2015-16 NFL Pre-Season Position Rankings: Tight Ends

We are about halfway through the NFL's off-season (YAY!!!!). OTA's have already started. Players are already getting injured. And the 2015-16 NFL season is getting so close, we can hear the footsteps coming up to the door and someone's just about ready to knock. With that said, it's time to look ahead at next season.

Now that NFL rosters are pretty much finalized (besides numerous upcoming cuts of course), it's time to start giving you guys an idea of how your team is shaping up for next season. What better way to do that than to start power ranking the starters at every position on each roster? It only makes sense.

Up next? The big guys who are asked to do a little bit of everything......

Ultimate Football Blog's

2015-16 Pre-Season Position Rankings

Tight Ends

KEY NOTE: This is a POWER RANKINGS. That means it's a "what have you done for me lately?" list. This is not an ALL-TIME greatest list. If the NFL commissioner came up to me tomorrow and said:

"Hey, you can have any tight end on your team next season....who do you want?"


It would (most likely) go in this order.......


(PS: PFF grade means "Pro Football Focus Grade". For those of you who don't know, ProFootballFocus.com is an football analytics website that grades players based on a certain criteria and it's a criteria that I've come to love. It's a pretty simple grading formula to figure out as well. The more negative score the player has, the least effective he was on-the-field last season. For example a "-24.8" grade would be absolutely awful, but a "24.8" grade means the player was outstanding. See, I told you it was easy to figure out)

*Please note that I'm also ranking guys as if I was building a franchise for the future. Therefore, I tend to favor age a lot in these rankings. Yes, I know Vernon Davis is a fine tight end....but you would have to be crazy to want him on your NFL roster at the age of 31 over a rookie with a lot of potential like Maxx Williams. It's why the Indianapolis Colts traded Peyton Manning when they drafted Andrew Luck. In the NFL, age is KING!

**Some NFL teams run a two tight-end set, so they will have two players ranked on this list.

36. Craig Stevens (Tennessee Titans)

Age: 30

Career Receiving Yards: 603

Career Receiving TD's: 4

Career Receptions: 48

2014-15 PFF Grade: 2.0

35. Darren Fells (Arizona Cardinals)

Age: 29

Career Receiving Yards: 71

Career Receiving TD's: 0

Career Receptions: 5

2014-15 PFF Grade: 4.3

34. Gary Barnidge (Cleveland Browns)

Age: 29

Career Receiving Yards: 603

Career Receiving TD's: 3

Career Receptions: 44

2014-15 PFF Grade: 0.3

33. Jeff Cumberland (New York Jets)

Age: 28

Career Receiving Yards: 1,042

Career Receiving TD's: 10

Career Receptions: 81

2014-15 PFF Grade: -26.3

32. Troy Niklas (Arizona Cardinals)

Age: 22

Career Receiving Yards: 38

Career Receiving TD's: 0

Career Receptions: 3

2014-15 PFF Grade: -7.7

31. Jacob Tamme (Atlanta Falcons)

Age: 30

Career Receiving Yards: 1,703

Career Receiving TD's: 10

Career Receptions: 178

2014-15 PFF Grade: -0.8

30. Garrett Graham (Houston Texans)

Age: 28

Career Receiving Yards: 1,029

Career Receiving TD's: 9

Career Receptions: 96

2014-15 PFF Grade: -9.9

29. Benjamin Watson (New Orleans Saints)

Age: 34

Career Receiving Yards: 4,138

Career Receiving TD's: 32

Career Receptions: 360

2014-15 PFF Grade: -8.2

28. Mychal Rivera (Oakland Raiders)

Age: 24

Career Receiving Yards: 941

Career Receiving TD's: 8

Career Receptions: 96

2014-15 PFF Grade: -25.1

27. Vernon Davis (San Francisco 49ers)

Age: 31

Career Receiving Yards: 5,446

Career Receiving TD's: 55

Career Receptions: 423

2014-15 PFF Grade: -15.8

26. Marcedes Lewis (Jacksonville Jaguars)

Age: 30

Career Receiving Yards: 3,789

Career Receiving TD's: 27

Career Receptions: 315

2014-15 PFF Grade: -8.2

25. Heath Miller (Pittsburgh Steelers)

Age: 32

Career Receiving Yards: 6,034

Career Receiving TD's: 43

Career Receptions: 532

2014-15 PFF Grade: -4.1

24. Owen Daniels (Denver Broncos)

Age: 32

Career Receiving Yards: 5,144

Career Receiving TD's: 33

Career Receptions: 433

2014-15 PFF Grade: -0.1

23. Jordan Cameron (Miami Dolphins)

Age: 26

Career Receiving Yards: 1,600

Career Receiving TD's: 10

Career Receptions: 130

2014-15 PFF Grade: -10.2

22. Larry Donnell (New York Giants)

Age: 26

Career Receiving Yards: 654

Career Receiving TD's: 6

Career Receptions: 66

2014-15 PFF Grade: -9.4

21. Andrew Quarless (Green Bay Packers)

Age: 26

Career Receiving Yards: 909

Career Receiving TD's: 6

Career Receptions: 85

2014-15 PFF Grade: -3.0

20. Tyler Eifert (Cincinnati Bengals)

Age: 24

Career Receiving Yards: 482

Career Receiving TD's: 2

Career Receptions: 42

2014-15 PFF Grade: 1.3

19. Eric Ebron (Detroit Lions)

Age: 22

Career Receiving Yards: 248

Career Receiving TD's: 1

Career Receptions: 25

2014-15 PFF Grade: -7.6

18. Austin Seferian-Jenkins (Tampa Bay Buccaneers)

Age: 22

Career Receiving Yards: 221

Career Receiving TD's: 2

Career Receptions: 21

2014-15 PFF Grade: -4.5

17. Antonio Gates (San Diego Chargers)

Age: 34

Career Receiving Yards: 10,014

Career Receiving TD's: 99

Career Receptions: 788

2014-15 PFF Grade: -7.2

16. Maxx Williams (Baltimore Ravens)

Age: 21

Career Receiving Yards: 0

Career Receiving TD's: 0

Career Receptions: 0

2014-15 PFF Grade: Rookie

15. Jordan Reed (Washington Redskins)

Age: 24

Career Receiving Yards: 964

Career Receiving TD's: 3

Career Receptions: 95

2014-15 PFF Grade: -1.3

14. Kyle Rudolph (Minnesota Vikings)

Age: 25

Career Receiving Yards: 1,286

Career Receiving TD's: 17

Career Receptions: 133

2014-15 PFF Grade: -2.8

13. Brent Celek (Philadelphia Eagles)

Age: 30

Career Receiving Yards: 4,315

Career Receiving TD's: 27

Career Receptions: 344

2014-15 PFF Grade: 6.0

12. Dwayne Allen (Indianapolis Colts)

Age: 25

Career Receiving Yards: 936

Career Receiving TD's: 12

Career Receptions: 75

2014-15 PFF Grade: 4.3

11. Jared Cook (St. Louis Rams)

Age: 28

Career Receiving Yards: 3,022

Career Receiving TD's: 16

Career Receptions: 234

2014-15 PFF Grade: 4.4

10. Julius Thomas (Jacksonville Jaguars)

Age: 26

Career Receiving Yards: 1,282

Career Receiving TD's: 24

Career Receptions: 109

2014-15 PFF Grade: 5.4

9. Charles Clay (Buffalo Bills)

Age: 26

Career Receiving Yards: 1,809

Career Receiving TD's: 14

Career Receptions: 161

2014-15 PFF Grade: 4.9

8. Jason Witten (Dallas Cowboys)

Age: 33

Career Receiving Yards: 10,502

Career Receiving TD's: 57

Career Receptions: 943

2014-15 PFF Grade: 13.3

7. Zach Ertz (Philadelphia Eagles)

Age: 24

Career Receiving Yards: 1,171

Career Receiving TD's: 7

Career Receptions: 94

2014-15 PFF Grade: 10.4

6. Travis Kelce (Kansas City Chiefs)

Age: 25

Career Receiving Yards: 862

Career Receiving TD's: 5

Career Receptions: 67

2014-15 PFF Grade: 11.6

5. Delanie Walker (Tennessee Titans)

Age: 30

Career Receiving Yards: 2,926

Career Receiving TD's: 18

Career Receptions: 246

2014-15 PFF Grade: 6.4

4. Jimmy Graham (Seattle Seahawks)

Age: 28

Career Receiving Yards: 4,752

Career Receiving TD's: 51

Career Receptions: 386

2014-15 PFF Grade: 5.7

3. Martellus Bennett (Chicago Bears)

Age: 28

Career Receiving Yards: 3,147

Career Receiving TD's: 20

Career Receptions: 295

2014-15 PFF Grade: 8.9

2. Greg Olsen (Carolina Panthers)

Age: 30

Career Receiving Yards: 5,188

Career Receiving TD's: 42

Career Receptions: 465

2014-15 PFF Grade: 13.0

1. Rob Gronkowski (New England Patriots)

Age: 26

Career Receiving Yards: 4,379

Career Receiving TD's: 54

Career Receptions: 308

2014-15 PFF Grade: 27.4