For reasons I can’t explain, tight ends didn’t score as many touchdowns last year. They were also a little off in the previous season.
Trey McBride, T.J. Hockenson and Travis Kelce, in particular, didn’t score as many touchdowns as they should have (given their roles in the offense). Noah Fant made it through the entire season without getting into the end zone.
With those guys leading the way, tight ends league-wide caught only 22 percent of the league’s touchdown passes. That’s the lowest figure since 2008. They caught over 26 percent of the touchdowns in the 2020 and 2022 seasons. The decline may have started in 2023, when the figure fell to 22.8 percent.
The high-water mark for the position came about 10 years ago, when Rob Gronkowski and Jimmy Graham were at the height of their powers. In the 2013-14 seasons, tight ends accounted for 29.5 and 27.3 percent of the league’s touchdown catches.
I’m not sure what’s fueling this. There hasn’t been a noticeable decline in talent at the position.
Travis Kelce might be ready to call it a career. (Even if he returns, he’s not what he’s been in the past.) But there are other young talents entering the league. Brock Bowers looks like a franchise guy, and there are two elite tight ends in the draft this year – Tyler Warren (pictured) and Colston Loveland.
This may be more of a short-term aberration rather than a long-range change.
| TIGHT END TOUCHDOWNS | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | TDP | TE | Pct | Avg |
| 2002 | 694 | 137 | 19.7% | 4.3 |
| 2003 | 654 | 132 | 20.2% | 4.1 |
| 2004 | 732 | 189 | 25.8% | 5.9 |
| 2005 | 644 | 153 | 23.8% | 4.8 |
| 2006 | 648 | 154 | 23.8% | 4.8 |
| 2007 | 720 | 189 | 26.3% | 5.9 |
| 2008 | 646 | 139 | 21.5% | 4.3 |
| 2009 | 710 | 194 | 27.3% | 6.1 |
| 2010 | 751 | 195 | 26.0% | 6.1 |
| 2011 | 745 | 198 | 26.6% | 6.2 |
| 2011 | 894 | 211 | 23.6% | 6.6 |
| 2012 | 757 | 195 | 25.8% | 6.1 |
| 2013 | 804 | 237 | 29.5% | 7.4 |
| 2014 | 807 | 220 | 27.3% | 6.9 |
| 2015 | 842 | 215 | 25.5% | 6.7 |
| 2016 | 786 | 189 | 24.0% | 5.9 |
| 2017 | 741 | 196 | 26.5% | 6.1 |
| 2018 | 847 | 190 | 22.4% | 5.9 |
| 2019 | 797 | 196 | 24.6% | 6.1 |
| 2020 | 871 | 229 | 26.3% | 7.2 |
| 2021 | 840 | 204 | 24.3% | 6.4 |
| 2022 | 750 | 198 | 26.4% | 6.2 |
| 2023 | 754 | 172 | 22.8% | 5.4 |
| 2024 | 809 | 178 | 22.0% | 5.6 |
—Ian Allan