After sitting through the better part of four NFL divisional playoff games last weekend, I came away with a serious case of tight end envy.
That’s in the football sense, mind you, not in the heart’s aflutter sense.
Watching the game-changing abilities of San Francisco’s Vernon Davis, New England’s Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez and New Orleans’ Jimmy Graham and what happened to Green Bay when Jermichael Finley was no factor struck me on two fronts. One was the Browns’ lack of a big-play threat in the same class of these players, even with depth at the position. The other was how tight ends have become a focal point of teams that pile up points.
Against Denver, the Patriots got 261 yards (200 receiving) and four touchdowns out of Gronkowski and Hernandez. The Browns’ four tight ends — Ben Watson, Evan Moore, Alex Smith and rookie Jordan Cameron — totaled seven touchdowns all season. Hernandez also had a 43-yard run against the Broncos, longer than any Browns’ rush in 2011.
The Saints-49ers showdown was a tight end showcase. Graham pulled in five passes for 103 yards and two touchdowns. Davis, a first-round pick who ran the 40 in 4.38 seconds at the 2006 combine, had seven receptions for 180 yards and two touchdowns. His 14-yard game-winning touchdown from Alex Smith with nine seconds left has been deemed “The Catch II,” compared to Joe Montana’s pass to Dwight Clark 30 years ago.
In the regular season, three tight ends — Graham (99), Gronkowski (90) and Detroit’s Brandon Pettigrew (83) — ranked among the NFL’s top 10 receiving leaders. Gronkowski set single-season records for tight ends with 17 touchdowns (surpassing 13 by Kent State’s Antonio Gates in 2004 and Davis in 2009) and 1,327 yards, which broke the mark of 1,290 set by Kellen Winslow in 1980.
Hall of fame tight end Ozzie Newsome, the former Browns star who is now the Baltimore Ravens’ general manager, said some of the impact tight ends are having in the playoffs is a result of the deep class of 2010, when 19 were drafted.
“That was probably as good a group of tight ends that I’ve seen maybe in a decade, maybe more than that,” Newsome said by telephone Monday. “We felt like there was a good tight end in any round.”
That group included Gronkowski (second round, 42nd overall), Graham (third round, 95th overall), Hernandez (fourth round, 113th overall) and Cincinnati’s Jermaine Gresham (first round, 21st overall). The Patriots weren’t the only team to tab two that year; so did the St. Louis Rams (Michael Hoomanawanui, fifth round, and Fendi Onobun, sixth round) and Ravens (Ed Dickson, third round, and Dennis Pitta, fourth round). The Browns waited until the 2011 draft, taking Cameron.
Newsome said Davis “can run faster than most receivers.” He pointed out that Graham played four years of basketball at the University of Miami and only one year of football, but chose to follow the NFL path of Tony Gonzalez and Gates.
“A lot of these guys would have been playing basketball,” Newsome said. “But that game has changed. Now these guys are coming into football and becoming tight ends because they’re getting a chance to catch the ball in college.”
The Browns have two former basketball players at tight end — Moore (Stanford) and Cameron (USC and BYU).
Newsome said playing in the slot in a college spread offense allows tight ends to gain a greater understanding of route-running and the overall passing game, so they’re more prepared to make a quick impact. Newsome said some NFL offensive coordinators are also willing to bend the rule from his playing days.
“Like with Jermichael Finley, the clubs are saying, ‘Let’s use the weapon and not make this the stereotype where he’s got to be a point-of-attack guy,’ ” Newsome said. “A lot of those guys are still learning how to become a point-of-attack player, but that’s not limiting their ability to get on the field now, as it used to.”
Newsome didn’t think it was alarming that a tight end was the opponent’s leading receiver in six of 16 Browns games this season. In five games, including four of the first five, an opposing tight end caught a touchdown pass.
Newsome said Browns’ foes probably saw the matchup of a tight end on a safety or linebacker as more favorable than going after cornerbacks Joe Haden and Sheldon Brown, especially when strong safety T.J. Ward missed the final eight games with a foot injury.
If what Newsome said was any indication, the Browns should worry more about developing a big playmaker out of their tight end stable than what opponents did to them in 2011. But the stable might not be as loaded as it seems.
Watson suffered three concussions and played in only 13 games this season. He led the Browns in all three receiving categories in 2010, but his career high in touchdowns (six with the Patriots in 2007) wouldn’t even be a good playoff run for Gronkowski. The Browns seemed unsure how to use Moore, even after giving him a contract extension. Perhaps they were fighting the point-of-attack issue Newsome mentioned, even as quarterback Colt McCoy desperately sought a sure-handed safety value. Smith has good hands, but served mainly as a blocker. Cameron was inactive for eight games and didn’t catch a pass until Nov. 6.
The Browns might not have an athletic tight end who can rival the league’s elite. They probably have too many holes to fill to address the position again this offseason, which could leave them another step behind perennial playoff contenders if no one emerges.
A big-play tight end seems to be the wave of the future and the Browns are again caught in the undertow.
Marla Ridenour can be reached at mridenour@thebeaconjournal.com. Read her blog at http://marla.ohio.com/. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MarlaRidenour. Follow ABJ sports on Facebook at www.facebook.com/sports.abj.
