Drafted surprisingly high, Boerkircher fuels his underdog mentality with criticism, aiming to prove doubters wrong and emulate NFL legends.
The Jacksonville Jaguars' draft class has been criticized, as their picks didn't match some analysts' draft projections and expectations.
Jacksonville's first selection, Texas A&M's Nate Boerkircher, was Exhibit A, taken 56th overall when the tight end was anticipated to go in the third or fourth round.
Boerkircher said the negative media attention his early pick has received has only added fuel to the fire.
"It's kind of impossible to ignore. It is what it is, it doesn't bother me," Boerkircher told Radio 1010XL's "Jaguars Today" show. "Being a walk-on, I wasn't super highly recruited out of the portal even. I've always been kind of an underdog.
"It just puts another chip on my shoulder and every time I've had a chip on my shoulder, I've excelled. So, I'm excited to see what happens."
Boerkircher did not post the most eye-popping production in college, catching just 38 passes in five college seasons. But he does possess the physical traits and upside to be an impact blocker and red-zone threat at the next level.
The former Aggie also started a bit of a trend after being taken off the board, as two tight ends were taken in the remaining eight picks of the second round and an additional four were selected in the third round.
Following the Jaguars' pick, general manager James Gladstone said he had a feeling "heavier" tight ends were going to hold a higher value in this year's draft.
Gladstone said the team's decision makers had an "internal sentiment" that a run of tight ends would come in the late-second to early-third range and wanted to make sure they got their guy.
"He was the one we were hunting up and we weren't going to allow that [run] to ever be something that we risk," Gladstone said.
Former ESPN scout Matt Williamson confirmed Boerkircher as the catalyst of this run on the "Locked on Jaguars" podcast with Tony Wiggins on Friday.
"The Steelers were not going to take a tight end where the Jags took Boerkircher," Williamson said. "But we were broadcasting and the Steelers' tight end coach comes walking past us and he went 'Man, I like that A&M tight end. I don't know why the league wasn't on top of this guy. He can really play.'"
Boerkircher also received praise from legendary Jaguars running back Fred Taylor. Taylor also joined 1010XL's "Jaguars Today," where he compared the second-rounder to Rob Gronkowski, one of the best tight ends in NFL history.
"I don't want to get too far ahead of myself and call him Gronk, but like I said, he reminds me of Gronk," Taylor said. "They're similar in height and size. And when you look at his film, he really can catch the ball. I mean, he is smooth in his routes, and his hands, they're just so soft like Gronk."
While critics may have seen the Boerkircher pick as a head-scratcher at the time, the more that comes out about his abilities and the way the Jaguars' brass views him, he may turn out to be a difference-maker sooner rather than later.
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