Best Tight Ends in NFL History
Anthony David Gonzalez is a former American football tight end who played 17 seasons in the National Football League. He is by far the best tight end of all time. No one can stop him. He catches as good as Randy Moss and runs as good as Darrell Green. He is unstoppable.
Holds all tight end records: most career yards, touchdowns, and receptions. Enough said.
Amazing output and abilities. Tremendous number of starts and games played.
Robert Paxton Gronkowski, nicknamed "Gronk," is an American football tight end for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League.
After retiring at the end of the 2018 NFL Season, Gronkowski came out of retirement to play with former Patriots teammate Tom Brady for the 2020 NFL season. The single most dominant tight end ever in the game. Look at his yards after catch: he would drag two, sometimes three, defenders downfield for 5, even 7 yards. And who has more clutch catches in big moments (read: playoffs and Super Bowls) than Gronk? No one.
Oh yeah, one more thing: how many surgeries? And he just kept on ballin'.
Biggest TE with skills. New England has quietly been the franchise that has dominated and revolutionized this position. Russ Francis, Ben Coates, and Gronk. Sprinkle in Hasselbeck and Marv Cook, who were Pro-Bowlers, and it's been a great position. But Gronk is cutting edge. He plays too recklessly to last the test of time, though. Everyone should enjoy this character while he's here.
The defense could light you up back then. Gronkowski is not even top 5. Shannon Sharpe is the GOAT. Also, listen to his HOF speech. Greatest speech ever.
Unlike Gronk, who plays in today's game, Shannon Sharpe went over the middle knowing full well defenders wanted to take his head off!
Kellen Winslow Sr. is the best tight end of all time at actually playing the position. He had a shorter career than the stats guys, with two strike-shortened seasons as well. His stats were also deflated by having to "share" the ball with Charlie Joiner and John Jefferson/Wes Chandler.
Winslow had speed, size, great hands, and was the best route runner of any tight end ever. The best tight end of all time at actually playing the position is Kellen Winslow Sr.
Christopher Jason Witten (born May 6, 1982) is an American football tight end for the Las Vegas Raiders of the National Football League. He played 16 seasons for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the University of Tennessee, and was drafted by the... read more I'm a diehard Eagles fan, and I absolutely loathe the Cowboys. But I have always respected Jason Witten. The man is one of the toughest and most durable players I have ever seen in my life. Watching him tear apart my Eagles for 15 years was very frustrating.
There are always individual players you appreciate on the teams you hate. Witten was that guy on the Cowboys. A great player and a rare class act for an organization filled with degenerates and arrogant loud-mouths. He always torched us and made us angry with how he always caught crucial third-down passes and touchdowns in the fourth quarter, but he earned our respect as a phenomenal football player.
I hope to see you one day enshrined in Canton, Jason. Fantastic career and a fantastic human being.
Antonio Ethan Gates, Jr. is an American football tight end for the San Diego Chargers of the National Football League. I love my Chargers and Antonio Gates. What a beast when he came out of the gates. A basketball player turned tight end - no one had ever heard of that. I think if Antonio Gates could stay healthy, he would be the best tight end of all time, hands down.
Antonio Gates is the second best tight end to play and should be way higher!
He should be higher. He has the second most touchdowns and is amazing.
John Mackey was an American football tight end who played for the Baltimore Colts and the San Diego Chargers. Mackey should be second only to Kellen. Look at his stats: year in and year out, he was the best. In those days, if you did not have injuries, you were lucky.
Different era, but this guy was a load. The only one I've seen running like that is NE's Gronk.
"The Ghost" - hands down best nickname for a tight end. He was the Snake's right-hand man in Super Bowl XI.
Would make the catch surrounded by the enemy!
The Newcomers
Jimmy Graham is an American football tight end for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League. The questions with Graham will be how long he can play and stay healthy and whether he keeps improving. He was a basketball player who only played one year of college football. It took him half a year to get on the field his first season, and he made some great plays.
In year two, he was one of the most dynamic receiving TEs but couldn't block and messed up some routes. In year three, he was hurt most of the year but played through it and had a good year. Now in year four, he appears to be the most unstoppable receiving TE in history. He doesn't make route mistakes anymore, and his blocking has improved to mediocre.
Best all-around tight end who played in the NFL, not to be confused with the new NFL, which should go ahead and rename itself the TFL (Tag Football League)!
Probably the toughest tight end. Remember him carrying several defenders into the end zone in the Super Bowl.
Rob Gronkowski would never have gotten up if he took some of the hits that Charlie Sanders did back when football was played by men, not the game it's become now. One hit like Charlie took in the end zone from Butkus, and Gronk would have been done. And Gronkowski's best catch ever isn't even in the top 10 of Charlie's!
It's too bad young people didn't watch football back when it was really football. Just like Brady would have lasted three plays if he got hit the way Johnny Unitas, the greatest quarterback who ever lived, got hit every single game!
Travis Michael Kelce is an American football tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League. He held the record for most receiving yards by a tight end in a single season... for almost an hour.
Without a doubt the best tight end in football currently.
Best tight end in the league right now.
Todd is a Hall of Fame candidate as he was one of three tight ends that were dominant in the '80s, along with Kellen Winslow and Ozzie Newsome. In a run-dominated offense by Hall of Famer Marcus Allen, yet with QBs such as Marc Wilson, he was able to be a two-time All-Pro and five-time Pro Bowler.
He was sure-handed and got the Raiders out of many a jam. He was a two-time Super Bowl champion.
Vernon Leonard Davis is an American football tight end for the Washington Redskins of the National Football League. Fastest tight end in NFL history. Not the best, but the fastest, no doubt.
Jeremy Charles Shockey is a former American football tight end. He was drafted by the New York Giants 14th overall in the 2002 NFL Draft. He was the best with the hits he delivered.
Gregory Walter Olsen is an American football tight end for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League. He is a pivotal part of the Carolina Panthers offense, and considering that they went 15-1, he is pretty good. He's also Cam Newton's favorite target, so that puts him in a good position.
He is Cam Newton's favorite target in a season in which the Carolina Panthers went 15-1. Show some love!
Zachary Adam Ertz is an American football tight end for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League.
Earl Heath Miller, Jr., nicknamed "Big Money," is a former American football tight end who spent his entire career with the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League.
An absolute beast after the catch. Have fun bringing him down.
Best TE currently. If he keeps going at this pace, he's going to be the best of all time.
Delanie Walker is an American football tight end for the Tennessee Titans of the National Football League.
Kyle Daniel Rudolph is an American football tight end for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League.