Best NFL Tight Ends
Charger Antonio Gates, Kansas City's Tony Gonzales Have Dominated
Depending upon their type offense and personnel, some NFL coaches want their tight ends to focus on quarterback protection, some stress assistance with their running game and some want them to catch a lot of passes. As fierce blockers, the big ends have epic collisions with defensive tackles and linebackers, but football fans still look upon them primarily for their pass catching, first downs and touchdowns.
Ideally, a tight end has a lineman’s size, a wide receiver’s speed and hands, a running back’s agility and a linebacker’s toughness.
Although tight ends caught a small percentage of the league's passes in 2007, receptions get the most fan attention for tight ends. They also seems to provide the most trips to the all-pro game.
Kansas City's Tony Gonzales Led League
NFL teams used 106 tight ends in 2007. Here were the top receivers, along with their height, weight, age, team and official league statistics:
- Tony Gonzales (6-5, 251, 32) of Kansas City—99 catches, 1172 yards, 31 first downs, 5 touchdowns
- Jason Witten (6-5, 262, 26) of Dallas—96 catches, 1145 yards, 53 first downs, 7 touchdowns
- Kellen Winslow II (6-4, 248, 25) of Cleveland—82 catches, 1106 yards, 49 first downs, 5 touchdowns
- Antonio Gates (6-4, 260. 28) of San Diego—75 catches, 984 yards, 49 first downs, 9 touchdowns
- Chris Cooley (6-3, 255, 26) of Washington—66 catches, 78 yards, 39 first downs, 8 touchdowns
- Owen Daniels(6-3, 246, 25) of Houston—63 catches, 768 yards, 29 first downs, 3 touchdowns
Charger Antonio Gates 3-Time All Pro
That group dominated the Associated Press all-pro teams from 2003 through 2007. Here’s how they lined up, with the first team selection listed first and the second team selection next:
2003 -- Gonzales and Todd Heap (6-4, 260, 28) of Baltimore
2004 -- Gates and Gonzales
2005 -- Gates and Cooley
2006 -- Gates and Gonzales
2007 -- Witten and Gonzales
All five of those first and second team all pro selections were still active going into the 2008 season. Other previous all-pro candidates still around include Winslow, Daniels, Jeremy Shockey (6-4, 260, 28) of New Orleans, Dallas Clark (6-4, 260 29) of Indianapolis and Alge Crumpler (6-4, 260, 30) of Tennessee.
Purdue's Dustin Keller Topped Draft
With most of them still in their 20s, the odds are against newcomers jumping into the all-pro race very soon and the draft didn’t promise any. Purdue's Dustin Keller was the first tight end picked and he was the 30th player selected. At the start of the season he was listed as the third tight end on the New York Jets depth chart.
There were 10 tight ends among the first 132 draft picks and John Carlson of Notre Dame was the only one listed as a starter at the begining of the season. Seattle selected him as the 38th pick of the draft.
As the season started, Martellus Bennett of Texas A&M was second on the Dallas tight end depth chart and Brad Cottam of Tennessee was listed as the number two tight end on the Kansas City roster. All the other tight end draftees were listed as third in their positions.
Seven in NFL Hall of Fame
Only seven tight ends have been named to the NFL Hall of Fame. They are:
- Dave Casper 1974-1984-- 378 catches, 5,216 yards, 52 TDs.
- Mike Ditka 1961-1972, 427 catches, 5,812 yards, 43 TDs
- John Mackey 1963-1972, 331 catches, 5,236 yards, 38 TDs
- Ozzie Newsome 1978-1990, 662 catches, 7,980 yards, 47 TDs
- Charlie Sanders 1968-1977, 336 catches, 4817 yards, 31 TDs.
- Jackie Smith 1963-1978, 480 catches, 7,918 yards, 40 TDs
- Kellen Winslow 1979-1987, 541 catches, 6,741 yards, 45 TDs.
Sources
- Associated Press
- NFL Hall of Fame
- NFL Player Draft
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