The Raiders signed tight end Erik Swoope yesterday. The tight end has bounced around the league a little bit of late, from the Colts to the Saints to the Colts again. Now Oakland, which lost Jared Cook in the offseason. On that roster, there's actually a chance Swoope will finally become a relevant player. Maybe.
It always seemed to be the Colts where Swoope would break out. For a while he was the No. 3 in an offense that usually had two productive tight ends, from Dwayne Allen to Coby Fleener to Jack Doyle and now Eric Ebron (and even Mo Alie-Cox, briefly). But injuries kept him from making much of an impact, and he didn't help his cause by dropping too many of the few chances he got.
Swoope has seen all of 26 targets the past three seasons, and he's dropped three of them. That 11.5 percent drop rate is one of the worst at the position in the league, among tight ends with more than 25 targets. At least he wasn't Demetrius Harris, who seemingly has hands like feet. Yikes.
| TIGHT END DROP RATES, 2016-2018 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Rec | Drop | Tot | Pct |
| Demetrius Harris, K.C. | 47 | 12 | 59 | 20.3% |
| Ricky Seals-Jones, Ariz. | 46 | 8 | 54 | 14.8% |
| Virgil Green, LAC | 55 | 8 | 63 | 12.7% |
| Lance Kendricks, G.B. | 87 | 12 | 99 | 12.1% |
| Erik Swoope, Ind. | 23 | 3 | 26 | 11.5% |
| Garrett Celek, S.F. | 55 | 7 | 62 | 11.3% |
| Vance McDonald, Pitt. | 88 | 11 | 99 | 11.1% |
| Luke Willson, Det. | 43 | 5 | 48 | 10.4% |
| Stephen Anderson, Hou. | 36 | 4 | 40 | 10.0% |
| Tyler Kroft, Cin. | 56 | 6 | 62 | 9.7% |
| Eric Ebron, Ind. | 180 | 19 | 199 | 9.5% |
| Jared Cook, Oak. | 152 | 16 | 168 | 9.5% |
| Jonnu Smith, Ten. | 38 | 4 | 42 | 9.5% |
| David Njoku, Clev. | 88 | 9 | 97 | 9.3% |
| Jeff Heuerman, Den. | 49 | 5 | 54 | 9.3% |
| Clive Walford, Oak. | 42 | 4 | 46 | 8.7% |
| Dion Sims, Chi. | 43 | 4 | 47 | 8.5% |
| Ryan Griffin, Hou. | 87 | 8 | 95 | 8.4% |
| Nick Vannett, Sea. | 44 | 4 | 48 | 8.3% |
| Jermaine Gresham, Ariz. | 79 | 7 | 86 | 8.1% |
| C.J. Fiedorowicz, Hou. | 68 | 6 | 74 | 8.1% |
| Mark Andrews, Balt. | 34 | 3 | 37 | 8.1% |
| Marcedes Lewis, G.B. | 47 | 4 | 51 | 7.8% |
| Dwayne Allen, N.E. | 48 | 4 | 52 | 7.7% |
| Ian Thomas, Car. | 36 | 3 | 39 | 7.7% |
| Jesse James, Pitt. | 112 | 9 | 121 | 7.4% |
| Jimmy Graham, G.B. | 177 | 14 | 191 | 7.3% |
| Ed Dickson, Sea. | 52 | 4 | 56 | 7.1% |
| George Kittle, S.F. | 131 | 10 | 141 | 7.1% |
| Brent Celek, Phil. | 27 | 2 | 29 | 6.9% |
| Blake Jarwin, Dall. | 27 | 2 | 29 | 6.9% |
| Evan Engram, NYG | 109 | 8 | 117 | 6.8% |
| Gary Barnidge, Clev. | 55 | 4 | 59 | 6.8% |
| Vernon Davis, Was. | 112 | 8 | 120 | 6.7% |
| Charles Clay, Buff. | 127 | 9 | 136 | 6.6% |
| Coby Fleener, N.O. | 72 | 5 | 77 | 6.5% |
| Daniel Brown, Chi. | 29 | 2 | 31 | 6.5% |
| Travis Kelce, K.C. | 271 | 18 | 289 | 6.2% |
| Austin Hooper, Atl. | 139 | 9 | 148 | 6.1% |
| Josh Hill, N.O. | 47 | 3 | 50 | 6.0% |
| Seth DeValve, Clev. | 48 | 3 | 51 | 5.9% |
| Gerald Everett, LAR | 49 | 3 | 52 | 5.8% |
| Martellus Bennett, tms | 85 | 5 | 90 | 5.6% |
| Will Tye, NYJ | 52 | 3 | 55 | 5.5% |
| Julius Thomas, Mia. | 71 | 4 | 75 | 5.3% |
| Austin Seferian-Jenkins, Jac. | 74 | 4 | 78 | 5.1% |
| Trey Burton, Chi. | 114 | 6 | 120 | 5.0% |
| Benjamin Watson, N.O. | 96 | 5 | 101 | 5.0% |
Obviously, Swoope hasn't really played enough to say that drops will be a major stumbling block to his contributing in Oakland. And there's not much ahead of him, just Darren Waller, Luke Willson and a rookie. So maybe he emerges. But nobody should be betting the farm on it.
Alarming how high Ricky Seals-Jones appears on the list. Might be time to say it's not going to happen for him in Arizona.
--Andy Richardson