It looks like Julius Thomas is headed for free agency, and it will be interesting to see where he lands. It’s not often that a tight end of his quality is on the market. Some of his success can be attributed to playing with Peyton Manning, but he’s a talented receiving threat.
Over the past two years, only two tight ends have put up better overall numbers – Rob Gronkowski and Jimmy Graham. Looking only at tight ends who’ve started over half the time since 2013, Thomas ranks No. 1 in touchdowns (24 in 26 games). He’s 8th in yards (49 per game).
If he re-signs with Denver, Thomas should be one of the top 3 tight ends drafted this summer in fantasy leagues. On a number of other teams, he’d be more of just a top-10 guy. We’ll see.
| TIGHT END POINTS PER GAME SINCE 2013 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rk | Player | St | No | Yards | TD | FPG |
| 1. | Rob Gronkowski | 22 | 5.5 | 78.0 | .73 | 12.2 |
| 2. | Jimmy Graham | 32 | 5.3 | 65.8 | .81 | 11.5 |
| 3. | Julius Thomas | 26 | 4.2 | 49.1 | .92 | 10.5 |
| 4. | Antonio Gates | 32 | 4.6 | 52.9 | .50 | 8.3 |
| 5. | Greg Olsen | 32 | 4.9 | 57.0 | .38 | 8.0 |
| 6. | Jordan Cameron | 25 | 4.2 | 53.6 | .36 | 7.5 |
| 7. | Martellus Bennett | 32 | 4.8 | 52.3 | .37 | 7.4 |
| 8. | Jason Witten | 32 | 4.3 | 48.6 | .41 | 7.3 |
| 9. | Delanie Walker | 30 | 4.1 | 48.7 | .33 | 6.9 |
| 10. | Coby Fleener | 32 | 3.2 | 43.2 | .40 | 6.7 |
| 11. | Vernon Davis | 30 | 2.6 | 36.5 | .50 | 6.7 |
| 12. | Charles Clay | 30 | 4.2 | 45.5 | .33 | 6.5 |
| 13. | Owen Daniels | 17 | 3.6 | 41.7 | .29 | 5.9 |
| 14. | Jordan Reed | 17 | 4.8 | 50.5 | .12 | 5.8 |
| 15. | Jared Cook | 32 | 3.2 | 40.8 | .25 | 5.6 |
| 16. | Heath Miller | 30 | 4.1 | 45.1 | .14 | 5.4 |
| 17. | Jermaine Gresham | 29 | 3.7 | 31.7 | .31 | 5.0 |
| 18. | Zach Ertz | 32 | 2.9 | 36.6 | .22 | 5.0 |
| 19. | Marcedes Lewis | 19 | 2.3 | 29.7 | .32 | 4.9 |
| 20. | Garrett Graham | 24 | 2.8 | 30.9 | .25 | 4.6 |
| 21. | Scott Chandler | 32 | 3.1 | 36.0 | .16 | 4.5 |
| 22. | Zach Miller | 17 | 2.3 | 27.2 | .29 | 4.5 |
| 23. | Brandon Myers | 19 | 3.1 | 32.1 | .21 | 4.5 |
| 24. | Mychal Rivera | 32 | 3.0 | 29.4 | .25 | 4.4 |
| 25. | John Carlson | 19 | 2.7 | 32.2 | .12 | 3.9 |
| 26. | Brent Celek | 32 | 2.0 | 26.3 | .22 | 3.9 |
| 27. | Anthony Fasano | 24 | 2.0 | 17.8 | .29 | 3.5 |
| 28. | Andrew Quarless | 26 | 2.2 | 23.3 | .19 | 3.5 |
| 29. | Jeff Cumberland | 31 | 1.6 | 20.8 | .23 | 3.4 |
| 30. | Lance Kendricks | 31 | 1.9 | 16.7 | .29 | 3.4 |
| 31. | Brandon Pettigrew | 24 | 2.1 | 20.3 | .08 | 2.5 |
| 32. | Jim Dray | 22 | 1.5 | 15.1 | .09 | 2.1 |
—Ian Allan