When New Orleans Saints tight end Dallin Holker talked with NFL scouts and coaches this spring, they all wanted to know about one game.
They asked about what happened on Sept. 16, 2023. That was the date of the thrilling shootout between Colorado and Colorado State. His team ended up losing, but the game turned out to be a breakout performance for Holker. The nation had tuned in to see what Colorado coach Deion Sanders was building in Boulder, and instead got to see a near-upset that featured the little-known Colorado State tight end dominate with six catches for 109 yards and two touchdowns.
The game put him on the map.
“Those are the games that you dream about as a kid,” Holker said. “Those are the games you want to play.”
Holker still went undrafted last week, but his primetime performance was a main reason why the 24-year-old is one of the Saints’ more intriguing undrafted free agents from this year’s class. New Orleans reportedly gave Holker $235,000 guaranteed with a $10,000 signing bonus — the highest amount of guarantees among the team’s UDFAs.
Despite not being picked in the draft, Holker gives the Saints a true pass-catching threat at tight end. Not only did he break out on the scene last year at Colorado State — where he transferred from BYU — but led all FBS tight ends in receiving. Even over Brock Bowers, who went 13th overall to Las Vegas.
Holker had 64 receptions for 767 yards and six touchdowns last year, a year that earned him a second-team All-American spot.
“The Saints just looked like the best fit for me and my family,” Holker said. “We’re super excited about the opportunity. ... It seemed like a perfect fit. I’ve always wanted to go down to Louisiana and see what it’s about.”
From Utah, Holker said he’s pumped to try the “amazing food” and that he had been curious about living in the south since he spent five years growing up in Kentucky. The football fit was appealing, too. The Saints have a new offense under offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak, and Holker said he enjoyed getting to know tight ends coach Clancy Barone. Tight end also appeared to be a need for New Orleans, even though the team did not draft one.
Holker told reporters he was a little surprised he went undrafted. Scouting reports from The Athletic and NFL.com had projected him to be a sixth-round pick, and Holker’s 2023 campaign showed that he could be productive — even after an underwhelming BYU stint that included two missed seasons because of a Mormon mission.
Eric Galko, the director of football operations for the East West Shrine Bowl, said Holker’s subpar athletic testing numbers could have led him to not hear his name called. Holker is undersize at 6-foot-3 and 241 pounds, which creates questions about how he’ll block at the next level.
But Galko believes Holker is a better athlete than his 4.78 40-yard dash indicated, saying he plays at a faster speed during games. He saw that up close at the East West Shrine Bowl and on tape like against Colorado.
Against the Buffaloes, some of Holker’s best plays came when he got into an open field and made defenders miss with his footwork. He credited his background in playing basketball, which helped him “cross someone up” and beat players off the line.
Colorado’s 43-35 double overtime win over Colorado State drew 9.3 million viewers – which at the time was ESPN’s fifth-most watched regular season college football game ever. Galko said that a “big game” like that helped Holker land on the radar of NFL general managers earlier than normal given executives aren't typically watching college football as often as they do in lead up to the draft.
“For Dallin, he was able to kind of make a name for himself to people that maybe aren’t watching college film on the West Coast every single week like area scouts are,” Galko said, later adding, “That game meant a lot to both those schools, and the way he played in a really big game, with that kind of pressure and tension, stands out.”
Holker made sure he could build off the performance, as well. A week later, the tight end recorded a season-high 11 catches for 112 yards.
“I definitely think (the Colorado game) opened a lot of eyes to a lot of people,” Holker said with a grin. “It was fun, going out there to show what I can do. I love this game and I’m super grateful for the opportunity.”