Writers of Pro Football Prospectus 2008

printable version

Innovative Statistics

Football Outsiders exclusive statistics


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Tight Ends 2008

Regular season totals, through Week 11

Revised as of 11/18/2008

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 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 (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 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.
  • Please note that due to his usage patterns, we list Dallas Clark of Indianapolis as a wide receiver beginning in 2007.

The simple version: DYAR means a tight end with more total value. DVOA means a tight end with more value per play.

RECEIVING: Minimum 17 passes, 44 players ranked

Player Team DYAR Rk YAR Rk DVOA Rk VOA Passes Yards EYds TD Catch
Rate
81-O.Daniels HOU 130 1 128 1 20.4% 10 20.2% 67 555 676 2 67%
85-A.Gates SD 126 2 120 2 23.1% 8 22.1% 61 479 619 7 66%
82-J.Witten DAL 115 3 108 4 17.9% 13 16.2% 71 583 637 2 68%
80-B.Scaife TEN 104 4 96 7 20.1% 11 18.2% 57 450 544 2 77%
88-T.Gonzalez KC 103 5 111 3 10.3% 17 11.8% 88 583 714 5 63%
83-B.Miller NO 102 6 106 5 34.7% 4 36.6% 37 388 425 0 76%
47-C.Cooley WAS 88 7 98 6 11.4% 16 13.6% 72 576 587 1 76%
81-D.Keller NYJ 77 8 93 8 19.0% 12 24.5% 40 341 414 3 68%
81-A.Smith TB 75 9 72 13 30.0% 5 28.2% 30 228 335 3 63%
80-M.Bennett DAL 74 10 72 14 62.0% 1 59.7% 18 206 252 2 67%
88-D.Martin MIA 73 11 79 11 27.9% 6 30.8% 31 263 334 2 65%
81-V.Shiancoe MIN 71 12 62 15 22.5% 9 18.5% 37 293 356 5 62%
88-T.Scheffler DEN 71 13 80 9 26.2% 7 30.5% 30 351 333 2 67%
83-H.Miller PIT 71 14 78 12 38.2% 2 42.6% 26 240 285 1 81%
87-B.Celek PHI 65 15 59 16 35.1% 3 31.5% 23 239 270 0 74%
Player Team DYAR Rk YAR Rk DVOA Rk VOA Passes Yards EYds TD Catch
Rate
80-A.Fasano MIA 64 16 80 10 16.5% 14 22.9% 37 305 361 3 59%
89-J.Carlson SEA 48 17 45 18 7.2% 19 6.4% 48 337 380 2 63%
80-Z.Miller OAK 39 18 45 17 6.0% 20 8.6% 47 430 325 1 62%
82-G.Olsen CHI 37 19 43 19 4.4% 21 6.3% 47 391 348 2 70%
89-K.Boss NYG 36 20 19 22 7.5% 18 0.6% 34 217 279 4 56%
88-J.Gilmore TB 27 21 21 21 15.0% 15 10.7% 17 124 159 1 71%
89-M.Lewis JAC 23 22 16 24 1.4% 24 -1.5% 44 306 282 2 50%
89-D.Graham DEN 20 23 28 20 2.9% 23 6.8% 28 206 211 4 54%
88-D.Rosario CAR 18 24 19 23 3.4% 22 3.8% 25 166 182 1 60%
86-T.Heap BAL 14 25 7 29 -1.7% 29 -4.6% 37 215 238 2 57%
83-A.Crumpler TEN 12 26 0 33 -0.4% 27 -7.5% 27 177 172 1 63%
86-D.Lee GB 12 27 12 26 -2.2% 31 -2.1% 35 202 219 3 83%
86-C.Baker NYJ 11 28 8 27 0.5% 25 -1.8% 21 128 140 0 71%
80-K.Winslow CLE 10 29 -14 36 -5.9% 33 -10.3% 73 402 419 3 53%
89-M.Spaeth PIT 10 30 7 28 -0.4% 26 -2.1% 21 126 140 0 71%
Player Team DYAR Rk YAR Rk DVOA Rk VOA Passes Yards EYds TD Catch
Rate
47-J.King CAR 8 31 4 30 -2.0% 30 -4.5% 24 150 140 1 67%
82-S.Heiden CLE 7 32 15 25 -4.1% 32 0.9% 27 200 166 0 56%
84-R.McMichael STL 7 33 3 32 -1.1% 28 -4.9% 21 139 116 1 52%
85-V.Davis SF -4 34 3 31 -9.4% 34 -5.7% 29 216 148 2 62%
86-J.Stevens TB -10 35 -11 34 -11.3% 35 -11.9% 36 238 184 1 58%
88-J.Shockey NO -11 36 -14 37 -11.5% 36 -12.5% 42 260 203 0 71%
81-N.Jackson DEN -14 37 -13 35 -18.6% 38 -18.1% 17 84 72 1 65%
82-L.Smith PHI -28 38 -35 41 -17.5% 37 -19.7% 40 157 173 3 45%
86-M.Gaines DET -29 39 -33 39 -25.4% 39 -27.6% 26 192 72 0 73%
82-R.Kelly CIN -35 40 -27 38 -28.7% 41 -23.7% 27 139 61 0 78%
84-R.Royal BUF -53 41 -34 40 -27.3% 40 -19.9% 42 280 109 1 62%
84-B.Watson NE -69 42 -59 42 -33.2% 43 -29.5% 38 179 72 1 50%
88-D.Clark CHI -69 43 -62 43 -28.7% 42 -26.3% 45 255 121 0 56%
81-B.Utecht CIN -70 44 -63 44 -56.5% 44 -50.9% 22 80 -32 0 55%

RECEIVING, OTHERS: 7-16 passes

Player Team DYAR YAR DVOA VOA Passes Yards EYds TD Catch
Rate
80-M.Campbell NO 42 39 25.5% 23.3% 16 121 198 2 75%
87-J.Peelle ATL 27 26 22.0% 20.6% 13 99 137 1 69%
80-D.Schouman BUF 20 23 32.3% 39.0% 7 73 86 0 71%
40-J.Kleinsasser MIN 13 9 17.4% 10.9% 8 67 71 0 50%
46-D.Walker SF 11 16 7.1% 12.4% 12 130 92 1 67%
84-T.Humphrey GB 11 10 5.4% 4.4% 12 97 96 0 67%
89-B.Patrick ARI 10 10 6.0% 4.5% 11 71 90 1 73%
82-C.Fitzsimmons DET 8 3 4.6% -2.1% 10 48 75 1 80%
87-B.Cottam KC 6 12 2.3% 13.4% 9 61 60 0 67%
86-T.Stewart OAK 5 4 2.1% -0.1% 8 43 53 0 88%
85-J.Dreessen HOU 4 1 -0.7% -5.5% 9 50 59 0 67%
Player Team DYAR YAR DVOA VOA Passes Yards EYds TD Catch
Rate
45-G.Mills MIN 2 -4 -4.0% -14.0% 11 65 60 0 45%
83-G.Estandia JAC -1 -4 -8.2% -16.1% 6 40 38 0 50%
86-T.Santi IND -1 4 -8.2% -2.4% 13 64 67 1 77%
86-B.Manumaleuna SD -12 -12 -23.9% -23.7% 11 56 36 0 73%
82-L.Pope ARI -12 -10 -29.3% -24.8% 9 45 21 0 78%
88-B.Franks NYJ -13 -15 -29.2% -32.5% 9 47 21 0 67%
86-D.Thomas NE -14 -10 -20.1% -16.1% 16 93 61 0 56%
88-J.Klopfenstein STL -30 -32 -56.8% -61.5% 9 26 -15 0 56%
47-G.Robinson IND -32 -31 -60.1% -59.1% 10 29 -19 0 60%
89-T.Curtis DAL -32 -35 -59.5% -64.6% 10 34 -18 0 70%

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