Both Eric Ebron and Jace Amaro are struggling in camp. The other high-profile rookie tight end, Austin Seferian-Jenkins, seems to be picking things up OK in Tampa Bay.
But it’s tough for tight ends to thrive in their first year. It’s a complicated position, with them asked to not only run pass routes like a wide receiver but also operate like an offensive lineman.
In this century (that is, since 2000), 25 tight ends have managed to catch 70 passes in a season. Here’s how those 25 tight ends did in their rookie seasons.
Only one caught more than 45 passes. That was Jeremy Shockey (and if memory serves correctly, it was very clear in his rookie preseason that he was going to be very good – he was catching lots of passes and had a Bavaro-like tackle-busting sequence, I think). Only four others managed to catch 40-plus balls.
So that’s 5 of 25 – 20 percent – who managed to catch 40 passes in their first year.
For touchdowns, it’s similar. Rob Gronkowski caught 10 touchdowns in his first year. Three others caught 6 TDs, and a pair caught 5 TDs. Once you get below 5 TDs, who cares for fantasy purposes?
For touchdowns, 6 of 25 (24 percent) caught at least 5 TDs.
With Ebron and Amaro both struggling, probably best to pass on them for 2014. Better to look at last year’s rookies who struggled (most notably Zach Ertz and Tyler Eifert).
| 70-CATCH TIGHT ENDS (rookie numbers) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | No | Yards | Avg | TD |
| 2002 | Jeremy Shockey | 74 | 894 | 12.1 | 2 |
| 2010 | Aaron Hernandez | 45 | 563 | 12.5 | 6 |
| 2010 | Rob Gronkowski | 42 | 546 | 13.0 | 10 |
| 1998 | Freddie Jones | 41 | 505 | 12.3 | 2 |
| 2001 | Eric Johnson | 40 | 362 | 9.1 | 3 |
| 2005 | Heath Miller | 39 | 459 | 11.8 | 6 |
| 2002 | Randy McMichael | 39 | 485 | 12.4 | 4 |
| 2007 | Greg Olsen | 39 | 391 | 10.0 | 2 |
| 2004 | Chris Cooley | 37 | 314 | 8.5 | 6 |
| 2003 | Jason Witten | 35 | 347 | 9.9 | 1 |
| 2006 | Owen Daniels | 34 | 352 | 10.4 | 5 |
| 1997 | Tony Gonzalez | 33 | 368 | 11.2 | 2 |
| 2010 | Jimmy Graham | 31 | 356 | 11.5 | 5 |
| 2009 | Brandon Pettigrew | 30 | 346 | 11.5 | 2 |
| 2003 | Dallas Clark | 29 | 340 | 11.7 | 1 |
| 2003 | Antonio Gates | 24 | 389 | 16.2 | 2 |
| 1991 | Shannon Sharpe | 22 | 322 | 14.6 | 1 |
| 2006 | Vernon Davis | 20 | 265 | 13.3 | 3 |
| 2000 | Jermaine Wiggins | 18 | 207 | 11.5 | 2 |
| 2007 | Brent Celek | 16 | 178 | 11.1 | 1 |
| 2001 | Todd Heap | 16 | 206 | 12.9 | 1 |
| 1993 | Frank Wycheck | 16 | 113 | 7.1 | 0 |
| 2011 | Jordan Cameron | 6 | 33 | 5.5 | 0 |
| 2004 | Kellen Winslow | 5 | 50 | 10.0 | 0 |
| 2009 | Brandon Myers | 4 | 19 | 4.8 | 0 |
—Ian Allan