Writers of Pro Football Prospectus 2008

printable version

Innovative Statistics

Football Outsiders exclusive statistics



TIGHT ENDS 2009

Regular season totals, through Week 17

Revised as of 1/4/2010

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.
  • Clicking on a player's name will bring you to his FO player page with advanced stats through 2008.

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, 49 players ranked

Player Team DYAR Rk YAR Rk DVOA Rk VOA Passes Yards EYds TD Catch
Rate		 FUM
A.Gates SD 358 1 356 1 38.4% 2 38.1% 114 1157 1,439 8 69% 1
D.Clark IND 261 2 281 2 22.3% 8 24.6% 133 1106 1,311 10 75% 1
V.Shiancoe MIN 226 3 228 3 33.7% 3 33.9% 79 566 958 11 71% 0
J.Witten DAL 216 4 213 4 20.1% 9 19.7% 124 1030 1,134 2 76% 0
B.Celek PHI 201 5 208 5 19.9% 10 20.7% 112 971 1,062 8 68% 0
J.Finley GB 172 6 165 7 27.2% 6 25.8% 72 676 795 5 76% 1
T.Heap BAL 170 7 172 6 27.4% 5 27.8% 75 593 784 6 71% 0
H.Miller PIT 163 8 165 8 18.1% 12 18.3% 98 789 896 6 78% 2
T.Gonzalez ATL 161 9 142 12 10.6% 17 8.4% 134 867 1,111 6 62% 0
B.Watson NE 161 10 160 9 49.3% 1 49.0% 41 404 590 5 71% 0
K.Winslow TB 145 11 136 13 10.8% 16 9.7% 126 887 990 5 61% 0
J.Shockey NO 136 12 144 11 23.4% 7 25.3% 67 569 668 3 72% 0
O.Daniels HOU 134 13 123 14 27.4% 4 24.6% 58 519 616 5 69% 1
Player Team DYAR Rk YAR Rk DVOA Rk VOA Passes Yards EYds TD Catch
Rate		 FUM
V.Davis SF 131 14 149 10 8.8% 19 11.0% 129 965 972 13 60% 0
F.Davis WAS 92 15 91 16 11.3% 15 11.1% 76 509 617 6 63% 0
T.Scheffler DEN 90 16 84 17 18.7% 11 17.1% 50 416 485 2 62% 0
K.Boss NYG 88 17 81 18 12.4% 13 10.9% 69 567 568 5 61% 0
Z.Miller OAK 82 18 96 15 5.8% 21 8.1% 99 805 705 3 67% 0
D.Thomas NO 48 19 53 20 6.9% 20 8.1% 48 356 392 1 73% 0
J.Dreessen HOU 45 20 51 21 8.9% 18 11.2% 39 320 333 1 67% 0
M.Lewis JAC 44 21 44 23 4.3% 23 4.4% 59 518 416 2 54% 1
J.Carlson SEA 40 22 55 19 -0.1% 27 2.5% 83 574 561 7 61% 0
Z.Miller JAC 36 23 45 22 11.9% 14 16.4% 27 212 238 2 78% 0
D.Fells STL 31 24 34 25 5.4% 22 6.5% 35 273 275 3 60% 1
C.Cooley WAS 25 25 35 24 2.0% 24 5.6% 45 332 286 2 64% 1
D.Rosario CAR 21 26 25 26 -0.3% 28 1.0% 48 313 302 2 54% 0
Player Team DYAR Rk YAR Rk DVOA Rk VOA Passes Yards EYds TD Catch
Rate		 FUM
J.King CAR 21 27 22 27 1.8% 25 2.4% 33 202 238 3 76% 1
J.Foschi CIN 17 28 17 28 1.0% 26 0.8% 37 260 214 2 73% 1
D.Keller NYJ 16 29 14 29 -4.2% 30 -4.6% 81 522 473 2 56% 1
D.Graham DEN 13 30 11 30 -2.2% 29 -3.0% 43 289 252 1 65% 0
W.Heller DET -1 31 -3 31 -7.5% 31 -8.2% 50 296 273 3 58% 0
A.Crumpler TEN -13 32 -18 36 -12.3% 34 -14.5% 37 222 186 1 73% 1
G.Olsen CHI -13 33 -10 33 -9.0% 32 -8.6% 108 612 617 8 56% 0
R.Royal CLE -14 34 -16 35 -15.8% 36 -17.0% 26 130 106 1 42% 0
B.Pettigrew DET -15 35 -7 32 -11.6% 33 -9.3% 54 346 262 2 56% 1
S.Ryan KC -20 36 -24 37 -19.5% 40 -21.8% 27 135 96 2 52% 0
L.Pope KC -21 37 -12 34 -18.9% 39 -13.6% 30 174 109 1 67% 0
B.Scaife TEN -27 38 -28 38 -13.3% 35 -13.5% 70 440 323 1 64% 1
C.Fitzsimmons DET -28 39 -31 39 -23.2% 42 -24.9% 27 129 86 0 67% 1
Player Team DYAR Rk YAR Rk DVOA Rk VOA Passes Yards EYds TD Catch
Rate		 FUM
D.Walker SF -29 40 -35 40 -20.0% 41 -22.6% 33 233 128 0 64% 1
M.Bennett DAL -36 41 -38 41 -26.3% 44 -27.5% 30 159 80 0 50% 0
A.Fasano MIA -40 42 -39 42 -17.9% 37 -17.6% 54 345 227 2 57% 2
R.McMichael STL -45 43 -50 44 -18.4% 38 -19.5% 62 332 245 1 55% 0
J.Stevens TB -50 44 -51 47 -31.2% 47 -31.9% 32 130 67 1 47% 0
D.Clark CHI -51 45 -51 46 -28.0% 46 -28.2% 34 145 95 2 56% 0
J.Haynos MIA -53 46 -50 45 -26.8% 45 -25.8% 37 162 113 2 51% 1
S.Nelson BUF -55 47 -47 43 -39.1% 48 -34.0% 30 159 26 1 60% 2
D.Lee GB -58 48 -55 48 -26.0% 43 -25.1% 54 260 134 1 69% 0
D.Coats CIN -79 49 -73 49 -49.4% 49 -46.3% 30 150 -15 0 53% 2

RECEIVING, OTHERS: 10-24 passes

Player Team DYAR YAR DVOA VOA Passes Yards EYds TD Catch
Rate		 FUM
S.Havner GB 65 68 75.6% 79.6% 10 112 209 4 70% 0
B.Patrick ARI 43 46 34.3% 38.0% 16 146 179 2 75% 0
C.Baker NE 37 35 24.2% 22.4% 19 142 181 2 74% 0
J.Peelle ATL 28 27 15.0% 14.7% 15 115 165 2 80% 0
B.Bajema STL 25 24 29.1% 28.2% 11 94 111 0 73% 0
G.Barnidge CAR 23 27 10.4% 14.0% 21 242 158 0 57% 1
K.Davis CHI 19 20 12.1% 13.3% 14 75 124 3 64% 0
D.Schouman BUF 16 16 14.7% 15.4% 11 103 94 0 82% 0
T.Santi IND 15 10 10.9% 5.3% 11 110 100 0 73% 1
E.Moore CLE 7 9 -2.0% -0.5% 23 158 130 0 52% 0
B.Cottam KC 3 6 -5.0% -2.2% 15 120 97 0 60% 0
T.Beckum NYG -2 -2 -9.9% -11.1% 10 55 48 0 80% 0
J.Casey HOU -4 -2 -12.2% -10.0% 12 64 59 0 50% 0
Player Team DYAR YAR DVOA VOA Passes Yards EYds TD Catch
Rate		 FUM
T.Stewart OAK -5 -8 -12.2% -15.7% 15 78 73 0 67% 0
A.Becht ARI -9 -12 -16.9% -19.9% 12 64 59 1 58% 1
E.Wilford JAC -10 -8 -14.5% -13.1% 21 123 94 1 52% 0
J.Cook TEN -10 -8 -16.6% -15.1% 15 74 68 0 60% 0
J.Stupar BUF -14 -15 -30.2% -31.2% 10 39 21 0 50% 0
J.Tamme IND -19 -23 -37.4% -44.3% 10 35 12 0 30% 0
S.Spach ARI -20 -22 -41.2% -43.7% 10 38 6 0 40% 0
S.Heiden CLE -27 -35 -28.6% -35.0% 17 73 48 1 59% 1
G.Robinson IND -30 -28 -39.9% -37.1% 15 62 12 0 60% 0
G.Estandia CLE -31 -34 -42.2% -45.2% 13 45 7 0 31% 0
J.Kleinsasser MIN -37 -37 -42.0% -41.5% 16 70 9 0 63% 0
D.Fine BUF -46 -45 -51.3% -49.7% 18 64 -13 0 50% 0
J.O'Connell KC -56 -55 -89.4% -89.3% 10 7 -64 0 20% 0

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