There’s been a shuffling of tight ends. Heath Miller retired. Antonio Gates, Travis Kelce, Dwayne Allen and Zach Ertz agreed to new contracts. And three prominent tight ends will be with new teams – Benjamin Watson, Ladarius Green and Coby Fleener.
Probably four more notable tight ends will be at new addresses before training camps open. Vernon Davis, Jared Cook, Zach Miller and Martellus Bennett. Bennett is under contract with Chicago, but he wants a new deal and they’ll likely move on from him.
A quick-hit look at the three movers and one returning tight end.
Benjamin Watson: Ravens have a pass-heavy offense. That’s good. But Watson is 35 years old, has lost a step, and Baltimore has plenty of other tight ends – most notably Crockett Gillmore and Maxx Williams. Will be a surprise if Watson is a top-20 tight end in 2016.
Coby Fleener: Lightweight receiving tight end who’s not much of a blocker. The Saints won’t use him extensively as an in-line traditional tight end. I also don’t think he’ll be a gigantic part of their offense. He’s not a Jimmy Graham. But he has some catch-run ability, and they throw the ball all over the place. I imagine they’ll continue to mix and match with a variety of tight ends. Probably a top-15 tight end on my board this summer (but I haven’t looked at it closely yet).
Ladarius Green: Like Fleener, he’s more of a receiver than a blocker. Lean. At 6-foot-6 and 240 pounds, he’s not a guy they want to consistently line up as a traditional tight end. I think he’s kind of like Jared Cook – a slender, speedy tight end who doesn’t seem to have great hands or great ability to come down with contested balls. He wasn’t much of a goal-line threat for San Diego. By our count, he caught only 3 of 6 passes inside the 10 over the last two years, with 2 scores (a pair of 2-point conversions). I expect he’ll be a utility piece, catching a few balls here and there. Their other tight end – Jesse James – might put up better numbers.
Dwayne Allen: When we last heard from Allen, he was quietly complaining about Andrew Luck. The Colts were better with Matt Hasselbeck, Allen said, because the veteran was more decisive about getting the ball out of his hands quickly, and to where it was supposed to go. (Why Dwayne? Why?) I figured Allen was as good as gone. But the Colts have re-signed him, and to a surprisingly large contract worth over $7 million per year. Meanwhile, they let Coby Fleener leave. As poorly as Allen played last year, he’ll probably be a top-10 tight end on my board.
Here are the per-game numbers for tight ends for last year, using scoring system of 6 points for touchdowns and 1 for every 10 yards. The four guys I think will wind up at new addresses are tagged with black dots.
| TIGHT END PRODUCTION IN 2015 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rk | Player | St | No | Yards | TD | Points |
| 1. | Rob Gronkowski, N.E. | 15 | 4.8 | 78.4 | .73 | 12.2 |
| 2. | Jordan Reed, Wash. | 14 | 6.2 | 68.0 | .79 | 11.5 |
| 3. | Tyler Eifert, Cin. | 13 | 4.0 | 47.3 | 1.00 | 10.7 |
| 4. | Delanie Walker, Tenn. | 15 | 6.3 | 74.9 | .42 | 10.0 |
| 5. | Gary Barnidge, Clev. | 16 | 4.9 | 65.2 | .56 | 9.9 |
| 6. | Greg Olsen, Car. | 16 | 4.8 | 69.0 | .44 | 9.5 |
| 7. | Antonio Gates, S.D. | 11 | 5.1 | 57.3 | .45 | 8.5 |
| 8. | Travis Kelce, K.C. | 16 | 4.5 | 54.7 | .36 | 7.6 |
| 9. | Benjamin Watson, N.O. | 16 | 4.6 | 51.6 | .38 | 7.4 |
| 10. | Jimmy Graham, Sea. | 11 | 4.4 | 55.0 | .18 | 6.6 |
| 11. | Crockett Gillmore, Balt. | 10 | 3.3 | 41.2 | .40 | 6.5 |
| 12. | Zach Ertz, Phil. | 15 | 5.0 | 56.9 | .13 | 6.5 |
| 13. | Richard Rodgers, G.B. | 16 | 3.6 | 32.6 | .52 | 6.4 |
| 14. | Julius Thomas, Jac. | 12 | 3.8 | 37.9 | .42 | 6.3 |
| 15. | Eric Ebron, Det. | 14 | 3.4 | 38.4 | .36 | 6.0 |
| 16. | • Martellus Bennett, Chi. (on the block) | 11 | 4.8 | 39.9 | .27 | 5.6 |
| 17. | Jason Witten, Dall. | 16 | 4.8 | 44.6 | .19 | 5.6 |
| 18. | Charles Clay, Buff. | 13 | 3.9 | 40.6 | .23 | 5.4 |
| 19. | Ladarius Green, S.D. | 13 | 2.8 | 33.0 | .33 | 5.3 |
| 20. | • Zach Miller, Chi. (UFA) | 14 | 2.4 | 31.4 | .36 | 5.3 |
| 21. | Kyle Rudolph, Minn. | 16 | 3.1 | 30.9 | .31 | 5.0 |
| 22. | Jacob Tamme, Atl. | 15 | 3.9 | 43.8 | .07 | 4.8 |
| 23. | Heath Miller, Pitt. | 15 | 4.0 | 35.8 | .16 | 4.5 |
| 24. | Owen Daniels, Den. | 16 | 2.9 | 32.3 | .19 | 4.4 |
| 25. | Coby Fleener, Ind. | 16 | 3.4 | 30.7 | .21 | 4.3 |
| 26. | Clive Walford, Oak. | 12 | 2.2 | 27.0 | .25 | 4.2 |
| 27. | • Vernon Davis, S.F.-Den. (UFA) | 10 | 3.8 | 39.5 | .00 | 4.0 |
| 28. | Brent Celek, Phil. | 16 | 1.7 | 24.9 | .19 | 3.6 |
| 29. | Jordan Cameron, Mia. | 16 | 2.2 | 24.1 | .19 | 3.5 |
| 30. | Darren Fells, Ariz. | 14 | 1.5 | 22.2 | .21 | 3.5 |
| 31. | Garrett Celek, S.F. | 11 | 1.7 | 16.9 | .27 | 3.3 |
| 32. | • Jared Cook, St.L. (UFA) | 16 | 2.4 | 30.1 | .02 | 3.1 |
| 33. | Anthony Fasano, Tenn. | 16 | 1.6 | 18.1 | .13 | 2.6 |
| 34. | Lance Kendricks, St.L. | 15 | 1.7 | 16.3 | .13 | 2.4 |
| 35. | Mychal Rivera, Oak. | 16 | 2.0 | 17.5 | .06 | 2.1 |
| 36. | Jermaine Gresham, Ariz. | 15 | 1.2 | 14.9 | .07 | 1.9 |
| 37. | Dwayne Allen, Ind. | 13 | 1.2 | 8.5 | .08 | 1.3 |
| 38. | Lee Smith, Oak. | 15 | .8 | 4.7 | .07 | .9 |
| 39. | Luke Stocker, T.B. | 14 | .6 | 4.4 | .07 | .9 |
| 40. | Kellen Davis, NYJ | 10 | .3 | 1.8 | .10 | .8 |
—Ian Allan
