Writers of Pro Football Prospectus 2008

printable version

Innovative Statistics

Football Outsiders exclusive statistics



TIGHT ENDS 2004

Regular season totals, playoffs not included

Revised as of 7/5/2009

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 a replacement-level TE in the same game situations 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, 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 receiver 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 receiver from the performance of his quarterback. Be aware that one will affect the other.
  • These statistics measure only passes thrown to the 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, 41 players ranked

Player Team DYAR Rk YAR Rk DVOA Rk VOA Passes Yards EYds TD Catch
Rate
T.Gonzalez KC 329 1 323 2 25.6% 4 24.9% 148 1258 1,561 7 69%
A.Gates SD 325 2 337 1 32.5% 2 34.0% 114 964 1,397 13 71%
J.Witten DAL 218 3 224 3 20.7% 8 21.4% 121 982 1,131 6 72%
A.Crumpler ATL 188 4 189 4 30.9% 3 31.1% 74 774 826 6 65%
J.Putzier DEN 160 5 170 5 39.6% 1 42.6% 54 572 635 2 67%
E.Johnson SF 144 6 145 6 12.3% 13 12.3% 117 825 936 2 70%
J.Wiggins MIN 123 7 122 7 13.1% 12 12.9% 92 706 777 4 77%
D.Graham NE 100 8 99 8 22.1% 7 21.7% 48 364 506 7 63%
D.Clark IND 88 9 89 11 24.1% 6 24.8% 39 423 425 5 64%
M.Pollard IND 87 10 97 9 24.2% 5 28.1% 41 309 420 6 71%
B.Franks GB 86 11 93 10 15.5% 10 17.3% 50 361 505 7 68%
J.Shockey NYG 81 12 84 12 4.8% 19 5.2% 97 666 741 6 63%
L.Smith PHI 69 13 76 13 12.2% 14 14.2% 54 377 451 5 63%
S.Heiden CLE 62 14 61 15 14.8% 11 14.4% 42 287 372 5 67%
Player Team DYAR Rk YAR Rk DVOA Rk VOA Passes Yards EYds TD Catch
Rate
E.Kinney TEN 58 15 67 14 18.9% 9 22.9% 30 193 313 3 83%
T.Heap BAL 56 16 51 17 12.0% 15 10.4% 44 303 364 3 61%
J.Stevens SEA 47 17 54 16 6.6% 17 8.5% 47 349 390 3 66%
R.McMichael MIA 36 18 8 24 -2.6% 26 -6.2% 118 791 717 4 62%
M.Campbell BUF 32 19 29 18 8.3% 16 6.7% 30 203 245 5 57%
I.Mili SEA 31 20 27 19 5.2% 18 3.5% 36 240 277 1 64%
K.Dilger TB 23 21 23 20 -1.0% 23 -1.0% 55 345 361 3 71%
C.Baker NYJ 21 22 14 22 1.9% 20 -1.1% 29 182 237 4 62%
C.Lewis PHI 19 23 15 21 -1.5% 24 -2.7% 46 267 314 3 63%
M.Schobel CIN 18 24 2 28 1.6% 21 -6.5% 33 201 210 4 64%
D.Wilcox BAL 13 25 4 26 -1.7% 25 -5.3% 35 226 215 1 71%
J.Dunn KC 12 26 11 23 0.0% 22 -0.7% 25 120 170 3 68%
A.Shea CLE 7 27 2 27 -4.8% 27 -6.5% 48 252 262 4 54%
C.Cooley WAS 6 28 7 25 -5.9% 28 -5.7% 63 314 381 6 59%
Player Team DYAR Rk YAR Rk DVOA Rk VOA Passes Yards EYds TD Catch
Rate
D.Jolley OAK 0 29 -2 29 -7.4% 29 -7.9% 48 313 267 2 56%
D.Carswell DEN -10 30 -7 30 -11.7% 30 -10.4% 36 198 174 1 61%
K.Mangum CAR -24 31 -12 31 -13.6% 31 -10.5% 58 323 261 3 59%
B.Miller HOU -26 32 -27 32 -19.3% 33 -19.9% 34 178 124 1 50%
T.Jones BAL -31 33 -34 34 -23.9% 35 -25.6% 29 152 89 1 69%
D.Clark CHI -46 34 -30 33 -22.9% 34 -17.4% 49 282 147 1 49%
A.Becht NYJ -47 35 -50 35 -31.9% 38 -33.6% 28 100 58 1 46%
F.Jones ARI -56 36 -52 36 -19.1% 32 -18.3% 74 426 275 2 61%
B.Troupe TEN -72 37 -57 37 -28.1% 37 -23.7% 54 332 135 1 61%
T.Stewart CIN -82 38 -88 38 -55.9% 41 -59.2% 25 48 -37 1 40%
S.Meier TEN -98 39 -98 40 -45.2% 40 -45.2% 36 127 4 2 69%
S.Alexander DET -106 40 -89 39 -28.0% 36 -24.7% 76 377 199 1 54%
B.Williams NO -142 41 -147 41 -36.0% 39 -37.0% 75 362 107 2 44%

RECEIVING, OTHERS: 10-24 passes

Player Team DYAR YAR DVOA VOA Passes Yards EYds TD Catch
Rate
C.Fauria NE 68 65 37.1% 35.3% 20 195 278 2 80%
M.Seidman CAR 56 61 50.1% 55.8% 13 123 203 2 100%
T.Johnson OAK 54 54 50.6% 51.5% 13 131 194 2 69%
B.Manumaleuna STL 29 27 14.2% 12.5% 21 174 177 1 71%
T.Euhus BUF 28 26 21.6% 19.4% 15 98 144 2 73%
J.Weaver NE 26 28 24.8% 27.1% 12 93 125 0 67%
C.Anderson OAK 26 21 10.2% 6.9% 21 175 179 1 62%
R.Hannam SEA 25 25 23.1% 22.5% 12 110 126 0 67%
R.Royal WAS 16 18 9.2% 11.0% 15 70 120 4 53%
S.Berton MIN 11 15 8.7% 13.6% 11 78 84 0 82%
D.Dinkins BAL 9 8 1.2% 0.8% 15 94 104 1 60%
Player Team DYAR YAR DVOA VOA Passes Yards EYds TD Catch
Rate
C.Fitzsimmons DET 7 12 0.9% 5.3% 14 103 93 0 71%
A.Walker SF 5 -1 -3.1% -8.0% 15 115 104 0 67%
D.Martin GB 2 7 -5.3% 1.3% 12 88 70 0 42%
J.Tuman PIT -2 -2 -8.7% -8.9% 20 89 114 3 45%
C.Cleeland STL -4 -6 -12.7% -14.9% 12 57 59 0 58%
K.Winslow CLE -8 -8 -19.9% -19.9% 11 50 35 0 45%
W.Heller TB -11 -8 -16.3% -14.3% 16 98 78 1 75%
D.Lee MIA -19 -25 -22.3% -27.6% 20 119 63 1 65%
G.Wrighster JAC -19 -19 -30.8% -31.3% 14 69 26 1 71%
K.Brady JAC -19 -10 -18.9% -13.0% 23 103 97 1 61%
P.Hape DEN -23 -19 -23.6% -20.6% 17 35 68 4 47%
Player Team DYAR YAR DVOA VOA Passes Yards EYds TD Catch
Rate
R.Neufeld BUF -24 -27 -33.2% -36.8% 14 61 25 0 43%
E.Conwell NO -24 -21 -25.8% -23.6% 19 102 57 1 53%
M.Rivers NYG -24 -23 -35.0% -34.0% 12 36 21 1 42%
T.Yoder JAC -25 -20 -23.6% -20.6% 22 157 74 0 64%
M.Bruener HOU -26 -23 -42.3% -37.7% 10 52 6 0 40%
B.Steele GB -29 -28 -46.4% -44.3% 11 42 -1 0 36%
R.Kelly CIN -30 -31 -29.2% -30.3% 21 85 49 0 71%
B.Jones JAC -34 -30 -35.0% -31.5% 19 87 29 1 32%
J.Peelle SD -36 -41 -35.2% -39.2% 20 84 30 2 50%
D.Lyman CHI -59 -56 -44.5% -42.1% 23 73 5 1 48%
M.Gaines CAR -73 -74 -74.7% -75.3% 14 34 -68 0 29%

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