Writers of Pro Football Prospectus 2008

printable version

Innovative Statistics

Football Outsiders exclusive statistics


TIGHT ENDS 2008

Regular season totals, playoffs not included

Revised as of 12/29/2008

Tight ends are ranked according to DYAR, or Defense-adjusted Yards Above Replacement. This gives the value of the performance on plays where this TE caught the ball, compared to replacement level, adjusted for situation and opponent 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 (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 tight end 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 tight end from the performance of his quarterback. Be aware that one will affect the other.
  • These statistics measure only passes thrown to a 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, 43 players ranked

Player Team DYAR Rk YAR Rk DVOA Rk VOA Passes Yards EYds TD Catch
Rate
88-T.Gonzalez KC 236 1 220 1 15.2% 14 14.2% 155 1054 1,376 10 61%
81-V.Shiancoe MIN 219 2 215 2 50.1% 2 48.7% 59 596 801 8 71%
82-J.Witten DAL 197 3 194 3 18.9% 11 17.8% 120 952 1,082 5 68%
81-O.Daniels HOU 185 4 179 5 19.3% 9 18.7% 100 862 982 2 70%
44-D.Clark IND 179 5 192 4 18.5% 12 19.0% 107 848 1,006 6 72%
80-A.Fasano MIA 152 6 164 6 34.8% 4 37.2% 53 454 642 7 64%
83-B.Miller NO 149 7 150 7 28.8% 5 29.0% 62 579 674 1 73%
85-A.Gates SD 144 8 142 9 15.5% 13 15.9% 92 704 831 9 65%
89-J.Carlson SEA 134 9 147 8 19.1% 10 19.8% 80 627 750 5 69%
88-D.Martin MIA 129 10 131 11 37.3% 3 37.3% 45 451 528 4 69%
88-T.Scheffler DEN 121 11 133 10 22.3% 6 24.4% 62 644 617 3 66%
83-H.Miller PIT 118 12 120 12 22.2% 7 22.1% 65 514 600 3 74%
80-M.Bennett DAL 111 13 113 14 58.8% 1 59.8% 27 283 383 4 74%
47-C.Cooley WAS 98 14 114 13 7.7% 18 8.9% 111 849 810 1 75%
80-Z.Miller OAK 86 15 103 15 9.4% 16 11.2% 86 778 658 1 65%
Player Team DYAR Rk YAR Rk DVOA Rk VOA Passes Yards EYds TD Catch
Rate
87-B.Celek PHI 81 16 68 17 21.9% 8 18.4% 38 318 400 1 71%
89-K.Boss NYG 80 17 68 18 14.8% 15 10.5% 55 384 496 6 60%
81-D.Keller NYJ 55 18 68 16 2.2% 21 4.5% 78 535 607 3 62%
89-D.Graham DEN 47 19 60 19 6.8% 19 10.0% 50 393 393 4 64%
80-B.Scaife TEN 45 20 42 21 0.1% 24 0.2% 84 562 569 2 69%
86-T.Heap BAL 45 21 36 22 4.3% 20 1.2% 64 407 456 3 55%
81-A.Smith TB 42 22 34 23 8.8% 17 5.6% 38 250 310 3 55%
82-G.Olsen CHI 37 23 48 20 0.1% 25 1.2% 82 574 554 5 66%
89-M.Lewis JAC 33 24 17 26 -1.8% 27 -3.5% 71 489 453 2 58%
86-D.Lee GB 26 25 31 24 1.2% 23 2.3% 50 303 326 5 78%
88-D.Rosario CAR 21 26 21 25 -0.8% 26 2.8% 31 209 223 1 58%
86-C.Baker NYJ 20 27 17 27 1.7% 22 0.9% 30 194 214 0 70%
88-J.Shockey NO 16 28 14 28 -5.1% 28 -4.4% 72 481 445 0 69%
47-J.King CAR 6 29 -3 29 -6.8% 29 -8.8% 33 195 184 1 64%
83-A.Crumpler TEN 0 30 -5 30 -8.6% 30 -9.3% 41 257 216 1 59%
Player Team DYAR Rk YAR Rk DVOA Rk VOA Passes Yards EYds TD Catch
Rate
86-J.Stevens TB -7 31 -6 31 -9.7% 31 -8.8% 59 397 313 2 61%
89-M.Spaeth PIT -8 32 -11 32 -15.0% 34 -13.5% 26 136 127 0 65%
80-K.Winslow CLE -12 33 -26 34 -10.6% 32 -12.2% 82 428 421 3 52%
82-S.Heiden CLE -16 34 -12 33 -11.5% 33 -11.4% 42 249 200 0 55%
86-M.Gaines DET -22 35 -29 35 -16.1% 36 -19.0% 36 260 157 1 64%
82-L.Smith PHI -35 36 -41 36 -15.4% 35 -16.4% 65 306 300 3 58%
85-V.Davis SF -55 37 -49 37 -24.6% 37 -22.8% 49 358 143 2 63%
82-R.Kelly CIN -56 38 -54 38 -28.2% 38 -27.8% 42 207 99 1 74%
81-B.Utecht CIN -64 39 -56 39 -41.0% 42 -37.7% 28 123 14 0 57%
82-C.Fitzsimmons DET -69 40 -78 42 -44.4% 43 -48.5% 28 85 9 1 43%
84-B.Watson NE -73 41 -71 41 -29.4% 40 -29.0% 47 209 116 2 47%
84-R.Royal BUF -89 42 -65 40 -30.4% 41 -24.9% 57 352 117 1 58%
88-D.Clark CHI -110 43 -103 43 -28.6% 39 -27.4% 73 367 191 1 56%

RECEIVING, OTHERS: 10-24 passes

Player Team DYAR YAR DVOA VOA Passes Yards EYds TD Catch
Rate
80-M.Campbell NO 43 39 25.0% 23.3% 16 121 200 2 75%
84-T.Humphrey GB 34 32 22.1% 21.1% 16 162 169 0 69%
86-B.Manumaleuna SD 26 26 13.9% 13.6% 19 127 163 2 79%
87-J.Peelle ATL 26 26 7.8% 8.5% 23 159 196 2 65%
88-J.Gilmore TB 25 22 8.8% 7.5% 21 147 178 1 71%
86-D.Fine BUF 23 28 22.3% 26.7% 12 94 122 1 83%
80-D.Schouman BUF 11 13 0.6% 2.6% 20 153 136 1 75%
46-D.Fells STL 9 9 6.2% 5.1% 11 81 83 0 64%
46-D.Walker SF 8 15 -1.1% 7.0% 16 155 108 1 63%
84-R.McMichael STL 7 3 -2.3% -4.9% 21 139 116 1 52%
40-J.Kleinsasser MIN 7 3 -1.8% -3.3% 13 92 81 0 46%
47-G.Robinson IND 6 4 -4.2% -4.8% 24 166 136 0 79%
83-G.Estandia JAC 3 -3 -5.2% -10.0% 15 113 101 0 67%
45-G.Mills MIN 1 -4 -4.1% -14.0% 11 65 59 0 45%
87-T.Yoder WAS 1 9 -5.8% 5.3% 10 50 59 1 80%
86-T.Stewart OAK 0 3 -5.9% -3.8% 15 81 85 0 73%
Player Team DYAR YAR DVOA VOA Passes Yards EYds TD Catch
Rate
86-T.Santi IND -1 4 -5.1% -2.4% 13 64 67 1 77%
87-B.Cottam KC -3 2 -10.2% -4.9% 11 63 52 0 64%
89-B.Patrick ARI -5 -2 -9.5% -8.4% 18 104 98 1 61%
85-R.Angulo JAC -11 -11 -20.4% -22.1% 11 63 38 0 73%
83-J.Owens DET -12 -13 -20.5% -22.0% 12 56 47 1 67%
88-J.Finley GB -13 -12 -21.7% -19.7% 12 74 50 1 50%
82-L.Pope ARI -13 -11 -23.2% -20.5% 13 77 44 0 69%
81-N.Jackson DEN -15 -13 -21.4% -18.1% 17 84 70 1 65%
87-D.Dinkins CLE -15 -22 -32.9% -40.1% 11 41 23 1 45%
86-D.Thomas NE -20 -16 -22.6% -20.8% 17 93 53 0 53%
85-J.Dreessen HOU -29 -34 -35.1% -37.7% 17 76 31 0 65%
87-A.Becht STL -32 -37 -48.8% -56.4% 11 39 -7 0 55%
86-F.Davis WAS -33 -33 -53.2% -56.2% 10 27 -15 0 30%
88-B.Franks NYJ -33 -33 -51.2% -49.7% 12 47 -7 0 50%
88-J.Klopfenstein STL -40 -38 -41.1% -38.5% 19 124 16 0 58%
89-T.Curtis DAL -41 -45 -60.0% -67.4% 12 37 -25 0 67%

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