Jake Ferguson is catching passes like no tight end in league history, but none of them seem to go anywhere.
Ferguson so far has caught 34 passes, the most ever by a tight end in the first four games of a season. At his current pace, he’ll finish the season with 144 catches.
But most of Ferguson’s catches have been of the peashooter variety around the line of scrimmage. He’s averaging only 6.6 yards per catch.
In the Super Bowl era, 36 tight ends have caught at least 25 passes in their first four games. All but two averaged at least 2 more yards per catch than Fergie. (Only another four didn’t averaged at least 3 more yards.)
MOST CATCHES IN FIRST FOUR GAMES (tight ends) | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Year | Player | No | Yds | Avg | TD |
2025 | Jake Ferguson, Dall. | 34 | 223 | 6.6 | 1 |
2007 | Antonio Gates, S.D. | 33 | 376 | 11.4 | 2 |
2019 | Darren Waller, Oak. | 33 | 320 | 9.7 | 0 |
2014 | Jimmy Graham, N.O. | 32 | 340 | 10.6 | 3 |
2018 | Zach Ertz, Phil. | 31 | 327 | 10.5 | 0 |
2013 | Jordan Cameron, Cle. | 30 | 360 | 12.0 | 5 |
1994 | Ben Coates, N.E. | 29 | 442 | 15.2 | 5 |
2014 | Martellus Bennett, Chi. | 29 | 295 | 10.2 | 4 |
2020 | • Darren Waller, L.V. | 29 | 247 | 8.5 | 1 |
2019 | Austin Hooper, Atl. | 28 | 307 | 11.0 | 2 |
2004 | Eric Johnson, S.F. | 28 | 298 | 10.6 | 1 |
2010 | Dallas Clark, Ind. | 28 | 275 | 9.8 | 3 |
2013 | Jimmy Graham, N.O. | 27 | 458 | 17.0 | 6 |
2011 | Jason Witten, Dall. | 27 | 366 | 13.6 | 1 |
2008 | Jason Witten, Dall. | 27 | 363 | 13.4 | 1 |
2019 | Evan Engram, NYG | 27 | 331 | 12.3 | 2 |
1985 | Todd Christensen, Rdrs. | 27 | 290 | 10.7 | 2 |
2018 | Jared Cook, Oak. | 26 | 370 | 14.2 | 2 |
2009 | Dallas Clark, Ind. | 26 | 364 | 14.0 | 2 |
2017 | Zach Ertz, Phil. | 26 | 326 | 12.5 | 1 |
2022 | Travis Kelce, K.C. | 26 | 322 | 12.4 | 3 |
2009 | Brent Celek, Phil. | 26 | 303 | 11.7 | 2 |
2012 | Tony Gonzalez, Atl. | 26 | 265 | 10.2 | 3 |
2005 | L.J. Smith, Phil. | 26 | 265 | 10.2 | 2 |
2022 | Tyler Higbee, LAR | 26 | 244 | 9.4 | 0 |
1986 | Mark Bavaro, NYG | 25 | 393 | 15.7 | 1 |
2013 | Antonio Gates, S.D. | 25 | 364 | 14.6 | 2 |
1976 | Dave Casper, Oak. | 25 | 332 | 13.3 | 3 |
1986 | Todd Christensen, Rdrs. | 25 | 297 | 11.9 | 1 |
1964 | Mike Ditka, Chi. | 25 | 290 | 11.6 | 1 |
1985 | Jerry Bell, T.B. | 25 | 269 | 10.8 | 2 |
2016 | Jordan Reed, Was. | 25 | 263 | 10.5 | 2 |
2015 | Jason Witten, Dall. | 25 | 238 | 9.5 | 2 |
2014 | Larry Donnell, NYG | 25 | 236 | 9.4 | 4 |
2023 | Evan Engram, Jac. | 25 | 232 | 9.3 | 0 |
2023 | • T.J. Hockenson, Min. | 25 | 203 | 8.1 | 2 |
Ferguson isn’t the only tight end catching short passes. I think of Dallas Goedert on opening day, catching 7 passes for 44 yards. Jonnu Smith’s 14 catches have gone for 71 yards. Trey McBride last week caught 7 passes for only 52 yards.
It’s part of the evolution of the game, I think. I think more teams are countering quarterback pressure by looking to get the ball out of quarterbacks’ hands more quickly.
I looked at some league-wide numbers on this. They show that tight ends are tending to catch more passes, but for less yardage.
Looking at the last 15 years, they show that teams now are completing about 10 more passes per season to tight ends. Teams in 2010 averaged 75 completions to tight ends (actually not that quite that many, but they would have had the league used a 17-game schedule at that time). Teams averaged 86.5 completions to tight ends last year, and we’re headed for about 84 in the current season.
But the yards-per-catch average keeps dipping. It’s declined to a new low, in fact, in six straight seasons, steadily dropping from 10.9 down to 10.0 per catch. And if current trends hold, it will be about 9.6 this year.
TIGHT ENDS: PER-TEAM AVERAGES (last 15 yrs) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Year | No | Yards | Avg | TD |
2010 | 75.1 | 830 | 11.04 | 6.5 |
2011 | 77.6 | 898 | 11.58 | 6.6 |
2012 | 79.0 | 863 | 10.93 | 6.6 |
2013 | 79.3 | 907 | 11.45 | 7.9 |
2014 | 76.9 | 850 | 11.05 | 7.3 |
2015 | 83.6 | 916 | 10.95 | 7.0 |
2016 | 82.7 | 907 | 10.97 | 6.3 |
2017 | 75.3 | 834 | 11.07 | 6.5 |
2018 | 77.6 | 882 | 11.37 | 6.3 |
2019 | 80.4 | 876 | 10.89 | 6.5 |
2020 | 80.9 | 872 | 10.78 | 7.6 |
2021 | 81.3 | 860 | 10.58 | 6.4 |
2022 | 79.0 | 830 | 10.50 | 6.2 |
2023 | 82.9 | 847 | 10.21 | 5.4 |
2024 | 86.5 | 868 | 10.04 | 5.6 |
2025 | 84.2 | 804 | 9.55 | 6.2 |
—Ian Allan