Writers of Pro Football Prospectus 2008

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Innovative Statistics

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TIGHT ENDS 2010

Regular season totals, playoffs not included

Revised as of 3/26/2011

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 2010.

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, 45 players ranked

Player Team DYAR Rk YAR Rk DVOA Rk VOA Passes Yards EYds TD Catch
Rate		 FUM
A.Gates SD 371 1 370 1 79.5% 1 79.3% 65 782 1,169 10 77% 0
R.Gronkowski NE 249 2 243 2 53.3% 3 51.9% 59 546 889 10 71% 1
J.Witten DAL 215 3 220 3 18.9% 15 19.5% 128 1002 1,162 9 73% 1
V.Davis SF 207 4 209 4 27.5% 10 27.8% 93 914 954 7 60% 0
A.Hernandez NE 160 5 162 5 30.9% 7 31.5% 64 563 701 6 70% 0
A.Fasano MIA 144 6 140 6 29.1% 8 27.9% 60 528 650 4 65% 0
K.Winslow TB 135 7 137 7 14.8% 16 15.1% 97 733 809 5 68% 1
T.Heap BAL 134 8 134 8 25.9% 11 26.0% 64 599 632 5 63% 1
B.Watson CLE 125 9 113 12 11.3% 20 9.6% 103 762 835 3 67% 0
J.Tamme IND 124 10 130 10 12.6% 19 13.7% 93 631 791 4 72% 0
M.Lewis JAC 124 11 132 9 13.0% 18 14.4% 88 700 781 10 66% 2
J.Dreessen HOU 120 12 121 11 28.6% 9 28.8% 54 518 545 4 67% 1
J.Finley GB 109 13 110 13 57.8% 2 58.4% 26 301 377 1 81% 0
T.Moeaki KC 98 14 97 16 13.9% 17 13.6% 72 557 604 3 65% 0
J.Graham NO 98 15 93 17 24.8% 12 23.4% 43 356 469 5 72% 1
Player Team DYAR Rk YAR Rk DVOA Rk VOA Passes Yards EYds TD Catch
Rate		 FUM
F.Davis WAS 97 16 99 15 40.0% 5 41.2% 30 316 384 3 70% 0
E.Moore CLE 83 17 80 19 41.4% 4 39.4% 26 323 325 1 62% 1
J.Cook TEN 82 18 88 18 23.6% 13 26.1% 45 361 401 1 64% 0
Z.Miller OAK 81 19 99 14 6.2% 22 9.3% 92 685 682 5 65% 1
B.Pettigrew DET 74 20 72 21 3.2% 24 3.0% 111 722 752 4 64% 0
T.Gonzalez ATL 72 21 68 23 2.2% 25 1.6% 109 656 799 6 64% 0
R.McMichael SD 69 22 72 20 31.2% 6 32.8% 27 221 303 2 74% 0
J.Shockey NO 65 23 71 22 8.7% 21 10.2% 59 408 483 3 69% 0
D.Clark IND 48 24 54 24 6.0% 23 7.6% 53 347 412 3 70% 0
Z.Miller JAC 44 25 49 25 19.1% 14 21.9% 26 216 236 1 77% 0
O.Daniels HOU 39 26 36 27 1.2% 26 0.7% 68 471 468 2 56% 0
D.Keller NYJ 38 27 35 28 -1.6% 29 -2.1% 100 687 645 5 55% 0
H.Miller PIT 36 28 42 26 1.0% 27 2.4% 67 512 441 2 63% 1
D.Walker SF 24 29 24 29 0.3% 28 0.5% 46 336 313 0 65% 1
D.Fells STL 19 30 20 30 -2.5% 31 -2.5% 65 391 389 2 63% 0
Player Team DYAR Rk YAR Rk DVOA Rk VOA Passes Yards EYds TD Catch
Rate		 FUM
A.Quarless GB 12 31 13 32 -2.1% 30 -1.8% 33 238 220 1 64% 1
K.Boss NYG 11 32 13 31 -5.0% 32 -4.4% 70 531 416 5 50% 1
V.Shiancoe MIN 6 33 1 34 -6.1% 33 -7.0% 79 530 445 2 59% 0
C.Cooley WAS 0 34 3 33 -7.2% 34 -6.9% 126 849 677 3 61% 3
B.Celek PHI -9 35 -13 35 -8.9% 35 -9.7% 79 511 431 4 53% 0
B.Scaife TEN -13 36 -16 36 -11.0% 36 -11.8% 52 316 273 4 69% 2
J.King CAR -23 37 -26 37 -17.6% 40 -18.9% 31 121 136 2 61% 0
J.Gresham CIN -33 38 -26 38 -13.0% 37 -11.9% 83 471 406 4 63% 2
D.Thomas NO -35 39 -35 41 -18.3% 41 -18.5% 46 219 189 2 65% 0
T.Scheffler DET -35 40 -35 40 -14.9% 38 -14.8% 72 378 308 1 63% 1
G.Olsen CHI -36 41 -27 39 -15.0% 39 -13.0% 70 404 310 5 59% 2
M.Bennett DAL -53 42 -57 42 -24.8% 42 -26.4% 47 262 138 0 70% 1
D.Rosario CAR -79 43 -91 44 -28.6% 43 -31.8% 58 264 139 0 55% 0
J.Carlson SEA -94 44 -85 43 -31.2% 44 -29.1% 58 318 125 1 53% 0
D.Graham DEN -133 45 -136 45 -60.7% 45 -61.9% 37 153 -80 0 49% 1

RECEIVING, OTHERS: 10-24 passes

Player Team DYAR YAR DVOA VOA Passes Yards EYds TD Catch
Rate		 FUM
J.Gilmore TB 47 47 30.9% 30.7% 18 160 207 1 72% 0
T.Beckum NYG 21 22 9.9% 11.2% 18 116 148 2 72% 0
J.Peelle ATL 20 20 10.5% 10.4% 15 96 139 1 67% 0
J.Kleinsasser MIN 19 22 8.1% 10.5% 20 148 148 0 85% 0
D.Lee GB 17 17 11.7% 11.5% 12 73 111 3 92% 1
M.Hoomanawanui STL 13 20 1.1% 5.2% 22 146 161 3 59% 0
B.Pascoe NYG 11 10 6.5% 4.8% 13 72 93 0 69% 0
A.Crumpler NE 10 9 5.9% 4.7% 10 52 83 2 60% 0
J.Stupar BUF 5 4 -0.9% -2.2% 13 111 72 0 92% 1
J.Casey HOU -3 -3 -10.3% -10.7% 14 98 74 0 57% 0
B.Bajema STL -4 -1 -10.0% -8.0% 24 153 123 2 58% 1
B.Patrick ARI -7 -5 -13.6% -12.0% 18 123 79 0 83% 1
Player Team DYAR YAR DVOA VOA Passes Yards EYds TD Catch
Rate		 FUM
C.Baker SEA -8 -15 -12.9% -17.3% 19 116 107 1 47% 0
C.Morrah SEA -11 -10 -16.6% -15.7% 18 117 78 0 50% 0
B.Myers OAK -13 -16 -19.5% -22.5% 16 80 60 0 75% 0
C.Harbor PHI -13 -15 -19.9% -21.6% 15 72 58 1 60% 0
D.Gronkowski DEN -14 -18 -23.7% -28.4% 13 65 40 0 62% 0
C.Stevens TEN -14 -9 -16.0% -12.7% 23 122 105 2 48% 0
M.Spaeth PIT -17 -13 -21.5% -18.0% 18 80 62 1 50% 0
L.Pope KC -20 -13 -21.4% -16.2% 19 76 75 2 53% 0
R.Royal CLE -21 -24 -30.7% -34.4% 12 56 30 1 42% 0
E.Dickson BAL -24 -22 -24.5% -22.8% 23 152 65 1 48% 0
R.Kelly CIN -36 -39 -50.2% -54.2% 13 42 -8 0 77% 0
S.Spach ARI -55 -52 -57.0% -54.1% 17 40 -27 0 41% 0

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