Writers of Pro Football Prospectus 2008

printable version

Innovative Statistics

Football Outsiders exclusive statistics



TIGHT ENDS 2008

Regular season totals, playoffs not included

Revised as of 3/5/2008

Tight ends are ranked according to DYAR, or Defense-adjusted Yards Above Replacement. This gives the value of the performance on plays where this TE caught the ball, compared to replacement level, adjusted for situation and opponent and then translated into yardage. DYAR (and its cousin, YAR, which isn't adjusted based on opponent) is further explained here.

The other statistic given is DVOA, or Defense-adjusted Value Over Average. This number represents value, per play, over an average TE in the same game situations. The more positive the DVOA rating, the better the player's performance. DVOA (and its cousin, VOA, which isn't adjusted based on opponent) is further explained here.

Effective Yards (EYds), listed in red, translate DVOA into a yards per attempt figure. This provides an easy comparison: in general, players with more Effective Yards than standard yards played better than standard stats would otherwise indicate, while players with fewer Effective Yards than standard yards played worse than standard stats would otherwise indicate. Effective Yards are not the best way to measure total value because they are more dependent on usage than DYAR.

DYAR and DVOA include all passes intended for the receiver, both complete and incomplete. Catch Rate represents the percentage of passes to this tight end completed. This is a reference to incomplete passes, not dropped passes: dropped passes are not specified in publicly available play-by-play, and unfortunately we cannot yet correct for this.

  • We cannot yet fully separate the performance of a tight end from the performance of his quarterback. Be aware that one will affect the other.
  • These statistics measure only passes thrown to a tight end, not performance on plays when he is not thrown the ball, such as blocking and drawing double teams.
  • All fumbles are considered equal, whether recovered by the offense or defense.

The simple version: DYAR means a tight end with more total value. DVOA means a tight end with more value per play.

RECEIVING: Minimum 25 passes, 43 players ranked

Player Team DYAR Rk YAR Rk DVOA Rk VOA Passes Yards EYds TD Catch
Rate
88-T.Gonzalez KC 243 1 232 1 16.4% 13 15.4% 155 1058 1,392 10 62%
81-V.Shiancoe MIN 220 2 215 2 50.0% 2 48.7% 59 596 804 8 71%
82-J.Witten DAL 203 3 194 3 18.9% 11 17.8% 120 952 1,094 5 68%
44-D.Clark IND 188 4 192 4 18.4% 12 19.0% 107 848 1,027 6 72%
81-O.Daniels HOU 183 5 179 5 19.3% 9 18.7% 100 862 979 2 70%
80-A.Fasano MIA 156 6 164 6 34.8% 4 37.2% 53 454 651 7 64%
83-B.Miller NO 150 7 150 7 28.8% 5 29.0% 62 579 675 1 73%
89-J.Carlson SEA 143 8 147 8 19.1% 10 19.8% 80 627 770 5 69%
85-A.Gates SD 140 9 142 9 15.6% 14 15.9% 92 704 821 9 65%
88-D.Martin MIA 131 10 131 11 37.3% 3 37.3% 45 451 533 4 69%
88-T.Scheffler DEN 124 11 133 10 22.2% 6 24.4% 62 644 623 3 66%
83-H.Miller PIT 120 12 120 12 22.1% 7 22.1% 65 514 604 3 74%
80-M.Bennett DAL 111 13 113 14 58.8% 1 59.8% 27 283 384 4 74%
47-C.Cooley WAS 105 14 114 13 7.6% 18 8.9% 111 849 825 1 75%
80-Z.Miller OAK 92 15 103 15 9.2% 16 11.2% 86 778 670 1 65%
Player Team DYAR Rk YAR Rk DVOA Rk VOA Passes Yards EYds TD Catch
Rate
89-K.Boss NYG 84 16 68 18 14.8% 15 10.5% 55 384 504 6 60%
87-B.Celek PHI 77 17 68 17 21.9% 8 18.4% 38 318 392 1 71%
81-D.Keller NYJ 55 18 68 16 2.2% 21 4.5% 78 535 606 3 62%
86-T.Heap BAL 49 19 36 22 4.3% 20 1.2% 64 407 465 3 55%
89-D.Graham DEN 48 20 60 19 6.7% 19 10.0% 50 393 397 4 64%
81-A.Smith TB 42 21 34 23 8.7% 17 5.6% 38 250 310 3 55%
82-G.Olsen CHI 41 22 48 20 0.0% 24 1.2% 82 574 562 5 66%
80-B.Scaife TEN 39 23 40 21 -0.3% 25 -0.1% 84 561 554 2 69%
86-D.Lee GB 27 24 31 24 1.1% 23 2.3% 50 303 327 5 78%
89-M.Lewis JAC 25 25 17 26 -1.8% 27 -3.5% 71 489 434 2 58%
86-C.Baker NYJ 18 26 17 27 1.9% 22 0.9% 30 194 210 0 70%
88-D.Rosario CAR 13 27 21 25 -0.9% 26 2.8% 31 209 207 1 58%
88-J.Shockey NO 11 28 14 28 -5.1% 28 -4.4% 72 481 433 0 69%
83-A.Crumpler TEN -3 29 -5 29 -8.6% 29 -9.3% 41 257 209 1 59%
47-J.King CAR -8 30 -12 33 -10.9% 31 -12.9% 34 195 162 1 62%
Player Team DYAR Rk YAR Rk DVOA Rk VOA Passes Yards EYds TD Catch
Rate
86-J.Stevens TB -10 31 -6 30 -9.7% 30 -8.8% 59 397 308 2 61%
82-S.Heiden CLE -12 32 -12 32 -11.6% 33 -11.4% 42 249 209 0 55%
89-M.Spaeth PIT -13 33 -11 31 -15.1% 34 -13.5% 26 136 114 0 65%
86-M.Gaines DET -21 34 -29 34 -16.1% 35 -19.0% 36 260 158 1 64%
80-K.Winslow CLE -23 35 -31 35 -11.5% 32 -13.0% 83 428 401 3 52%
82-L.Smith PHI -42 36 -46 36 -16.7% 36 -17.8% 64 298 280 3 58%
85-V.Davis SF -54 37 -49 37 -24.6% 37 -22.8% 49 358 145 2 63%
82-R.Kelly CIN -55 38 -54 38 -28.2% 38 -27.8% 42 207 101 1 74%
81-B.Utecht CIN -62 39 -56 39 -41.0% 42 -37.7% 28 123 20 0 57%
82-C.Fitzsimmons DET -70 40 -78 42 -44.4% 43 -48.5% 28 85 6 1 43%
84-B.Watson NE -73 41 -71 41 -29.4% 40 -29.0% 47 209 117 2 47%
84-R.Royal BUF -85 42 -65 40 -30.3% 41 -24.9% 57 352 125 1 58%
88-D.Clark CHI -109 43 -103 43 -28.7% 39 -27.4% 73 367 191 1 56%

RECEIVING, OTHERS: 10-24 passes

Player Team DYAR YAR DVOA VOA Passes Yards EYds TD Catch
Rate
80-M.Campbell NO 41 39 25.1% 23.3% 16 121 197 2 75%
84-T.Humphrey GB 33 32 22.0% 21.1% 16 162 168 0 69%
86-B.Manumaleuna SD 27 26 14.0% 13.6% 19 127 164 2 79%
86-D.Fine BUF 25 28 22.3% 26.7% 12 94 124 1 83%
87-J.Peelle ATL 25 26 7.7% 8.5% 23 159 193 2 65%
88-J.Gilmore TB 23 22 8.8% 7.5% 21 147 174 1 71%
80-D.Schouman BUF 11 13 0.6% 2.6% 20 153 136 1 75%
46-D.Fells STL 10 9 6.1% 5.1% 11 81 86 0 64%
46-D.Walker SF 7 15 -1.1% 7.0% 16 155 105 1 63%
84-R.McMichael STL 6 3 -2.2% -4.9% 21 139 115 1 52%
47-G.Robinson IND 5 4 -4.2% -4.8% 24 166 133 0 79%
40-J.Kleinsasser MIN 4 3 -1.9% -3.3% 13 92 76 0 46%
83-G.Estandia JAC 2 -3 -5.3% -10.0% 15 113 99 0 67%
45-G.Mills MIN 2 -4 -4.1% -14.0% 11 65 60 0 45%
86-T.Santi IND 2 4 -5.1% -2.4% 13 64 72 1 77%
86-T.Stewart OAK 1 3 -6.1% -3.8% 15 81 88 0 73%
Player Team DYAR YAR DVOA VOA Passes Yards EYds TD Catch
Rate
87-T.Yoder WAS 1 9 -5.9% 5.3% 10 50 59 1 80%
87-B.Cottam KC -2 2 -10.2% -4.9% 11 63 53 0 64%
89-B.Patrick ARI -3 -2 -9.5% -8.4% 18 104 102 1 61%
85-R.Angulo JAC -10 -11 -20.4% -22.1% 11 63 41 0 73%
83-J.Owens DET -12 -13 -20.6% -22.0% 12 56 48 1 67%
88-J.Finley GB -13 -12 -21.7% -19.7% 12 74 49 1 50%
82-L.Pope ARI -14 -11 -23.2% -20.5% 13 77 43 0 69%
87-D.Dinkins CLE -17 -22 -32.9% -40.1% 11 41 19 1 45%
81-N.Jackson DEN -17 -13 -21.4% -18.1% 17 84 65 1 65%
86-D.Thomas NE -18 -16 -22.6% -20.8% 17 93 59 0 53%
85-J.Dreessen HOU -31 -34 -35.0% -37.7% 17 76 26 0 65%
87-A.Becht STL -31 -37 -48.8% -56.4% 11 39 -5 0 55%
86-F.Davis WAS -31 -33 -53.2% -56.2% 10 27 -11 0 30%
88-B.Franks NYJ -34 -33 -51.2% -49.7% 12 47 -9 0 50%
89-T.Curtis DAL -40 -45 -60.1% -67.4% 12 37 -23 0 67%
88-J.Klopfenstein STL -41 -38 -41.0% -38.5% 19 124 13 0 58%

Any tight end rushing numbers are listed on the wide receiver page for that particular year.