There’s some buzz with the three rookie tight ends selected in the first round – O.J. Howard, Evan Engram and David Njoku. This is the time of year where assistant coaches make comments about how ‘so-and-so is really standing out’ at practice, with those quotes than cycling through the various channels on the internet, strengthening the mistaken idea that any of them is likely to do much of anything this year.
Tight end is a notoriously tough position to pick up immediately, because of the dual responsibilities as blocker and pass catcher. On some teams, these players need to go to both the wide receiver and offensive line positional meetings. Heads tend to be left swimming. And for this particular year, we’ve got two prospects (Engram, Njoku) who look particularly soft as blockers. With Howard, he’s going to a team that already has a very good pass-catching tight end (Cameron Brate).
So if you’re looking for a breakout tight end for 2017, you are better focusing on the second-year tight ends – the guys who tended to crap out last year but now have a better idea of what’s going on.
In this century, only 11 rookie tight ends have finished in the top 15 (that’s standard fantasy scoring). But 31 tight ends in their second year have done this.
So for the 2017 season, I find myself more interested in the three best tight ends from last year’s draft (Hunter Henry, Austin Hooper, Tyler Higbee) than these three first-round tight ends from this most-recent draft.
I will be happy to select Howard, Engram and Njoku next year. But very little interest in them for 2017.
Here are those 42 previously mentioned tight ends. I’ve got the rookies in bold. The final column (the rank) shows where they placed in that particular year.
TOP-15 TIGHT ENDS (1st & 2nd year) | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Year | Player | No | Yds | TD | Points | Rnk |
2011 | Rob Gronkowski, N.E. | 90 | 1327 | 18 | 240.7 | 1 |
2011 | Jimmy Graham, N.O. | 99 | 1310 | 11 | 197.0 | 2 |
2004 | Antonio Gates, S.D. | 81 | 964 | 13 | 174.4 | 1 |
2004 | Jason Witten, Dall. | 87 | 980 | 6 | 136.0 | 3 |
2011 | Aaron Hernandez, N.E. | 79 | 910 | 7 | 133.0 | 3 |
2014 | Travis Kelce, K.C. | 67 | 862 | 6 | 122.2 | 7 |
2002 | Todd Heap, Balt. | 68 | 836 | 6 | 121.6 | 1 |
2005 | Chris Cooley, Wash. | 71 | 774 | 7 | 119.4 | 5 |
2010 | Rob Gronkowski, N.E. | 42 | 546 | 10 | 114.6 | 5 |
2016 | Cameron Brate, T.B. | 57 | 660 | 8 | 114 | 6 |
2012 | Kyle Rudolph, Minn. | 53 | 493 | 9 | 105.3 | 9 |
2002 | Jeremy Shockey, NYG | 74 | 894 | 2 | 101.4 | 3 |
2015 | Richard Rodgers, G.B. | 58 | 510 | 8 | 101.0 | 9 |
2009 | John Carlson, Sea. | 51 | 574 | 7 | 99.4 | 11 |
2014 | Larry Donnell, NYG | 63 | 623 | 6 | 98.3 | 11 |
2009 | Jermichael Finley, G.B. | 55 | 676 | 5 | 97.6 | 13 |
2010 | Brandon Pettigrew, Det. | 71 | 722 | 4 | 96.2 | 11 |
2016 | Hunter Henry, S.D. | 36 | 478 | 8 | 95.8 | 11 |
2011 | Jermaine Gresham, Cin. | 56 | 596 | 6 | 95.6 | 13 |
2007 | Owen Daniels, Hou. | 63 | 768 | 3 | 94.8 | 8 |
2010 | Aaron Hernandez, N.E. | 45 | 563 | 6 | 92.3 | 13 |
2013 | Coby Fleener, Ind. | 52 | 608 | 4 | 88.8 | 13 |
2014 | Zach Ertz, Phil. | 58 | 702 | 3 | 88.2 | 13 |
2008 | Greg Olsen, Chi. | 54 | 574 | 5 | 87.4 | 10 |
2013 | Tim Wright, T.B. | 54 | 571 | 5 | 87.1 | 14 |
2001 | Bubba Franks, G.B. | 36 | 322 | 9 | 86.2 | 6 |
2008 | Zach Miller, Oak. | 56 | 778 | 1 | 83.8 | 11 |
2015 | Eric Ebron, Det. | 47 | 537 | 5 | 83.7 | 13 |
2005 | Heath Miller, Pitt. | 39 | 459 | 6 | 81.9 | 11 |
2003 | Randy McMichael, Mia. | 49 | 598 | 3 | 77.8 | 4 |
2002 | Alge Crumpler, | 36 | 455 | 5 | 75.5 | 8 |
2007 | Vernon Davis, S.F. | 52 | 509 | 4 | 74.9 | 14 |
2002 | Randy McMichael, Mia. | 39 | 485 | 4 | 72.5 | 9 |
2004 | Dallas Clark, Ind. | 25 | 423 | 5 | 72.3 | 11 |
2008 | Dustin Keller, NYJ | 48 | 535 | 3 | 71.5 | 14 |
2006 | Heath Miller, Pitt. | 34 | 393 | 5 | 69.3 | 13 |
2005 | Benjamin Watson, N.E. | 29 | 441 | 4 | 68.1 | 15 |
2004 | L.J. Smith, Phil. | 34 | 377 | 5 | 67.7 | 13 |
2004 | Chris Cooley, Wash. | 37 | 314 | 6 | 67.4 | 14 |
2003 | Jeremy Shockey, NYG | 48 | 535 | 2 | 65.5 | 10 |
2006 | Owen Daniels, Hou. | 34 | 352 | 5 | 65.2 | 14 |
2001 | Eric Johnson, S.F. | 40 | 362 | 3 | 56.2 | 15 |
—Ian Allan