When the Falcons prized rookie tight end Kyle Pitts suffered a hamstring injury, Parker Hesse, who played defensive end in college at Iowa, had to step forward against the Bills on Sunday.
Parker ended up playing a career-high 37 offensive snaps and caught three passes for 31 yards in the 29-15 loss.
“That’s basically the job description as a practice squad guy or a guy that’s third or fourth at your position,” Hesse said. “You’ve got to be ready at a moment’s notice.”
Once tight end Hayden Hurst went on the reserve/COVID-19 last Wednesday, Hesse knew that he might be called on to be the third tight end.
Overall, the Falcons had practice squad players play 66 snaps against the Bills. In addition to playing on offense, Hesse chipped in with six special teams snaps.
“We’ve got guys all up and down this roster, on the practice squad, that have been doing that the past few weeks and have done that this week, and that’s just how we operate,” Hesse said. “It’s next man in. We don’t flinch. Just take care of business.”
Falcons coach Arthur Smith uses a lot of personnel formations that required two, and sometimes, three tight ends.
“I mean, (once) Hayden tested positive Wednesday, so you kind of know there’s a pretty good chance, going through the game plan and just the amount of personnel groupings we’ve got, stuff like that,” Hesse said. “You just have to prepare every week that way but I kind of knew on Wednesday there was a good chance of it.”
After redshirting as a freshman, Hesse started out as a linebacker before being switched to defensive end for Iowa. He finished his college career with 182 tackles, 14 sacks, 31 tackles for losses and two interceptions over 52 games.
After the 2019 draft, he was signed by the Titans, where Smith was the offensive coordinator.
“Todd Downing who’s now the coordinator in Tennessee, was our tight ends coach,” Smith said. “He went out to the Pro Day for (tight ends T.J.) Hockenson and (Noah) Fant. Hesse was willing to workout. He was team captain at Iowa as a defensive end.”
The Titans were well-stocked at the tight end position and had trouble getting undrafted players to come into their camp.
“We took a flyer on Parker and Todd liked him,” Smith said. “He said, this guy is willing to come in here and try. I believe he was at a rookie camp and then I think he was going somewhere else to tryout as a defensive guy. We had him try out at tight end.”
Hesse kept working at the new position.
“He hung around and we had a lot of guys on (injured reserve),” Smith said. “He took a ton of reps in the Spring of ‘19. Hung around on the (practice) squad. Went up and down. Then they let him go in Tennessee. He was guy that I was familiar with and we wanted to give him a shot here.”
Hesse has played in seven games and 112 offensive snaps this season.
“It’s been a lot of fun,” Hesse said. “I love playing the position. I’ve just been very fortunate that I’ve had people that have believed in me and my potential along the way because certainly when I started, it didn’t look great all the time.”
Hesse, who’s listed at 6-foot-3 and 261 pounds, know that he must continue to improve.
“There are a lot of things that I have to improve on that I just keep learning every day,” Hesse said. “But fortunately for me, throughout my young career so far, I’ve had people that have believed in me. That just gives you confidence to go out and say, ‘If they believe I can do it, there’s no reason why I can’t.’ I just keep putting one foot in front of the other and that’s what I hope to do.”
After Pitts was injured late in the second quarter, Hesse was pressed into duty. It was his most extensive NFL action.
“Fortunately, it was 27 degrees,” Hesse said. “It would have been different if it was 81 or something. ... We talk about being the most conditioned football team. That’s something that we work on, not just in the offseason, but maintaining that throughout the season.”
Losing Pitts was a big blow to the offense.
“Just trying to pick up the slack in places that I could,” Hesse said. “Things that are in his repertoire that I can go in and take care of. That was just my goal. My job pretty much for the team.”
Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan lauded Hesse’s play.
“I thought Parker Hesse, he played really well and he gave us everything that he had down the stretch,” Ryan said. “I’m proud of him for that effort.”
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