Over the last decade, the characteristics that make NFL tight ends valuable to their teams have split and switched. Tight ends are generally divided into traditional players who blocked a lot of the time and maybe caught 40 passes in a season, and “big receiver” types who only blocked when they had to and ran routes in the slot and outside. Your very occasional Rob Gronkowski aside, there aren’t many tight ends who can do it all, and with Gronk’s retirement, there’s no tight end in the NFL who can match his ability to block like an offensive tackle and win contested-catch battles like a small tank.
The NFL's 11 best tight ends
