The Fall of the Tight End?

 In recent years, we've watched tight ends in the National Football League punch defenses in the mouth and dominate on offense. But there's a growing trend within the first three weeks of the 2024 NFL season... some of them are MIA.

So far, the leading TE in receiving yards this season (as of week 4) is Philadelphia Eagles TE Dallas Goedert, with 239 on 17 receptions (with 170 of these yards earned in week 3 against New Orleans. This isn't incredibly surprising, but what is surprising is the rest of the list. Raiders rookie TE Brock Bowers is second, Bengals TE Mike Gesicki ranks third, Ravens TE Isaiah Likely ranks fourth, and Patriots TE Hunter Henry ranks fifth.

Notice how odd this list looks to begin the season? None of the tight ends who finished top 10 in yards last season are top 5 to start this season. Notable names like George Kittle, Sam LaPorta, and Travis Kelce are not on this list. In fact -- George Kittle is the only tight end who finished top 10 in receiving yards for 2023 who remains top 10 in receiving yards for 2024, ranking at ninth with 116.

So, what's the diagnosis here? From the stats alone, it looks like the position is increasingly volatile and not as reliable. Chiefs TE Travis Kelce and Ravens TE Mark Andrews, who have been known to be reliable options for their respective quarterbacks, have both combined for a total of 134 yards. For TEs of this prestige, you would presume that this number would be much higher. Is the era of the dominant TE starting to slow down?

Within the past decade, the NFL has seen a notable increase in offensive scoring and yardage output. Defenses have been continuously stretched thin as many have started to place more of an emphasis on building an offense instead of investing in a defense. Is it possible that defenses are finally adapting to dynamic offenses, and more specifically, the athletic tight end? The stats tell a story, however, it's up to you to interpret it. What do you think?

-- Justin Birkelien

P.S. I mentioned a lot of tight ends in this blog post. If you're interested in following them on social media, I've linked each of their Instagram profiles below:

Dallas Goedert (@sgoboy_88) | Brock Bowers (@brockbowers) | Mike Gesicki (@mikegesicki) | Isaiah Likely (@isaiahlikely_4) | Hunter Henry (@hunterhenry) | George Kittle (@gkittle) | Sam LaPorta (@_slaporta) | Travis Kelce (@killatrav) | Mark Andrews (@mandrews)

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