RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 1 sourcesWoodland Hills, - June 08:Rams Max Klare (86) at Rams practice on Monday, June 8, 2026. (Photo by David Crane/MediaNews Group/Los Angeles Daily News via Getty Images) | MediaNews Group via Getty Images
The Los Angeles Rams have invested heavily in the tight end position in the last few seasons. Between Colby Parkinson, Tyler Higbee, second-year playmaker Terrance Ferguson and Davis Allen, rookie Max Klare is next in line to earn ample playing time in the Rams’ TE-heavy offense.
Klare is L.A.’s second straight tight end selected in the NFL draft, going No. 61 overall in April. This comes after Ferguson was taken 46th overall in last year’s draft.
Klare is going to have his work cut out for him if he aims to stand out in this loaded grouping. He’ll certainly have an uphill climb. However, his versatile skills as a receiving TE — not to mention surviving the Purdue Boilermakers — could potentially make him stand out in the crowd.
Moving from dreadful Boilermakers to greener pastures
Klare attended St. Xavier in Cincinnati, Ohio, and committed to the Purdue Boilermakers out of high school as a three-star recruit. He chose the Boilermakers over schools like Duke, Eastern Michigan, Georgia Tech and the nearby Cincinnati Bearcats.
Through his first two years at Purdue, nothing of note happened for the young tight end. He played in just two games during his freshman campaign in 2022. Then, the following year, he was on his way to potentially breaking out before suffering a season-ending injury in a 44-19 win over Illinois.
Despite the injury, Klare was a dependable target in short-yardage situations. Purdue quarterback Hudson Card sung his praises to Sam King of the Lafayette Journal & Courier , a sign of something special to come in Year 3:
“He’s one of the best tight ends that I’ve been around. He’s a great player. He can block and he also runs some of the best routes that I’ve been around. He makes my life easy and he’s going to do some special things.”
Klare had the best season of his collegiate career in 2024, leading the team with 51 receptions for 685 yards and four touchdowns, which was the sixth-highest receiving yardage total by a TE in program history. According to Purdue Athletics , he finished eighth in the FBS in receiving yards by a tight end and was the ninth different Big Ten TE since 2000 to record at least 680 receiving yards.
He returned from injury with a vengeance against FCS Indiana State in the season opener with a five-catch, 71-yard output. Later in the season, Klare also recorded a career-high 133 yards against the Fighting Illini. For his efforts, Klare was named third-team All-Big Ten.
He would’ve likely gotten more respect from the voters had Purdue not performed so poorly that season. The Boilermakers finished 1-11 during his final season, including 0-9 in the Big Ten, lowlighted by 66-7 and 66-0 losses to in-state foes Notre Dame and Indiana, respectively.
It was time for a change, and Klare opted to transfer to defending national champion Ohio State ahead of the 2025 season. While in Columbus, Klare worked to improve his blocking. Being with a contending program seemed to bring out his best, as he took quick notice of his improvement.
The Buckeyes coasted through the regular season undefeated before back-to-back losses to Indiana in the Big Ten Championship and Miami in the College Football Playoff. Both of those teams faced off in the national championship, with the Hoosiers coming out on top.
It was still a successful season for Klare, even if he missed out on the championship glory. He ended his lone year at Ohio State playing all 14 games , including 11 starts, finishing with 43 receptions for 448 yards and two touchdowns. Even with the slight dip in production compared to his final season at Purdue, he earned first-team all-Big Ten honors.
Additionally, he had one year of eligibility remaining, but elected to enter the 2026 NFL draft. The Buckeyes’ loss will hopefully be the Rams’ gain.
Klare might be lost in the crowd in Year 1 in Los Angeles
Everybody knows the Rams like tight ends and cannot lie. That alone is a plus and a minus for the incoming Klare.
On the plus side, Klare was drafted to the perfect team, one that utilizes multiple tight ends at any given time. Given L.A.’s commitment to the position, a receiving-first TE such as Klare will likely see the field more often than not. As for the minuses, for one, the Rams selected Ferguson in the second round of the 2025 NFL draft, which will give him priority on the field alongside veterans like Parkinson and Higbee.
Ferguson played in 14 games last season, but wasn’t on the field as much as you’d think. The Oregon product started three of those 14 games and played just 39% of the offensive snaps in the regular season, per Pro Football Reference . Having a lot of mouths to feed is certainly a great problem to have as an offensive-minded coach like Sean McVay, but it’s also a problem for a rookie hoping to get playing time. Klare will undoubtedly be one of the Rams’ tight ends entering the season, yet where exactly he falls on the depth chart is undetermined.
Overall. Klare doesn’t have a high ceiling as a blocker, which might hinder his time on the field, at least initially. While he did work on improving his blocking at Ohio State, The Athletic’s Dane Brugler cautioned that it will “likely never be a strength of his game”:
“Klare has a low ceiling as a blocker and needs to continue adding refinement as a route runner, but his combination of athleticism, toughness and ball skills gives him a modern-day skill set. He projects as an F tight end, similar in ways to Dalton Kincaid.”
A projection similar to Kincaid is a positive. He has been a serviceable target for Josh Allen for the last three years and has averaged just over 560 receiving yards since his selection in the 2023 NFL draft. Josh Norris and Hayden Winks of Yahoo Sports gave Klare an NFL comp of Cowboys two-time Pro ...
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