Writers of Pro Football Prospectus 2008

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Innovative Statistics

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2011 TIGHT ENDS

Regular season totals, through Week 17

Revised as of 1/2/2012

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, 47 players ranked

Player Team DYAR Rk YAR Rk DVOA Rk VOA Passes Yards EYds TD Catch
Rate		 FUM
R.Gronkowski NE 505 1 514 1 52.0% 1 53.1% 124 1327 1,816 17 73% 0
J.Graham NO 331 2 345 2 25.1% 7 26.5% 149 1310 1,580 11 66% 1
A.Gates SD 287 3 309 3 40.3% 3 43.9% 88 778 1,134 7 73% 0
T.Gonzalez ATL 237 4 240 4 22.6% 11 22.9% 116 875 1,185 7 69% 0
J.Finley GB 205 5 198 5 24.4% 9 23.4% 92 767 990 8 60% 0
J.Ballard NYG 165 6 169 7 31.5% 6 32.3% 61 604 718 4 62% 0
A.Hernandez NE 164 7 170 6 12.9% 20 13.7% 113 910 1,040 7 70% 1
F.Davis WAS 160 8 157 8 20.5% 15 19.9% 88 798 834 3 67% 1
O.Daniels HOU 157 9 149 9 20.5% 14 19.1% 85 677 819 3 64% 0
J.Witten DAL 143 10 132 14 10.8% 21 9.3% 117 942 980 5 68% 1
H.Miller PIT 140 11 136 13 22.5% 12 21.7% 74 631 700 2 69% 1
J.Dreessen HOU 140 12 138 12 48.9% 2 48.1% 39 353 514 6 72% 0
S.Chandler BUF 139 13 139 11 35.0% 5 35.0% 46 389 579 6 83% 1
J.Cook TEN 135 14 128 15 18.8% 17 17.5% 81 760 729 3 60% 2
B.Celek PHI 132 15 147 10 13.4% 19 15.7% 97 811 824 5 64% 0
A.Fasano MIA 111 16 110 18 24.2% 10 23.8% 54 451 541 5 59% 0
Player Team DYAR Rk YAR Rk DVOA Rk VOA Passes Yards EYds TD Catch
Rate		 FUM
K.Boss OAK 105 17 119 16 36.2% 4 41.7% 39 368 434 3 72% 0
D.Pitta BAL 103 18 106 19 20.6% 13 21.3% 56 405 535 3 71% 0
T.Scheffler DET 96 19 111 17 24.6% 8 29.7% 43 347 463 6 60% 0
V.Davis SF 94 20 69 20 7.7% 23 3.7% 95 792 737 6 71% 3
E.Moore CLE 75 21 65 22 16.5% 18 13.3% 47 324 428 4 72% 0
E.Dickson BAL 67 22 56 25 4.8% 27 2.9% 89 528 616 5 61% 0
J.King ARI 63 23 58 23 19.1% 16 16.8% 34 271 341 3 79% 0
J.Shockey CAR 60 24 57 24 7.5% 24 6.7% 62 461 476 4 60% 2
D.Keller NYJ 49 25 66 21 -1.0% 31 1.2% 115 815 763 5 57% 1
J.Gresham CIN 42 26 44 26 -0.2% 30 0.0% 92 596 597 6 61% 1
L.Pope KC 38 27 42 27 8.6% 22 10.4% 33 247 281 1 73% 0
K.Davis CHI 34 28 33 29 7.4% 25 7.0% 34 206 272 5 53% 0
B.Pettigrew DET 30 29 41 28 -3.6% 33 -2.2% 126 777 745 5 66% 0
K.Rudolph MIN 25 30 23 32 1.7% 29 1.1% 39 249 291 3 67% 0
D.Fells DEN 24 31 28 31 5.1% 26 6.9% 31 256 218 3 61% 2
T.Heap ARI 24 32 33 30 2.6% 28 6.2% 36 283 256 1 67% 0
Player Team DYAR Rk YAR Rk DVOA Rk VOA Passes Yards EYds TD Catch
Rate		 FUM
K.Winslow TB 8 33 5 34 -6.3% 34 -6.6% 120 771 698 2 63% 2
A.Smith CLE 7 34 2 35 -3.1% 32 -6.4% 25 131 157 1 56% 0
V.Shiancoe MIN 3 35 17 33 -6.7% 35 -3.7% 70 409 405 3 51% 0
G.Olsen CAR 2 36 0 36 -6.9% 36 -7.2% 89 540 490 5 51% 1
D.Walker SF 0 37 -3 37 -7.5% 37 -8.5% 35 198 183 3 54% 0
R.McMichael SD -2 38 -7 39 -8.1% 38 -9.7% 44 271 230 0 68% 0
M.Bennett DAL -7 39 -4 38 -11.6% 40 -10.0% 26 144 122 0 65% 0
J.Tamme IND -11 40 -15 40 -12.3% 41 -14.2% 31 177 154 1 61% 0
B.Watson CLE -19 41 -30 41 -11.4% 39 -13.7% 71 410 348 2 52% 0
Z.Miller SEA -37 42 -46 44 -21.0% 43 -24.4% 44 233 145 0 57% 0
B.Myers OAK -39 43 -35 42 -28.1% 45 -26.0% 27 151 72 0 59% 0
R.Housler ARI -39 44 -45 43 -34.4% 47 -38.3% 26 133 36 0 46% 1
L.Kendricks STL -51 45 -55 46 -21.4% 44 -22.6% 58 352 191 0 48% 1
D.Clark IND -54 46 -52 45 -18.9% 42 -18.5% 65 352 272 2 52% 1
M.Lewis JAC -120 47 -129 47 -28.4% 46 -29.9% 85 460 218 0 46% 0

RECEIVING, OTHERS: 10-24 passes

Player Team DYAR YAR DVOA VOA Passes Yards EYds TD Catch
Rate		 FUM
J.Casey HOU 74 72 38.5% 37.1% 24 260 297 1 75% 0
C.Harbor PHI 40 42 24.7% 26.3% 19 163 194 1 68% 0
C.Stevens TEN 39 38 35.6% 35.1% 14 166 161 1 64% 0
B.Pascoe NYG 31 33 22.0% 23.2% 16 136 158 0 75% 0
D.Johnson PIT 23 23 16.1% 15.8% 14 91 133 1 86% 0
D.Lee CIN 19 16 13.6% 11.1% 13 115 116 0 85% 0
D.Rosario DEN 18 21 20.3% 24.6% 11 117 97 0 64% 0
M.Spaeth CHI 12 12 9.0% 9.0% 11 50 91 2 64% 0
L.Paulsen WAS 10 6 1.0% -2.5% 19 138 127 0 58% 0
J.Phillips DAL 2 -1 -5.9% -8.1% 18 101 107 1 83% 0
T.Beckum NYG -6 -3 -15.1% -11.9% 10 93 48 1 50% 0
Player Team DYAR YAR DVOA VOA Passes Yards EYds TD Catch
Rate		 FUM
B.Eldridge IND -8 -8 -19.2% -19.2% 10 45 41 0 90% 0
J.O'Connell KC -11 -10 -21.5% -19.4% 12 52 42 0 58% 0
M.Palmer ATL -13 -10 -19.1% -16.8% 16 72 63 1 63% 0
L.Stocker TB -13 -17 -18.5% -22.0% 17 92 70 0 71% 0
M.Hoomanawanui STL -13 -10 -22.5% -19.0% 13 83 45 0 54% 0
B.Bajema STL -13 -14 -22.4% -23.5% 14 71 45 0 64% 0
C.Morrah SEA -15 -15 -24.4% -23.9% 13 74 42 0 46% 0
C.Cooley WAS -20 -20 -29.9% -30.6% 13 65 30 0 62% 0
A.McCoy SEA -28 -29 -24.4% -25.4% 24 146 76 0 54% 0
W.Heller DET -31 -37 -41.7% -48.1% 12 42 8 0 50% 0
J.Cameron CLE -39 -43 -48.5% -53.0% 13 33 -5 0 46% 0

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