Cardinals tight end Trey McBride’s path to stardom began with a hometown mentor

TEMPE, Ariz. — Before Trey McBride became an NFL star, he traveled to Castle Rock, Colo., to visit another tight end from his hometown.

In 2019, McBride had just finished his second season at Colorado State. He was starting to think about the NFL, and who better to learn from than Joel Dreessen, who had traveled a similar football journey.

Dreessen and McBride had common roots. Both were from Fort Morgan, a small town in northeastern Colorado. Both attended Colorado State. Dreessen, 43, spent eight years in the NFL, playing for the New York Jets, Houston Texans and Denver Broncos. As a kid, McBride once wore Dreessen’s No. 81 Denver jersey.

“Growing up, everybody wanted to be like Joel,” McBride said at his Arizona Cardinals locker one day after practice. “Everybody had his jersey. And, really, he was the talk of the town. He was kind of what every football player in that county wanted to be like.”

Since then, that designation has shifted. A centerpiece of the Cardinals’ offense, McBride, 26, has established himself as perhaps the best tight end in football. Entering Sunday’s game at Tampa Bay, McBride’s 80 receptions are tied for third in the league among all pass-catchers. Perhaps more impressive, he needs just one more catch to pass Jimmy Graham for the most receptions (301) by a tight end in his first four seasons.

In three-plus seasons with the Cardinals, McBride has racked up 301 receptions for over 3,000 yards and 13 touchdowns. (Christian Petersen / Getty Images)

McBride’s impact is not lost on the Cardinals, even though it might go unnoticed elsewhere. Quarterback Kyler Murray told McBride during training camp that one day his name would be in the organization’s Ring of Honor. This month, quarterback Jacoby Brissett said football seems to come easily for the tight end, a quality receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. has noticed as well.

“I don’t think he realizes he’s playing professional football,” Harrison said. “He’s out there just playing, having a good time. And he’s so talented, he can do that. He’s out there free, like a kid.”

Dreessen had first met McBride’s older brother, Toby, a defensive lineman who also attended Colorado State. Anytime a player from Fort Morgan showed college potential, Dreessen liked to reach out and offer help. “I grew up just like you did. I come from where you come from.”

While Dreessen was talking to Toby, people kept telling him about his younger brother. “Trey’s a stud. He’s going to be the real deal.” Dreessen texted McBride. They talked about the college recruiting process. They grew closer as McBride blossomed at Colorado State.

“He’d call me up, and we’d have this relationship, and it was like, ‘You know, this is silly. We should get to know each other,’” Dreessen said over the summer.

“Growing up, everybody wanted to be like Joel,” Trey McBride says of Joel Dreessen, who played eight NFL seasons for the New York Jets, Houston Texans and Denver Broncos. (Dustin Bradford / Getty Images)

Twice during his college years, McBride visited Castle Rock and stayed in the basement of Dreessen’s home. While there, the tight ends golfed at The Golf Club at Bear Dance. (Dreessen’s report on McBride’s game: “The dude is ridiculously powerful. The mobility he has through his hips, the ball just explodes off the driver.”) But mostly they worked on football.

McBride was coming off a first-team All-Mountain West season. He was thinking of spending one more season in college — he’d end up playing two, winning the 2021 Mackey Award, given to college football’s top tight end — before entering the NFL Draft. He wanted to learn as much as he could. McBride brought his laptop and Dreessen hooked it up to the television. The two analyzed McBride’s practices and games, Dreessen critiquing McBride’s technique, sharing what he had learned throughout his NFL career.

Never walk out of the huddle. Never walk off the field. NFL scouts notice.

How physical are you?

How well do you finish plays?

Are you blocking guys just to do your job, or are you blocking guys to really humiliate them? Because the NFL wants to see you really humiliate guys. They want you to play with that kind of nastiness.

“He asked me to bring anything that I wanted him to watch, so I brought all the film I had, and we would go over game by game,” McBride said. “I’d kind of explain what the play was, what we were trying to do, and he would talk to me about my footwork, how I’m getting open, things like that. It was just cool to bounce ideas off him and see how he sees the game.”

The tight ends also went to the nearby Miller Activity Complex, where Dreessen put McBride through individual drills. Dreessen thought McBride was “super raw” with technique, but he also saw an athlete with uncommon mobility, which would help at the pro level.

“I saw a guy like, holy s—, he folds up so well,” Dreessen said. “He has so much mobility through his ankles and hips. If you ever see him get into a stance, his ass is real low. He’s like a little ninja frog down there. And that’s the best way to be because you’re able to get low and get underneath these creatures of defensive ends that you have to block.”

The Cardinals drafted McBride in the second round, the 55th pick of the 2022 NFL Draft. His first season, playing behind veteran Zach Ertz, he had 29 catches for 265 yards. In 2023, McBride had 81 for 825. In 2024, he had 111 catches (fourth most by a tight end in NFL history) for 1,146.

This season, McBride’s on pace for 124 receptions, which would break a franchise record. Receiver DeAndre Hopkins holds the Arizona mark with 115 set in 2020. Dating to last season, the 26-year-old McBride also has at least five catches in 13 consecutive games, the second-longest streak for a tight end in league history.

In August, Dreessen visited the Denver Broncos facility when the Cardinals came to town for a joint practice. A few months earlier, the Cardinals had signed McBride to a four-year, $76 million contract extension, making him the highest-paid at his position. (San Francisco’s George Kittle passed McBride a few weeks later). Dreessen was jealous that McBride didn’t have to do special-teams work that Dreessen had done during his career. Mostly, he saw a superstar who wanted to get better.

“One thing I’ve learned throughout my time in the NFL and throughout my time coaching football, when talent meets work ethic — oh, my God. That’s when you’re talking gold jacket-type stuff,” said Dreessen, referring to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. “When you have an exceptionally gifted athlete like Trey, who can fold up so well, he can run so well, he catches everything. And on top of that, they’re competitive as hell. They want to win everything they do, they’ll do anything it takes to get better at their craft. That’s when you’re talking about a really special situation. And that’s what I think we’re dealing with Trey.”

McBride is just grateful he had someone to show him the way.

“Truthfully, growing up, I wanted to be just like Joel,” he said. “He was the guy from my hometown who made it. He played tight end, I played tight end. He went to Colorado State, I went to Colorado State. Everything he did, I wanted to do, and I think that’s a huge reason why I’m here.”