Arizona has signed Charles Clay to a one-year contract, and that looks like a solid pickup for him. He won’t put up big numbers, but he’s an experienced pro who should help nudge their offense in the right direction.
Four years ago, the Bills signed Clay to a contract making him one of the league’s five highest-paid tight ends. That was never a good idea. He’s never been an elite receiving threat. At 6-foot-3, he’s short for the position (that might sound silly – 6-foot-3 is short? – but at that position, 80 percent of the tight ends who caught at least 20 passes last year were at least 6-foot-4).
| TIGHT ENDS WITH 20-PLUS REC | ||
|---|---|---|
| Player | No | Height |
| Zach Ertz, Phil. | 116 | 6.05 |
| Travis Kelce, K.C. | 103 | 6.05 |
| George Kittle, S.F. | 88 | 6.04 |
| • Austin Hooper, Atl. | 71 | 6.03 |
| Jared Cook, Oak. | 68 | 6.05 |
| Eric Ebron, Ind. | 66 | 6.04 |
| Kyle Rudolph, Min. | 64 | 6.06 |
| David Njoku, Cle. | 56 | 6.04 |
| Jimmy Graham, G.B. | 55 | 6.07 |
| • Trey Burton, Chi. | 54 | 6.03 |
| • Jordan Reed, Was. | 54 | 6.02 |
| Vance McDonald, Pitt. | 50 | 6.04 |
| Rob Gronkowski, N.E. | 47 | 6.06 |
| • Evan Engram, NYG | 45 | 6.03 |
| C.J. Uzomah, Cin. | 43 | 6.06 |
| Chris Herndon, NYJ | 39 | 6.04 |
| Ian Thomas, Car. | 36 | 6.04 |
| • Benjamin Watson, N.O. | 35 | 6.03 |
| O.J. Howard, T.B. | 34 | 6.06 |
| Ricky Seals-Jones, Ariz. | 34 | 6.05 |
| Mark Andrews, Balt. | 34 | 6.04 |
| Dallas Goedert, Phil. | 33 | 6.05 |
| • Gerald Everett, LAR | 33 | 6.03 |
| Jeff Heuerman, Den. | 31 | 6.05 |
| Jesse James, Pitt. | 30 | 6.07 |
| Cameron Brate, T.B. | 30 | 6.05 |
| Nick Vannett, Sea. | 29 | 6.06 |
| Antonio Gates, LAC | 28 | 6.04 |
| Blake Jarwin, Dall. | 27 | 6.05 |
| Greg Olsen, Car. | 27 | 6.05 |
| Jack Doyle, Ind. | 26 | 6.06 |
| Geoff Swaim, Dall. | 26 | 6.04 |
| Rhett Ellison, NYG | 25 | 6.05 |
| • Vernon Davis, Was. | 25 | 6.03 |
| Matt LaCosse, Den. | 24 | 6.06 |
| Ryan Griffin, Hou. | 24 | 6.06 |
| Tyler Higbee, LAR | 24 | 6.06 |
| James O'Shaughnessy, Jac. | 24 | 6.04 |
| Nick Boyle, Balt. | 23 | 6.04 |
| Mike Gesicki, Mia. | 22 | 6.06 |
| Jason Croom, Buff. | 22 | 6.04 |
| Levine Toilolo, Det. | 21 | 6.08 |
| • Charles Clay, Buff. | 21 | 6.03 |
| Jordan Thomas, Hou. | 20 | 6.05 |
| • Jonnu Smith, Ten. | 20 | 6.03 |
There are 45 tight ends listed above. Notice that of the nine shorter than 6-foot-4, almost half of them were mobile guys who almost always line up outside, operating more as larger wide receivers or as H-back types – Trey Burton, Jordan Reed, Evan Engram, Gerald Everett.
With limited height, Clay has never been anything special in terms of trying to win on contested throws. He’s not a guy who’s ever been used on many lob-type throws into the end zone. The contract he’s signing this time (per NFL.com) is a one-year deal worth $3.6 million.
But Clay is a pro who’s been starting for the last six years. He’s 30. He wasn’t much of a factor last year, but he caught 49-69 passes in each of his previous five seasons (two with the Dolphins; three with Buffalo). The Bills soured on him enough last year that he was a healthy scratch for their Week 16 game. They released him last week.
While Clay fizzled last year, he graded out between 7th and 22nd among tight ends in each of the previous five years. That’s using standard scoring and looking at per-game numbers for all tight ends who played at least half of the season.
| CHARLES CLAY, YEAR BY YEAR | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Team | St | No | Yards | TD | FPG | Rk |
| 2013 | Miami | 16 | 4.3 | 47.4 | .44 | 7.4 | 7th |
| 2014 | Miami | 14 | 4.1 | 43.2 | .21 | 5.6 | 14th |
| 2015 | Buffalo | 13 | 3.9 | 40.6 | .23 | 5.4 | 20th |
| 2016 | Buffalo | 15 | 3.8 | 36.8 | .27 | 5.3 | 22nd |
| 2017 | Buffalo | 13 | 3.8 | 42.9 | .15 | 5.2 | 15th |
| 2018 | Buffalo | 13 | 1.6 | 14.2 | .00 | 1.4 | 45th |
Expectations for 2019 should be modest at best, I think. Arizona has another tight end who’s a better pass catcher – Ricky Seals-Jones. I would expect both of those tight ends will play plenty. Seals-Jones probably primarily as a pass-catching tight end (one of those Engram-Reed types who lines up as a wide receiver). Clay should be on the field more, but I think he’ll probably serve more often as a blocker.
If I were walking into a draft today, neither Seals-Jones nor Clay would be one of the first 25 tight ends I would select. (And I’m not promising either would be in the top 30).
—Ian Allan