Factoid
Tight ends were huge in 2011. Rob Gronkowski and Jimmy Graham both put up gigantic numbers, and a host of other tight ends were very good as well.
This isn’t a one-year blip. This is a trend that’s been 15-20 years in the making. Every year, it seems, tight ends catch a few more passes. For most of the ‘90s, teams averaged 40-50 balls to tight ends per season, and it’s slowly crept up. It reached the mid-60s four years ago. It’s been at 71 catches per team for two years, and now it’s all the way up at 75 catches per team going to tight ends.
It’s played out the same way with touchdowns. In the ‘90s, teams were averaging 3-4 TDs per season to tight ends. It’s slowly grown, to the point where teams have averaged 6.1, 6.1 and 6.3 TDs to the position the last three years.
These increases aren’t due solely to teams passing more. As the charts below show, we’re also seeing higher percentages of passes and touchdowns going to tight ends.
Tight ends, it seems, are here to stay. They’ll likely play a bigger role next year than ever before in the early rounds of fantasy drafts.
TIGHT ENDS: RECEPTIONS
Average number of receptions by tight ends per team, last 20 years.
TEs Team Pct. Year
40.5 286 14.2% 1991
42.6 275 15.5% 1992
49.9 299 16.7% 1993
51.2 312 16.4% 1994
57.2 324 17.7% 1995
49.7 307 16.2% 1996
52.4 295 17.8% 1997
49.6 292 17.0% 1998
49.3 309 16.0% 1999
51.6 306 16.9% 2000
48.9 308 15.9% 2001
53.8 322 16.7% 2002
54.4 303 17.9% 2003
59.2 305 19.4% 2004
61.1 306 20.0% 2005
59.0 306 19.3% 2006
64.9 326 19.9% 2007
64.8 315 20.6% 2008
71.2 324 22.0% 2009
70.7 328 21.6% 2010
75.2 327 23.0% 2011
TIGHT ENDS: TOUCHDOWNS
Average number of touchdowns by tight ends per team, last 20 years.
TEs Team Pct. Year
2.96 17.5 16.9% 1991
3.21 17.7 18.1% 1992
3.82 17.9 21.4% 1993
4.11 20.0 20.5% 1994
3.33 21.3 15.7% 1995
3.53 19.9 17.7% 1996
4.33 19.6 22.1% 1997
4.30 21.3 20.2% 1998
4.06 20.6 19.7% 1999
4.03 19.5 20.6% 2000
4.81 19.6 24.5% 2001
4.22 20.8 20.3% 2002
4.06 20.2 20.2% 2003
5.94 22.9 26.0% 2004
4.78 20.1 23.8% 2005
4.81 20.3 23.8% 2006
5.84 22.5 26.0% 2007
4.34 20.2 21.5% 2008
6.09 22.2 27.5% 2009
6.09 23.5 26.0% 2010
6.31 23.3 27.1% 2011
—Ian Allan
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