NFL Top 10 Tightest Rankings of 2022: Travis Kelce Proves Headlines for Veterans and Newcomers

The tight final position is one of the most undervalued positions in football. In some plays they are called to act as an offensive line player and in others as a broad receiver. Sometimes they have to do both in one play. Tight ends who are skilled enough to play in the NFL are some of the most sporty players and some of the hardest players. There are also some of the best personalities in this position group.

Below we describe our 10 best tense ends to enter the 2022 season. In compiling this catalog, we took into account a number of things: how the player did in recent seasons, basic statistics such as bets, yards and landings, the approximate value of the Pro Football Reference, and the assumption of how the player is moving. on. Let’s jump in.

Tributes: Pat Freiermuth, Noah Fant, Hunter Henry, Dawson Knox

Some are surprised to see Ertz on the list, but he played well after the Arizona Cardinals – something everyone didn’t expect. In the 2021 campaign, he finished in ninth place with 763 receptions, 74th in receptions and ninth in five touchdowns. The Pro Football Reference also gave Ertz eight AVs, which were shared among all the tense ends of the NFL last season. It was fun to see him catch eight balls 88 yards and two touchdowns from Colt McCoy against Seattle Seahawks in week 11.

Ertz didn’t dominate the running block, but joining the Cardinals averaged 52.2 yards per game. If he maintained this pace throughout the year, he would be ranked eighth in this category. Six weeks without DeAndre Hopkins, Ertz is expected to see some good opportunities in the away game next season. He’s not done yet.

Schultz was probably the hardest player on this list. In his 2021 career year, he reached the top 10 of the insidious fantasy football game in the NFL. Is the best still ahead? He is only 25 years old, so he can really be one of the best targets to move forward.

Schultz finished sixth among all narrow ends with 808 receiving yards, third with 78 yards and fifth with 8 touchdowns. Another reason Schultz is on this list is that he put together probably the best overall blocking season of his career. For PFF, he improved his 35.2 blocking pass to 68.1 last year and his running blocking score from 65.4 to 69.9. The Dallas Cowboys see Schultz as an important aspect of their onslaught, which is why they franchised him this season.

We were all ready for the 2022 Hockenson break-out season. He started hot as the narrow end of the Detroit Lions scored 16 yards in 163 yards and two touchdowns in the first two races, but then narrowed slightly. A hand injury took him to a damaged reserve in December.

Regardless of how the campaign ended, Hockenson set a career-leading career in collecting yards with 48.6, finishing eighth in all tense ends and catching 72.6%. According to PFF, he took a big step back in 2021 as a running blocker, but was still a reliable target that Jared Goff liked. Hockenson made the Pro Bowl in 2020 and may have a career campaign in 2022. His best football is ahead of him.

Gesicki is an interesting player because he is a slot gun rather than a “real” one at a narrow end. He is not known for his blocking, although new head coach Mike McDaniel said he was working hard to improve that aspect of his game. When Gesicki received only two touchdowns in 2021, he achieved 73 career-top receptions, finishing fifth in all narrow ends, and 780-yard career top eighth.

Gesicki absolutely deserves a place on this list because of his versatility and the fact that he has built up the totals of his receptions and yards every season. In addition, he could really break out under McDaniel. The first-year leader has seen George Kittle influence the attack, so he’s likely to play a big role for his young TE1. Since joining the league in 2018, Gesick has ranked eighth in all tough rivals.

The jury will decide if Jalen Hurts is the franchisee, but he helped Goedert reach the top of his career in catches and yards in 2021. There are certainly better receiving tips than Goedert, but what makes him so good is that he is a great blocker. as well. The Philadelphia Eagles had No. 1 NFL attack last year, and Goedert played a role in it. He is a really underrated player who was fifth in the number of yards accepted last year and was awarded the highest AV.

Last year, we ranked Pitts No. 4 in the NFL before he even played for a moment, and he wasn’t disappointed. The Florida product became the first newcomer to record 1,000 receptions in a season since Mike Ditka in 1961, and Pitts also broke Julio Jones’ Atlanta Falcons newcomer record. Pitts finished third in all narrow stakes and led all players who scored at least three yards per bet on 15.09. He is already one of the best receivers in his position, but he is not an elite blocker. Nevertheless, he scored 55.6 points higher on PFF than the other four tense ends on the list.

Pitts is not your usual narrow end, but its versatility makes it special. Marcus Mario or Desmond Ridder have a chance to grow with him, because Arthur Smith is definitely going to move forward with his special weapon.

Waller missed six games last season due to injury, but still finished 11th in yards. In terms of yards earned per game, Waller was fifth with 60.5. In addition to his sportiness and versatility, Waller is one of the few narrow ends in the league that could be the center of attack. In last year’s opening game, he caught over 105 yards from Baltimore Ravens and 10 out of 19 touchdown targets. This performance duplicated Jon Gruden’s Waller the best player he has ever coached.

The future of the 29-year-old is bright, as Waller has a new head coach in Josh McDaniels who has experience planning around the narrow ends of the stars. He also now has Davante Adams at work and his agent works for a new transaction to make him even richer. Waller is expected to get back 1,000 yards in 2022.

You could say that Andrews deserves to be No. 1 on this list if we missed out last season. Despite not having a Lamar Jackson for about a quarter of a year, Andrews had an incredible campaign. He set career highs at receptions and receptions and reached a touchdown distance from finishing the top 10 of his career. In general, Andrews led all the tight ends at the receptions and yards and was tied for most touchdowns. The selection of his first team, All-Pro, was well deserved.

Andrews set the Ravens franchise record for the highest number of yards in one season last year. That’s why the team doesn’t worry about its pretty green wide reception corps.

2. George Kittle

The thing you need to love about Kittle is that he finds joy in every aspect of football. He is fortunate to be able to stretch his defense as a receiver and is just as ready to bury potential bats as a blocker for a San Francisco 49ers defender. Kittle recovered from an injury-stricken 2020 campaign, earning a career-top six touchdowns with 14 games and finishing fourth among players with 65 yards per game. He was fourth in receptions, sixth in receptions, and seventh in yards. Kittle is one of the best players in the NFL and could play an important role in Trey Lance’s versatile but explosive safety coverage.

Kelce is back in our NFL rankings No. 1. Although he will turn 33 in October, Kelce has shown no signs of slowing down. It’s true that he’s not a stud run blocker, but last year Kelce celebrated its sixth consecutive 1,000-yard campaign – an NFL record for which it continues to build – and won the third All-Pro Selection first team and seventh consecutive. Pro Bowl offer. In 2021, he took second place in terms of yards and receptions among all tense ends and leveled the lead in terms of landings.

Kelce is simply an elite who will run out and may lose even more responsibility in the game this year due to the loss of Tyreek Hill.