Vernon Davis really pulled a face plant last year, didn’t he? I was looking at the numbers, and he graded out as the biggest bust among tight ends in this century. An amazing dropoff.

I chose to look at per-game numbers rather than straight cumulative stats, and I tossed out guys who didn’t start more than 10 games. I didn’t want to get into looking at guys who maybe only played a game or two before getting hurt and whatnot. I looked only at guys who started at least 10 games, then game back the next year and started 10-plus games again.

There were over 300 tight ends in the study. I went back to 2000 – all of the tight ends this century.

And of this group, Vernon Davis declined more than anyone. He was a disaster as a scorer. In the 2013 season, he caught 13 TDs in 15 games (2nd-best among all tight ends). Last year he slipped to 2 TDs in 14 games. The only tight end who was remotely similar in decline was Marcedes Lewis a few years back, who dropped from 10 TDs to none for Jacksonville.

Only one other tight end has declined by over a half touchdown per game. That would be Visanthe Shiancoe, who fell off from 11 TDs to 2 TDs five years ago.

BIGGEST TOUCHDOWN DECLINES BY TIGHT ENDS
YearsPlayerBef TDAft TDDecline
13-14Vernon Davis.87.14.72
10-11Marcedes Lewis.63.00.63
09-10Visanthe Shiancoe.69.13.56
12-13Heath Miller.56.07.48
01-02David Sloan.47.00.47
10-11Antonio Gates1.00.54.46
07-08Chris Cooley.52.06.46
04-05Mark Campbell.42.00.42
07-08Leonard Pope.38.00.38
07-08Benjamin Watson.55.17.38
13-14Jimmy Graham1.00.63.38
11-12Jermichael Finley.50.13.37
09-10John Carlson.44.07.37
11-12Tony Scheffler.42.07.36
09-10Vernon Davis.81.46.35
04-05Bubba Franks.44.10.34
10-11Zach Miller.33.00.33
07-08Dallas Clark.73.40.33
02-03Christian Fauria.46.13.33
04-05Tony Gonzalez.44.13.31
11-12Ed Dickson.31.00.31
13-14Brent Celek.38.06.31
05-06Jason Witten.38.06.31
08-09Anthony Fasano.44.14.29
13-14Garrett Graham.38.09.29
07-08Alge Crumpler.36.07.29

Davis also graded out as the worst of the worst in receiving yardage. He fell off by 39 yards per game. In the last 15 seasons, only two other tight ends have cracked the 25-yard (per game) mark – Zach Miller and Brent Celek.

BIGGEST YARDS DECLINES BY TIGHT ENDS
YearsPlayerBef YdsAft YdsDecline
13-14Vernon Davis56.717.539.2
10-11Zach Miller45.715.530.1
09-10Brent Celek60.734.126.6
13-14Garrett Graham41.917.924.0
11-12Antonio Gates59.835.924.0
13-14Brandon Pettigrew29.77.022.7
04-05Tony Gonzalez78.656.622.1
08-09Tony Scheffler49.627.721.9
00-01Kyle Brady45.624.121.4
08-09Robert Royal30.810.320.5
13-14Jimmy Graham75.955.620.4
05-06Ben Troupe35.315.020.3
01-02David Sloan27.37.919.3
01-02Frank Wycheck42.023.118.9
13-14Jordan Cameron61.142.418.7
10-11Antonio Gates78.259.818.4
07-08Donald Lee38.320.218.1
00-01Tony Gonzalez75.257.317.9
05-06Jeremy Shockey59.441.517.9
00-01Chad Lewis45.928.117.8
10-11Todd Heap46.128.317.8
12-13Brandon Myers50.432.617.8
07-08Benjamin Watson34.516.917.5
07-08Antonio Gates61.544.017.5
06-07Alge Crumpler48.831.717.0

Davis is in a contract year, so he has plenty of incentive to turn things around. On the flip side, he’s also 31 years old, which is long in the tooth for a tight end.

—Ian Allan