FanPost

The Reality of the Tight End Situation

Now, I am not defending the Giants 100% on this issue. But there is a valid reason that we don't have better players at tight end. They don't exist.

Okay, they do exist. But the fact is that they exist in much fewer numbers than there is a demand for from teams in the league. The reason why is the offenses being run in college football. There are very few college teams running pro-style offenses, probably even fewer than 25 years ago when the conventional option was still being run by numerous programs. The spread offense has become the most popular. In the spread, tight ends don't have to block, and recent history in the NFL has found that these tight ends cannot block. Most of these spread programs don't even have tight ends that see regular snaps (like Adrien Robinson), but those that do are receivers first. And these programs are attractive to high school tight ends that see the gaudy numbers that they can put up. At the other end of the spectrum are the remaining run-oriented offenses, including the modern read-option variants, which have tight ends that cannot run or catch, if they even have tight ends at all.

If you want a conventional tight end, you have to be prepared to reach to get one. In this past draft, there were four tight ends that distinguished themselves from the rest. These four went in the first two rounds. Most people considered there to be a huge talent dropoff to the next tight end, C.J. Fiedorowicz. A limited athlete, who was an experienced but not very strong blocker. He was the first pick of the third round. The next two tight ends went at the end of the third round. Earlier than most analysts projected. The Ravens already have a starter in Dennis Pitta, who has a new contract that ensures he will be around for a few years. But they used a late third-round pick to select Crockett Gillmore, a Jake Ballard-type player.

Free agency has similar expensive costs. Dennis Pitta played 4 games last year. His career best in receiving yards is 669. Victor Cruz had his worst season last year with 998 yards. Yet there is only $2 million a year difference in the contracts they recently signed. Brandon Pettigrew has shown the ability to be an average tight end. He just re-signed for 4 years, $16 million. Kyle Rudolph has yet to break 500 yards. He just signed a 5-year deal for only $1.3 million a year less than Cruz. Garrett Graham got $3.75 million a year for his first 500 yard season. And then his team used pick 65 on Fiedorowicz. Brandon Myers showed us little last year but he is making $2 million a year.

I took a look at today's roster cuts. I know nothing about 80% of the tight ends cut today, a higher percentage than at any other position. Never heard of these guys. They appear on no draft watch lists. Teams are so desperate for guys that can play tight end that they will offer tryouts to anyone that shows up. None of these guys will solve our problem.

So what is the solution? Yes, maybe Reese should try a little harder to find a reasonably-priced free agent or to reach a little to pick one in the draft, if any exist. Or maybe we should just abandon the idea of a tight end playing every down, just as spread teams have done. Instead of having a tight end in to block a linebacker, put a wide receiver outside to bring a defender away from the middle of the field. It opens up more space for a running back to find a hole. If we are throwing the ball, we now have an extra fast receiver on the field instead of a plodding tight end. If you really want the extra blocker, throw another lineman on the line. The Bears did that last year with Eben Britton. He took almost 200 snaps last year as a sixth lineman. On run downs, you have a better blocker on the field. Teams like the Giants did not cover him with a fifth defensive lineman because that is not a formation that is commonly used. On passing downs, you have a better extra pass blocker than with a tight end or running back. You can double the dominant pass rusher on the outside or you can slide bodies over to eliminate gaps.

If what we have is not working, you try something else.

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