By Logan Ulrich
Standing at his first ever NFL Combine in 2007, Doug Farrar found himself in a football enthusiast’s paradise with some of the brightest coaches and general managers in football clustered together in one place looking to find the future of football.
Farrar, now an NFL analyst for Bleacher Report, struck up a conversation with Scott McCloughan, who is the current general manager for the Washington Redskins and in 2007 held the same role for the San Francisco 49ers. McCloughan, noted as one of the top talent evaluators in football, had some interesting things to say.
“He was the first guy who said, ‘Look, the future of tight ends is they’re going to be outside the formation, they’re going to be big receivers and they’re not going to be asked to block,’” Farrar said.
If football was chess, tight ends would be queens. They give offenses flexibility either as extra blockers or pass catchers. Their usage tends to reflect the overall offensive trends in the sport. In the past when the NFL was more run-heavy, tight ends were viewed as an extension of the offensive line.
Fast forward almost ten years, and McCloughan’s prophecy has come true. An analysis of NFL Combine data from 1999-2016 show the average weight of tight ends dropped by ten pounds, the average 40-yard dash times dropped a full tenth of a second and average broad jump increase by five inches when comparing players measured in 1999 to those in 2016.
In short, tight ends became lighter, faster and more explosive as NFL offenses sought to create mismatches and exploit defenses.
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(Pictured above) From 1999-2016, broad jump scores (top) have risen more than five inches for tight ends, while 40-yard dash times for (bottom) have decreased by more than a tenth of a second.
Once upon a time, size and the ability to block were seen as the ideal skills for a tight end in an era of run-focused, smashmouth offensive football. That began to change in the 1970s with San Diego Chargers’ tight end Kellen Winslow.
“When (Chargers head coach) Don Coryell got a hold of Kellen Winslow, he was the first dedicated receiver/tight end,” Farrar said.
Winslow wasn’t as good a blocker as most other tight ends of the time period. But the Chargers used him more like a wide receiver despite his 6-foot-5, 250-pound frame, and the results were devastating. Winslow set numerous passing records from the position, as he was too big for cornerbacks and too fast for linebackers and safeties that were more used to stopping the run than covering athletic freaks.
The Chargers also lined him up in a variety of ways besides the traditional three-point stance next to the offensive tackle. Winslow lined up out wide, in the slot and went into motion often — concepts that are now regularly used by many other teams.
The receiving tight end model found a perfect home with the increase in spread offenses in the modern NFL. As offenses began using more receivers and spreading the field, defenses became smaller and quicker in response. In 2000, teams ran nickel defense — five defensive backs instead of the four used in most base defenses — 50 percent of the time. In 2015, that number rose to 65 percent.
With more defensive backs on the field, offenses turned to tight ends who could bully the smaller defenders.
“It’s the measurements you brought up: speed, agility, explosiveness,” Farrar said. “You want a guy that can beat press. You want a guy that’s just going to outmuscle defenders.”
Teams looked high and low for guys with that skillset. Antonio Gates and Jimmy Graham both played four years of basketball in college before turning to football, but their ability to box out defenders for rebounds translated nicely to the redzone. The two have combined for 167 touchdowns in nearly 21 combined seasons.
“You just want a guy that can create explosiveness in short areas,” Farrar said. “However that manifests itself…that’s what you need.”
In response, teams have tried to find linebackers with coverage ability, which oftentimes means smaller. Only two linebackers weighing 250 pounds or heavier were drafted in the first three rounds in the past five years, and the way tight ends have been deployed played a major role in that.
“It’s changed the structure of the linebacker; it’s increased the slot defender,” Farrar said.
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While receiving tight ends are trendier and flashier, that’s not the only way the position has evolved. Tight ends have become incredibly diverse, with most tight ends falling into one or more of three categories: receiving, blocking or H-backs.
“Now, it’s not about how the tight end used to be just this one thing in the formation and now he’s outside,” Farrar said. “Now in the last few years…you have tight ends in different roles.”
Teams still use and need blocking tight ends, though the requirements haven’t changed much since the 1970s. Teams still look for players that are 20 to 30 pounds smaller than their offensive tackles with big legs and wide bases who know how to block. The challenge now is fewer college programs ask their tight ends to block, meaning NFL scouts often have to guess which college tight ends have the ability to block because they haven’t done it on film.
The H-back is more of a role than a category. A cross between a fullback and tight end, H-backs are typically shorter than most tight ends but still do many of the duties required by the position. The position first rose to prominence with the Washington Redskins under head coach Joe Gibbs in the 1980s. Gibbs moved one of the backs in his offense closer to the line of scrimmage like a tight end, but still left him in the backfield. This helped set up the H-back to block to either side, a key element of the “Counter Trey” play the Redskins made famous.
New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick added a new wrinkle to the H-back position with Aaron Hernandez. The 6-foot-1, 245-pound Hernandez was a tremendous athlete and often lined up in the backfield where he’d block, run routes and even carry the ball on occasion. He teamed with Rob Gronkowski to form a formidable tight end duo until he was indicted for murder in 2013 and later convicted.
Gronkowski is one of a scant few tight ends who are equally as accomplished blockers as receivers (Farrar said the Patriots tight end was 25 pounds away from being one of the better left tackles in football), and finding one often involves having a high draft pick.
The solution some teams have hit upon is to embrace diversity. Find a highly specified player that can do one or two things really well, then make a role for him on the team. If there’s a tight end who other teams are dinging because he can’t block, then just don’t ask him to block.
“It’s not so much finding guys on the cheap,” Farrar said. “It’s taking advantage of the hidden value that other guys don’t see.”
The Tennessee Titans are one of those teams. The Titans carry four tight ends on the roster; Delanie Walker, who at 6 feet and 248 pounds fits the H-back/receiving mismatch mold; Anthony Fasano, known as a blocker; Phillip Supernaw, another blocker; and Jace Amaro, who was a former second round pick by the New York Jets for his size and receiving ability. All four see regular playing time in a Titans offense that regularly uses two or three tight end formations.
Some coaches struggle with this concept because the NFL places a high premium on disguise. Specialized players entering the game can tip off the opposing side to what the play might be, which is why coaches place such a high value on players who can do multiple things well. Sometimes that results in trying to fit a square peg into a round hole, however.
“Being in Seattle, I remember when they traded for (Jimmy) Graham,” Farrar said. “(The Seahawks) couldn’t figure out what to do with him because (offensive coordinator Darrell) Bevell wanted blocking tight ends.”
Graham had his lowest output since his rookie year in receptions, yards and touchdowns in his first year with the Seahawks in 2015. In 2016, the team has made using him as a receiver more of a point and put less of an emphasis on his blocking ability or lack thereof. His production is back near his career averages as a result.
“We’ve got this great offensive weapon, but he doesn’t block,” Farrar said. “It has taken some coaches a little bit of time to figure out, ‘Okay, this is what this is.’”
Farrar says too much emphasis is put on schemes in the NFL. There’s only so many plays you can run, and teams are better equipped than ever to identify tendencies in certain formations or situations in the game, like third down or in the redzone. But there’s only so much a coach can do about a big player on a smaller one or a fast player on a slower one.
“If you’re the Saints or the Packers and you’re running a 3-by-1 and you have a detached tight end as a part of the three, teams pretty much know what’s coming anyways,” Farrar said. “Then to me it’s more about…trying to establish physical mismatches.
“What you want is to put (your tight end) in the slot and mismatch him against a 5-foot-10, 190-pound speedster and post up. Or move a linebacker over who can’t cover.”
In Farrar’s version of the modern NFL, the tight end becomes less like a piece on a game board and more like a component of a formula where the answer is hopefully winning.
“You’re trying to impose an impossible math problem as opposed to some schematic advantage,” Farrar said. “You’re doing algebra as opposed to playing chess.”
**Done as a final project in 2016 for MEJO 460: Data-Driven Journalism at the University of North Carolina