As NFL tight ends enjoy a golden era, passing on lessons has become personal US NFL
To be trained by the world’s best tight ends, a young player must first outwit Maggie, Sheila, and Allie.
These are Logan Paulson and his wife, Kelly. Rescued dogs, all of varying ages and sizes, stand at the door of their cozy Northern Virginia home, waiting to welcome their students for another day of film study and training.
Paulson, 38, spent a decade playing tight end in the NFL. He was never a star in the passing game, but he was better than most players at sealing blocks. Coaches always saw him as a glue man or an indirect coach they wanted on their rosters, but he also faced roster changes in the middle and later years of his career, moving between several teams and becoming a veteran. Such is life for a No. 2 or 3 tight end.
Now, Paulson teaches young tight ends the more complex aspects of the position as they prepare for the NFL Draft. His longtime agent and friend, Steve Carrick, often sends clients to him for additional work in the winter and early spring, and Paulson welcomes them into his home and heart.
He has trained Rams second-round pick Terrance Ferguson this spring; Jake Tongs, a former undrafted free agent who recently replaced All-Pro George Kittle in San Francisco while Kittle was recovering from a hamstring injury and is averaging nearly four catches and three touchdowns per game; and over the past few off-seasons, he has also trained more than a dozen other players.
The son of an engineer in a family of doctors and architects, Paulson loves to understand how and why things work. His innate curiosity helped him master lesser-known nuances like protection and blocking layers as a player and still influences his teaching today.
“Football is constantly evolving,” he said. “If I don’t understand the direction of the NFL, I can’t sit here and talk to someone at home about NFL expectations. There’s a part of me that says, ‘I’m just trying to gain knowledge because it’s fun, and also because I want to maintain a standard of teaching.’
For weeks and even months, players watch films with Paulson for hours in his living room and train on local fields near his home. When it rains or snows, he takes the players to the Dulles Sportsplex, an indoor sports and recreation center, where they run just blocks away from youth football camps and grandmothers who carry their weights.
There’s no shortage of clients. These days, through a planned resurgence in pop culture and in the NFL, tight ends are garnering more attention than ever. Every team is looking for more than one good tight end, or trying to develop one through training.
“When I was in college and watched tight ends, I think most NFL fans could name maybe five to ten starting tight ends in the NFL,” Kittle said. “Nowadays, almost every fan can name about 28 of the NFL’s 32 starting tight ends.” …I think The overall level of tight end play has risen so much that every team is looking for a good player now.”
The face of Sunday’s “National Tight Ends Day,” Kittle has been working for years to bring more attention to the position. Along with Chiefs All-Pro Travis Kelce and retired tight end-turned-Fox NFL analyst Greg Olsen, Kittle co-founded Tight End University, an annual multi-day summit for tight ends, in 2021. The three-day Nashville event (like this position) has grown in popularity and recognition—especially since the world’s most famous pop star, Taylor Swift, who is also engaged to Kelce, made a surprise appearance at one of its parties last summer.