural acceleration. There aren’t a lot of wasted steps in his stems or releases, and you see some jab steps, a bit of salesmanship at the top of routes, and good hip sink. In the Oregon game, he had a couple reps where he created real separation, including cooking LB Jeffrey Bassa (a safety convert who ended up going in the 5th round to the Chiefs) for a couple yards separation. He also looked comfortable on scramble drills, adjusting with the QB and finding space. The biggest issue was against press—there were a few nice reps where he used a handswipe and got cleanly into the route, but there were also multiple snaps where the jam completely disrupted him. His hands are fine, not special—one drop and another bobble across roughly 15–20 targets in these games, plus a fumble against Oregon that went out of bounds. A lot of his production, especially against Indiana, came on chip-and-release concepts. After the catch he’s a bit of a mixed bag—he turns upfield well and can be elusive in space, but he’s not running through people. He’ll try to set defenders up and did force a couple missed tackles, but there weren’t any reps where he took on contact and broke through it. He had a nice TD against Penn State after the catch, but overall you’re looking at probably 4.55–4.6 speed on this tape. It’s my understanding he added about 10 pounds in 2025 to get up to 250, and it sounds like he may have lost a bit of that fluidity and speed.
Where he really stood out was as a blocker. Again, it’s not about overwhelming strength—he’s not blowing people off the ball—but he’s very effective because of his technique and movement skills. On stretch runs, he can sustain blocks against linebackers with good hand placement, and his ability to swivel his hips lets him seal lanes consistently, even against defensive ends. He had reps holding his own against a 4i defensive tackle, which you don’t always expect at his size. He lined up in-line a lot and was used as a lead blocker multiple times. Against Abdul Carter (the third overall pick last year), it was a mixed bag—Carter’s speed gave him issues at times and Klare couldn’t always sustain, but those reps were often on the backside where they didn’t impact the play. Overall, he’s good on combo blocks and down blocks, though there was one rep against Indiana where the DE split a combo and blew up the play. When climbing to the second level, he’s patient and fluid, which really helps him be effective despite average play strength. It’s a good example of how important movement skills and technique are for blocking at the position.
Based on these three games, I would put Klare somewhere in the late first to mid-second round range. The tricky part is how to weigh that against the 2025 tape, which by most accounts wasn’t as good—not just statistically, but on film. It doesn’t sound like an Oscar Delp situation where the usage didn’t match the talent; it sounds like the performance itself dipped. Maybe he was dealing with an injury, maybe the added weight hurt his movement skills more than it helped his strength, or maybe it’s something else. Either way, that’s the key question in his evaluation. If you’re buying the 2024 version, he’s great value at 71. If you’re weighting 2025 more heavily, he probably looks more like a Day 3 guy in the 5th round range.
