Best Tight Ends Ever

[Duke4life831]

So where does Kelce stand with the all time greats at the TE spot? I know he doesnt have the career numbers because he is only 31. But this dude is just insane. There is just no coverage for this guy and basically ever since he has stepped foot into the NFL he has been unguardable. I started watching the NFL in 98 which was Tony's 2nd year and I know he is the gold standard at the Tight End position. I also view Gronk's 2nd season as the gold standard for highest peak.

Just year in, year out Kelce is good for 1k+ yards, and just being a guy that no defense has any answer too. He is at least in the conversation as one of the most dominant tight ends of all time.

[bwgood77]

So where does Kelce stand with the all time greats at the TE spot? I know he doesnt have the career numbers because he is only 31. But this dude is just insane. There is just no coverage for this guy and basically ever since he has stepped foot into the NFL he has been unguardable. I started watching the NFL in 98 which was Tony's 2nd year and I know he is the gold standard at the Tight End position. I also view Gronk's 2nd season as the gold standard for highest peak.

Just year in, year out Kelce is good for 1k+ yards, and just being a guy that no defense has any answer too. He is at least in the conversation as one of the most dominant tight ends of all time.

Tough to say...he's awesome but it's still early in his career. There were many dominant TEs over the years and passing is much more prevalent now than ever, and has been getting bigger since the turn of the century. Tony Gonzalez, Antonio Gates and Shannon Sharpe were all great, and more recently Gronk. But before those guys everyone thought Kellen Winslow and Ozzie Newsome were the best ever. Then before that you had guys like Mike Ditka and Dave Casper. These guys are all hard to compare because of the different eras. Those first four I mentioned were all great, could catch anything and were very hard to bring down...Kelce fits the mold of those guys. Witten was pretty good too. Some other guys were briefly great, like Ben Coates and Jimmy Graham....they were or have been around for awhile but seemed to be really good for only a few years...it may have just been the QBs they were playing with and the chemistry. Kelce will likely end up very high in yards and TDs partly because he will play a long time with Mahomes...who may end up being the best QB ever...he's certainly the best I've ever seen at this point in a career.

[Duke4life831]

So where does Kelce stand with the all time greats at the TE spot? I know he doesnt have the career numbers because he is only 31. But this dude is just insane. There is just no coverage for this guy and basically ever since he has stepped foot into the NFL he has been unguardable. I started watching the NFL in 98 which was Tony's 2nd year and I know he is the gold standard at the Tight End position. I also view Gronk's 2nd season as the gold standard for highest peak.

Just year in, year out Kelce is good for 1k+ yards, and just being a guy that no defense has any answer too. He is at least in the conversation as one of the most dominant tight ends of all time.

Tough to say...he's awesome but it's still early in his career. There were many dominant TEs over the years and passing is much more prevalent now than ever, and has been getting bigger since the turn of the century. Tony Gonzalez, Antonio Gates and Shannon Sharpe were all great, and more recently Gronk. But before those guys everyone thought Kellen Winslow and Ozzie Newsome were the best ever. Then before that you had guys like Mike Ditka and Dave Casper. These guys are all hard to compare because of the different eras. Those first four I mentioned were all great, could catch anything and were very hard to bring down...Kelce fits the mold of those guys. Witten was pretty good too. Some other guys were briefly great, like Ben Coates and Jimmy Graham....they were or have been around for awhile but seemed to be really good for only a few years...it may have just been the QBs they were playing with and the chemistry. Kelce will likely end up very high in yards and TDs partly because he will play a long time with Mahomes...who may end up being the best QB ever...he's certainly the best I've ever seen at this point in a career.

Ya stats-wise is pretty hard to compare, the game has changed so much. Like that crazy stat that Joe Flacco is about to pass Joe Montana on the all-time passing yards list haha.

And ya I started watching in 98 so I saw the later years of Sharpe and didnt see the older guys like Winslow but have heard about how great they are.

Gronk to me in 2011 is the greatest Tight End Ive personally ever watched. Watched all of Gates, pretty much all of Tony, all of Witten. But man healthy young Gronk was just a different animal. It was like watching young Moss, it just seemed unfair for the defenses, there was nothing to do to stop them.

Kelce to me is probably #2 for me behind that 2011 Gronk, but were getting this Kelce for 5-6 years straight so far. Ya Tony has the longevity, but man Kelce is just so damn good. But ya Tony's longevity was something else as well.

[bwgood77]

So where does Kelce stand with the all time greats at the TE spot? I know he doesnt have the career numbers because he is only 31. But this dude is just insane. There is just no coverage for this guy and basically ever since he has stepped foot into the NFL he has been unguardable. I started watching the NFL in 98 which was Tony's 2nd year and I know he is the gold standard at the Tight End position. I also view Gronk's 2nd season as the gold standard for highest peak.

Just year in, year out Kelce is good for 1k+ yards, and just being a guy that no defense has any answer too. He is at least in the conversation as one of the most dominant tight ends of all time.

I decided to pull up some Ozzie highlights, and man, look at some of these catches in the first minute of the video, starting at about 25 seconds, and then from 2:50 to about 3:30. In between then, it is some interviews with people and talking about how he didn't show those skills at Alabama so Cleveland made a great pick.

Watch on YouTube

Then Winslow was awesome...from the beginning all the way until 2:15....one handed, diving, in traffic, running after the catch....so many good ones all the way through there....many at beginning and an awesome one at about 2:10. He also had like 166 yards and a few tds in a Miami playoff game they won in OT, after he blocked a FG to prevent Miami from winning. It also shows a highlight after a game in here where he had 13 receptions for 144 yards and 5 tds in a game.

Watch on YouTube

[El Turco]

Below kittle that's for sure

Kelce and aome others mentioned should be considered receivers anyway, they rarely block well if at all.

[dr3am]

I agree he’s below Kittle & definitely below Tony Gonzalez & a prime Gronk.