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Welcome to 2007, Year of the Tight End
By Jamie Mottram | November 4, 2007
I was faced with a fantasy football dilemma last week, namely that my two marquee tight ends, Jason Witten and Tony Gonzalez, were on their bye, leaving me with no one to start. Because each harbors trade value, I scoured league rosters in search of a needy team and spot starter. To my chagrin, everyone was comfortable at the position, with even the thin rosters offering traditional studs like Todd Heap and Alge Crumpler along with serviceable backups like Donald Lee and Randy McMichael.
All of which got me to thinking about how weird it is that there are so many good pass-catching tight ends right now.
Four different guys — Witten, Gonzalez, Antonio Gates and Kellen Winslow — are on pace for 1,000 yards this season; something that’s only been done by tight ends twice over the past five years. Gates and three others — Dallas Clark, Ben Watson and Chris Cooley — are on pace for 10 touchdowns; something that’s only been done by tight ends three times over the same period. And Gates, Witten and Gonzalez all have legits shot at 100-catch seasons; something that’s only been accomplished by a tight end once ever.
But it’s not all about the elites. In total, there are 18 tight ends on pace for at least one of the following watermarks by season’s end: 50 receptions, 500 yards and/or 5 touchdowns. That means more than half of the teams in the league feature a receiving threat (or two) at the position.
Somewhere, Donnie Warren (pictured) is freaking out.
(After the jump, check out the “research” conducted for this post.)
Year: number of 75-reception, 1,000-yard and 10-touchdowns tight end seasons
2007: 3, 4, 4
2006: 0, 0, 0
2005: 3, 1, 1
2004: 4, 1, 1
2003: 0, 0, 1
2002: 0, 0, 0
Player: current 2007 pace for receptions, yards, touchdowns
Antonio Gates: 105, 1,461, 11
Jason Witten: 96, 1,234, 9
Kellen Winslow: 71, 1,216, 7
Tony Gonzalez: 96, 1,157, 7
Owen Daniels: 70, 854, 0
Dallas Clark: 73, 887, 14
Jeremy Shockey: 62, 716, 4
Eric Johnson: 69, 510, 2
Ben Watson: 36, 444, 10
Chris Cooley: 53, 501, 11
Heath Miller: 55, 761, 9
Matt Spaeth: 9, 64, 7
Greg Olsen: 42, 510, 4
Donald Lee: 57, 695, 2
Jeff King: 64, 619, 2
Tony Scheffler, 23, 265, 5
Leonard Pope: 21, 217, 5
Bubba Franks: 32, 206, 5
Topics: Fantasy Football, NFL, Stats Are Cool | 1 Comment »
November 5th, 2007 at 12:00 PM
Haven’t you heard?
TE is the new WR, and they’re so hot still.