It wasn’t easy, but I have a tight end who’s better than Rob Gronkowski. It’s a theory that’s been carefully tested and measured. Gronkowski is very good – one of the best tight ends ever – but this guy that I have uncovered is just a little better.
Said player is whatever tight end happens to be playing against the Oakland Raiders.
Three weeks in, these players have been a little better than Gronkowski statistically. They’ve finished with 11 fewer yards overall, but they’ve caught 5 more passes and one more touchdown.
Check it out …
| Rob Gronkowski | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Opponent | No | Yards | TD |
| Pittsburgh | 5 | 94 | 3 |
| at Buffalo | 7 | 113 | 1 |
| Jacksonville | 4 | 101 | 0 |
| Tight ends against Oakland | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Player | No | Yards | TD |
| Tyler Eifert | 9 | 104 | 2 |
| Crockett Gillmore | 5 | 88 | 2 |
| Gary Barnidge | 6 | 105 | 1 |
The Raiders’ next game is at Chicago, so Martellus Bennett is next man up. If the Bears have Jay Cutler back, then I think Bennett will be in the mix to keep things going.
If Chicago goes with Jimmy Clausen again (and he’s the expected starter) then I think we’ll need to put this little test on hold. I’m not a big Cutler fan, but he’s infinitely better right now than Clausen. Clausen has quarterbacked the last six-plus quarters for the Bears, and he’s been struggling just to throw short completions so they could run out the punt team on fourth down. They got shut out at Seattle, and their only scores against Arizona were set up by turnovers deep in Cardinals’ territory.
—Ian Allan