Jack Endries, the next man up and one of the last tight ends drafted back in April, took his place in the spotlight Monday warming up Joe Burrow before practice.

But then, long before Burrow lost one of his absolute faves for the year in tight end Tanner Hudson, Endries had no problem in the spring or summer playing catch with the franchise. The first pick of the 2020s ripping it to the 221^st pick of now.

"It's been like that since day one. He started doing that. He gets out there early, and I guess he figures that somebody's got to catch him," says tight ends coach James Casey. "It's a credit to him because not a lot of guys have the guts to do that. He's a rookie, late-round pick, and he's out there because, hey, I'll catch you."

It doesn't surprise Casey, the scouts, and others, such as director of player personnel Duke Tobin, at the center of the drafting of Endries in the seventh round after his one year at Texas.

Mike Potts, the assistant general manager who interviewed him at the East-West All-Star Game. Or scout Tyler Ramsey, who double-teamed with Potts to work Austin. Or Casey, an early convert who felt the same way the scouts did and put him on an early list of the 10 tight ends he wanted to see at their pro days.

"Hardly missed any games at big schools and when I watched the tape," Casey says, "I liked how his feet were in the run game. He was willing and not backing down."

Berkeley bright with an economics degree from Cal and a master's degree in NFL offense from Prof. Steve Sarkisian at Texas.

"Very impressive there. Really smart. Knows football.  Good character. Good makeup. Tough kid. A lot to like about him," says Potts of that interview. "They said at Texas if he wasn't one of the smartest, he was the smartest guy on the team. He's got that kind of mind. Good athlete. Really good hands. Impressive at both schools. Impressive in the East-West Game. Had a good pro day. Checked every box."

When Ramsey went to see him at Texas, it turned his head that Endries had already "walked in the door with 97 catches," from Cal. Hudson became a Burrow go-to because he always seemed to be in the right place, and Ramsey saw those same qualities from Endries last year.

"He graduated from Cal in three years, and that's no easy task," Ramsey says. "So you knew he was going to come in with the intelligence that was above and beyond. And Texas runs a lot of pro style concepts, and asks a lot of their guys mentally, especially at tight end, and so he kind of transitioned seamlessly.

"He's had a ton of production catching the football, and that's kind of what Tanner's role was. Catching the ball, being reliable for the quarterback, being where he's supposed to be, and that's what Jack is, too."

Endries doesn't have Hudson's eight seasons of savvy or his time on task with Burrow that extends beyond pre-practice catch. Not with one NFL snap from scrimmage.

Start with Hudson's huge work on third down last week in Miami and end with last season's one-handed-third-and-nine-third-down touchdown catch on Thanksgiving night in Baltimore.

Both touchdowns put the Bengals up two scores on the road, and here we go again Sunday with the Bengals headed back to Baltimore (1 p.m.-Cincinnati’s Local 12), where in his third NFL game Endries figures to add to his career offensive snaps and 19 special teams plays.

Endries may not have the reps, but if he's smart enough to play catch with Burrow, he's also smart enough to watch Hudson.

"He had a good move on this route. I don't want to say it, but I've been using it on scout team, and I'm going to use it if I can on offense," Endries says. "He has good ball knowledge. Really good on special teams. He helped me out a lot. I was on special teams with him. I would play his position. We would switch around. He's a big help."

Seething that he went so late in the draft (The Athletic and Pro Football Focus rated him in the fifth round nearly 100 picks earlier), Endries became an overnight sensation when he vowed to the Cincinnati media, "It's unbelievable, and I'm going to make sure I make every team who didn't bleeping draft me pay, to be honest with you."

After practice Monday, he admitted, "I was pretty upset on the phone," but he wasn't very surprised it was the Bengals, and he was delighted that he would be reunited with Casey, the NFL coach that ran his school workout in Austin.

"It seems like every tight end I talk to after the game asks me how Coach Casey is doing. They love him," Endries says. "I just had a feeling it was going to be the Bengals. They send you draft hats and when I opened mind, their hat was near the front."

Often when the Bengals do take that seventh-rounder, he's higher on their board and that seems to be the case with both Endries and Navy defensive tackle Landon Robinson, taken five slots later.

The Bengals didn't have a fifth-rounder, courtesy of Joe Flacco. The sixth round was a need in versatile backup offensive lineman Brian Parker II of Duke. As the seventh round dawned and the draft broke into two with current selections and impending college free agency, the Bengals were on the hunt for value. Potts will you they didn't think he'd be at 221.

The versatility of Endries beckoned.

"He's a guy that has a high ceiling as a Y (a blocker), and he has impressive production in the F role as a pass receiver," Potts says. "Would you have liked the numbers to be higher at Texas (33 catches)? They had a lot of people to distribute the ball to, and you saw what he did in the pas game at Cal."

Casey, the old do-it-all Move tight end for the AFC South champ Texans when they beat the Bengals in the back-to-back Wild Card Games of 2011-12, has no such fondness for numbers.

He brings an old-school cudgel to the game who has head coach Zac Taylor’s highest regard and trust. In his eight seasons as Taylor's only tight ends coach, he's developed Taylor's second draft pick, Drew Sample, into one of the league's top blocking tight ends, and his 100 Bengals games lead the roster.

Mike Gesicki, a second-round draft pick who rattled around the league for six seasons as an estimable receiving threat, has emerged a star under Casey. Hudson, who arrived with 15 catches in four years with three teams in 2023, went on injured reserve with 84 catches in stripes.

In Endries and third-year Erick All Jr., he sees more of the same, but with the added element of being both receiving threats and reliable blockers in the run and pass games.

"They're guys that are really intelligent guys. Guys that you can trust just like Drew and Erick and Mike and Tanner. They're pros. They do things the right way. They care. Any of those guys, like I have no problem if they watch my kids."

That's why Casey likes to go to the pro days.

First of all, he got to sit in the Texas team room and listen to Sarkisian talk about each prospect. It stuck with Casey that he said Endries was the one guy they really wanted to bring back next year.

It's at the pro days where Casey also gets to hold the blocking bag, and he likes to hold the bag. This isn't about numbers. A little on the small side at 6-5, 245. Or his 4.62-second 40-yard dash isn't all that twitchy.

"I have no problem with guys like that because the main thing for me is always the guys you can trust," Casey says, "and the guys that can block and they're going to stick their face in there and be tough guys all the time. So he is that.

"(The pro day) gives you a chance to talk to people you trust about these guys. They're not just saying it so the kid gets drafted as high as possible. Buy you have to do your own evaluations. You like to feel the punch. It's the little things, but the one advantage being there is you can feel him punch you. You feel the strength a little bit… When I left there, I felt he was one of those guys you could trust."

The guy on the phone has received the call.

"Here it is," Endries says. "I think I'm ready. I played my special teams reps and I've been waiting to go on offense. I'm glad to go in."