Factoid
It wasn't a great year for rookie tight ends; Detroit's Brandon Pettigrew was the only one to put up even 250 receiving yards, and none caught more than 2 TDs. Of the five tight ends drafted in the first three rounds last April, only Pettigrew caught even 10 passes.
Recent history suggests things will be better for at least a few of those players -- Pettigrew, Tennessee's Jared Cook, Denver's Richard Quinn, the Giants' Travis Beckum, and Cincinnati's Chase Coffman -- in 2010. Of the 31 tight ends taken in the first three rounds over the previous six seasons, only six of them managed even 350 receiving yards in their rookie season. The leading rookie last year, Pettigrew, finished with just 346 yards.
Flash forward to year 2, however, and more than half (16) of the tight ends taken in the first three rounds reached that yardage total in their sophomore seasons. The numbers are presented below, ordered by those second-year yardage totals.
Receiving yards, TEs drafted rounds 1-3 (2003-2008)
Yr 1 Yr 2 Player, Team
347 980 Jason Witten, Cowboys
444 778 Zach Miller, Raiders
314 774 Chris Cooley , Washington
74 676 Jermichael Finley, Packers
627 574 John Carlson, Seahawks
391 574 Greg Olsen, Bears
286 549 Tony Scheffler, Broncos
329 530 Ben Troupe, Titans
535 522 Dustin Keller , Jets
265 509 Vernon Davis, 49ers
27 509 Fred Davis, Washington
16 441 Ben Watson, Patriots
340 423 Dallas Clark, Colts
459 393 Heath Miller, Steelers
126 391 Marcedes Lewis, Jaguars
321 377 L.J. Smith, Eagles
367 250 Alex Smith, Bucs
283 159 Martellus Bennett , Cowboys
126 143 Anthony Fasano, Cowboys
34 136 Matt Spaeth, Steelers
128 131 Teyo Johnson, Raiders
35 123 Mike Seidman, Panthers
63 120 Brad Cottam, Kansas City
226 37 Joe Klopfenstein, Rams
0 33 Kris Wilson, Kansas City
56 25 Visanthe Shiancoe, Giants
33 8 Ben Hartsock, Colts
0 1 Kevin Everett, Bills
50 0 Kellen Winslow, Browns
9 0 Craig Stevens, Titans
0 0 Bennie Joppru, Texans
--Andy Richardson
- Comments [0]
Readers' Comments
Add a Comment
Already a registered user? Please sign in to add comments.
To add comments, you must become a registered user of our site. To register, please click here.
