You may not know Jon Embree, but Jon Embree knows ball.
His father, John (yep, with an ‘h’), spent two seasons in the NFL with the Denver Broncos, and years later, his son would also find himself in the league for a couple of years (Rams and Seahawks) after a fine collegiate career at Colorado.
Embree started his coaching career back at his alma mater in 1991, and would eventually return to the program as the head coach in 2011-12. Since his dismissal, he re-entered the professional ranks, running tight end rooms in Cleveland, Tampa Bay, San Francisco, and, mostly recently, Miami. Julian Hill was a pet project of Embree’s, an undrafted kid from Campbell University. Now? Hill is a Patriot, having inked a three-year contract with $7.5 million in guarantees.
“He has the right mindset," Embree said of his former charge. “He’s very smart. He sees what defenses are trying to do, and is able to make adjustments on the fly.”
It's never come easy for Hill. And to hear Embree talk about it, it shouldn’t. College offenses don’t always do a good job of preparing players for the next level, especially for someone like Hill, who led the Camels in receiving and was used in a variety of ways but had yet to find his identity as a player.
“95% of these kids coming out of college don't play NFL football at the tight end position,” Embree said. “They're flexed out, or they're not asked to block. They're not asked to do a lot of things that we're asking them to do. And so, it's going to be a process.”
That process, as Embree noted, took longer than Hill wanted.
“I just knew working with him and seeing what was in his body, and seeing how he thought and was able to communicate with them, that it was just a