The Cincinnati Bengals drafted Texas tight end Jack Endries with the 221st overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, using their first seventh-round selection on a player who split his college career between Cal and Texas.
Endries finished with 124 receptions for 1,376 yards across four seasons, a résumé that included three years at Cal before he moved to Texas. He was an Honorable Mention All-ACC in 2024, when he led Cal with 56 catches for 623 yards, then started all 13 games for Texas in 2025.
That production helped push him onto NFL draft boards, and one evaluator at NFL.com said Endries should develop into an NFL starter. He also arrived in the league after a long development arc that included high school stints in basketball and baseball as well as football, which made him a three-sport athlete before he chose his next step.
The path also tied him to Fernando Mendoza, his former Cal teammate and the 2026 first overall pick, who had Endries as a guest at the 2025 Heisman Trophy ceremony. The Bengals now get a player who declared for the draft as an underclassman after fulfilling his degree requirements, adding a tight end with proven college volume rather than a pure project.
The question for Cincinnati is how quickly that production translates to Sundays. Endries has the catches, the yardage and the recent starting experience, but his place on the roster will depend on whether the promise behind that scouting note turns into an NFL role.
