Writers of Pro Football Prospectus 2008

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Innovative Statistics

Football Outsiders exclusive statistics


ArmchairGM -- All Sports, All You

TIGHT ENDS 2008

Regular season totals, through Week 13

Revised as of 12/2/2008

Tight ends are ranked according to DYAR, or Defense-adjusted Yards Above Replacement. This gives the value of the performance on plays where this tight end caught the ball, compared to a replacement-level tight end 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 tight end 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 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 20 passes, 43 players ranked

Player Team DYAR Rk YAR Rk DVOA Rk VOA Passes Yards EYds TD Catch
Rate
88-T.Gonzalez KC 195 1 189 1 19.3% 10 18.3% 112 806 1,046 6 65%
82-J.Witten DAL 147 2 148 2 19.7% 9 19.3% 85 709 788 3 68%
83-B.Miller NO 125 3 125 5 35.4% 2 33.8% 46 450 529 1 76%
81-O.Daniels HOU 120 4 126 4 15.8% 13 16.8% 75 608 701 2 67%
80-B.Scaife TEN 119 5 116 7 20.4% 8 20.5% 63 498 612 2 76%
47-C.Cooley WAS 114 6 131 3 12.9% 17 16.0% 87 701 721 1 76%
85-A.Gates SD 111 7 109 8 15.3% 14 15.1% 72 534 651 7 64%
80-M.Bennett DAL 104 8 105 9 72.5% 1 72.7% 21 242 337 4 71%
81-D.Keller NYJ 102 9 120 6 16.1% 12 20.0% 58 460 592 3 69%
83-H.Miller PIT 94 10 97 10 29.5% 3 31.1% 40 344 417 2 73%
81-V.Shiancoe MIN 92 11 83 14 26.2% 4 22.5% 43 373 433 5 63%
44-D.Clark IND 87 12 87 12 11.6% 19 11.5% 71 513 581 3 66%
89-J.Carlson SEA 84 13 86 13 15.0% 15 14.5% 58 456 514 3 66%
88-D.Martin MIA 79 14 79 15 21.6% 7 23.9% 38 346 387 2 66%
88-T.Scheffler DEN 76 15 87 11 18.6% 11 22.2% 43 453 415 2 65%
Player Team DYAR Rk YAR Rk DVOA Rk VOA Passes Yards EYds TD Catch
Rate
81-A.Smith TB 70 16 66 17 25.8% 5 24.4% 31 228 328 3 61%
87-B.Celek PHI 68 17 57 18 25.2% 6 21.1% 30 271 318 0 70%
89-K.Boss NYG 66 18 53 20 14.4% 16 10.3% 43 310 397 5 60%
80-A.Fasano MIA 57 19 70 16 12.5% 18 17.8% 40 312 358 3 58%
80-Z.Miller OAK 42 20 54 19 4.4% 22 6.9% 61 550 413 1 61%
89-M.Lewis JAC 39 21 32 23 4.4% 21 2.4% 52 384 364 2 54%
88-D.Rosario CAR 33 22 34 21 10.5% 20 10.0% 29 209 238 1 62%
86-T.Heap BAL 33 23 23 25 2.9% 24 0.2% 47 280 329 3 57%
86-D.Lee GB 28 24 27 24 3.0% 23 2.4% 42 247 292 4 81%
89-D.Graham DEN 19 25 34 22 1.0% 25 5.9% 36 265 256 4 58%
88-J.Shockey NO 14 26 1 32 -3.4% 29 -6.9% 55 369 335 0 71%
83-A.Crumpler TEN 13 27 4 30 -1.6% 26 -5.3% 32 207 197 1 63%
86-C.Baker NYJ 9 28 6 27 -2.6% 27 -3.7% 23 135 149 0 70%
85-V.Davis SF 8 29 16 26 -5.1% 31 0.6% 31 263 185 2 61%
84-R.McMichael STL 7 30 3 31 -3.2% 28 -4.9% 21 139 116 1 52%
Player Team DYAR Rk YAR Rk DVOA Rk VOA Passes Yards EYds TD Catch
Rate
89-M.Spaeth PIT 5 31 1 33 -5.7% 32 -6.5% 23 130 137 0 70%
47-J.King CAR 3 32 -5 35 -4.8% 30 -10.2% 29 169 158 1 66%
86-J.Stevens TB -1 33 4 29 -7.6% 34 -5.7% 41 288 224 2 61%
82-G.Olsen CHI -2 34 5 28 -6.8% 33 -6.0% 54 398 305 2 63%
82-S.Heiden CLE -8 35 -1 34 -10.0% 36 -7.7% 34 220 173 0 56%
80-K.Winslow CLE -13 36 -26 36 -9.7% 35 -12.2% 82 428 418 3 52%
82-L.Smith PHI -26 37 -31 37 -14.9% 37 -17.3% 44 192 202 3 50%
86-M.Gaines DET -27 38 -33 38 -21.8% 38 -25.2% 29 194 94 1 69%
82-R.Kelly CIN -39 39 -33 39 -24.5% 39 -22.4% 35 188 100 1 71%
81-B.Utecht CIN -54 40 -45 41 -39.5% 43 -34.9% 25 116 20 0 60%
84-R.Royal BUF -63 41 -45 40 -29.0% 41 -22.4% 46 309 113 1 63%
84-B.Watson NE -67 42 -63 43 -29.0% 42 -28.4% 43 207 103 1 49%
88-D.Clark CHI -70 43 -60 42 -25.0% 40 -23.3% 53 304 161 0 58%

RECEIVING, OTHERS: 8-19 passes

Player Team DYAR YAR DVOA VOA Passes Yards EYds TD Catch
Rate
87-J.Peelle ATL 43 45 28.0% 30.0% 17 137 196 2 71%
80-M.Campbell NO 43 39 26.5% 23.3% 16 121 200 2 75%
84-T.Humphrey GB 24 23 20.7% 18.4% 13 126 129 0 69%
80-D.Schouman BUF 21 27 13.2% 17.9% 16 142 135 1 75%
88-J.Gilmore TB 19 16 7.0% 4.6% 19 130 153 1 68%
86-D.Fine BUF 18 21 24.2% 28.9% 8 63 87 1 75%
46-D.Walker SF 10 16 1.7% 12.4% 12 130 90 1 67%
89-B.Patrick ARI 10 10 5.8% 4.5% 11 71 89 1 73%
40-J.Kleinsasser MIN 9 8 4.5% 3.8% 11 87 78 0 45%
85-J.Dreessen HOU 9 6 3.8% 1.6% 10 60 76 0 70%
83-G.Estandia JAC 6 5 7.1% 3.2% 7 68 51 0 71%
45-G.Mills MIN 1 -4 -4.1% -14.0% 11 65 59 0 45%
87-T.Yoder WAS 1 9 -5.6% 5.3% 10 50 59 1 80%
Player Team DYAR YAR DVOA VOA Passes Yards EYds TD Catch
Rate
86-T.Santi IND -1 4 -4.7% -2.4% 13 64 67 1 77%
82-L.Pope ARI -1 2 -11.5% -4.7% 10 70 52 0 80%
86-T.Stewart OAK -2 -3 -10.3% -12.0% 10 48 49 0 80%
87-B.Cottam KC -3 2 -11.4% -4.9% 11 63 51 0 64%
86-B.Manumaleuna SD -4 -4 -12.8% -12.0% 14 85 67 0 79%
88-B.Franks NYJ -14 -15 -32.4% -32.5% 9 47 19 0 67%
81-N.Jackson DEN -15 -13 -19.6% -18.1% 17 84 70 1 65%
86-D.Thomas NE -20 -16 -24.3% -20.8% 17 93 53 0 53%
82-C.Fitzsimmons DET -20 -27 -23.1% -29.6% 18 70 58 1 56%
83-J.Owens DET -23 -23 -46.6% -47.0% 8 18 -1 1 50%
47-G.Robinson IND -34 -34 -59.0% -58.8% 11 32 -19 0 64%
89-T.Curtis DAL -39 -42 -60.0% -68.5% 11 34 -26 0 64%
88-J.Klopfenstein STL -53 -56 -70.4% -73.0% 13 26 -44 0 38%

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