Last week I looked at ages for peak production among wide receivers and running backs. I concluded that the most popular age for big seasons and career-best numbers were when said players were 25-26 years old. And I noted that with wide receivers, there’s not much dropoff to ages 27-29, while with running backs, the next-best level of years is on the younger side (23-24 years old). Today I’m turning the focus on tight ends.
One school of thought is that with tight ends, it takes a little longer to get going. Unlike wide receivers, they must learn blocking assignments as well as receiving routes. This shows in the numbers. Over the last 20 years, only one of the top 100 seasons by a tight end was put together by a rookie tight end. That was Rob Gronkowski (who caught only 42 passes that year but showed up big in the red zone, with 10 TDs).
(Note: for this study, I’m using 6 points for touchdowns and 1 for every 10 yards as the scoring system.)
Second-year tight ends also haven’t been great – just 9 guys.
It’s the third and fourth years that have the most top-100 tight ends, with the fifth year just behind. I see 14, 14 and 13 players in those age brackets. Then 10 and 11 players for the next two groups before it starts dropping off.
If you want to look at ages (as of opening day) rather than seasons, it looks like this …
TOP-100 TIGHT ENDS SINCE 1995 | |
---|---|
Ages | No |
21-year-olds | 2 |
22-year-olds | 3 |
23-year-olds | 4 |
24-year-olds | 10 |
25-year-olds | 15 |
26-year-olds | 15 |
27-year-olds | 11 |
28-year-olds | 8 |
29-year-olds | 10 |
30-year-olds | 7 |
31-year-olds | 5 |
32-year-olds | 2 |
33-year-olds | 3 |
34-year-olds | 1 |
35-year-olds | 2 |
36-year-olds | 1 |
37-year-olds | 1 |
(For the old guys, that’s all Tony Gonzalez and Shannon Sharpe.)
Here be the best tight ends of the last 20 years.
TOP 50 TIGHT ENDS OF THE LAST 20 YEARS | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Year | Player | Age | Yr | No | Yards | TD |
2011 | Rob Gronkowski | 22 | 2 | 90 | 1,327 | 18 |
2013 | Jimmy Graham | 26 | 4 | 86 | 1,215 | 16 |
2011 | Jimmy Graham | 24 | 2 | 99 | 1,310 | 11 |
2014 | Rob Gronkowski | 25 | 5 | 82 | 1,124 | 12 |
2009 | Vernon Davis | 25 | 4 | 78 | 965 | 13 |
2004 | Antonio Gates | 24 | 2 | 81 | 964 | 13 |
2000 | Tony Gonzalez | 24 | 4 | 93 | 1,203 | 9 |
2009 | Dallas Clark | 30 | 7 | 100 | 1,106 | 10 |
2005 | Antonio Gates | 25 | 3 | 89 | 1,101 | 10 |
2004 | Tony Gonzalez | 28 | 8 | 102 | 1,258 | 7 |
1996 | Shannon Sharpe | 28 | 7 | 80 | 1,062 | 10 |
2008 | Tony Gonzalez | 32 | 12 | 96 | 1,058 | 10 |
2009 | Antonio Gates | 29 | 7 | 79 | 1,157 | 8 |
2013 | Vernon Davis | 29 | 8 | 52 | 850 | 13 |
2007 | Jason Witten | 25 | 5 | 96 | 1,145 | 7 |
2010 | Jason Witten | 28 | 8 | 94 | 1,002 | 9 |
1999 | Wesley Walls | 33 | 11 | 63 | 822 | 12 |
2014 | Antonio Gates | 34 | 12 | 69 | 821 | 12 |
2007 | Antonio Gates | 27 | 5 | 75 | 984 | 9 |
2012 | Jimmy Graham | 25 | 3 | 85 | 982 | 9 |
2003 | Tony Gonzalez | 27 | 7 | 71 | 916 | 10 |
1999 | Tony Gonzalez | 23 | 3 | 76 | 849 | 11 |
2013 | Julius Thomas | 25 | 3 | 65 | 788 | 12 |
2014 | Jimmy Graham | 27 | 5 | 85 | 889 | 10 |
2007 | Tony Gonzalez | 31 | 11 | 99 | 1,172 | 5 |
2006 | Antonio Gates | 26 | 4 | 71 | 924 | 9 |
2009 | Brent Celek | 24 | 3 | 76 | 971 | 8 |
2012 | Rob Gronkowski | 23 | 3 | 55 | 790 | 11 |
2007 | Kellen Winslow | 24 | 4 | 82 | 1,106 | 5 |
2012 | Tony Gonzalez | 36 | 16 | 93 | 930 | 8 |
2010 | Antonio Gates | 30 | 8 | 50 | 782 | 10 |
1998 | Shannon Sharpe | 30 | 9 | 64 | 768 | 10 |
2014 | Greg Olsen | 29 | 8 | 84 | 1,008 | 6 |
2004 | Jason Witten | 22 | 2 | 87 | 980 | 6 |
2013 | Tony Gonzalez | 37 | 17 | 83 | 859 | 8 |
2010 | Vernon Davis | 26 | 5 | 56 | 914 | 7 |
2013 | Jordan Cameron | 25 | 3 | 80 | 917 | 7 |
2013 | Jason Witten | 31 | 11 | 73 | 851 | 8 |
2005 | Jeremy Shockey | 25 | 4 | 65 | 891 | 7 |
2011 | Aaron Hernandez | 21 | 2 | 79 | 910 | 7 |
2012 | Heath Miller | 29 | 8 | 71 | 816 | 8 |
2014 | Martellus Bennett | 27 | 7 | 90 | 916 | 6 |
1996 | Wesley Walls | 30 | 8 | 61 | 713 | 10 |
1997 | Shannon Sharpe | 29 | 8 | 72 | 1,107 | 3 |
2010 | Marcedes Lewis | 26 | 5 | 58 | 700 | 10 |
2001 | Tony Gonzalez | 25 | 5 | 73 | 917 | 6 |
2011 | Tony Gonzalez | 35 | 15 | 80 | 875 | 7 |
2007 | Chris Cooley | 25 | 4 | 66 | 786 | 8 |
2007 | Dallas Clark | 28 | 5 | 58 | 616 | 11 |
1995 | Ben Coates | 26 | 5 | 84 | 915 | 6 |