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We know the traditional tight end is not who he used to be. In generations past, tight ends were mostly blockers who caught a few passes per game—adjuncts to the offensive line more than skill position players. Then, Cleveland freed Ozzie Newsome to be a primary receiver, Don Coryell turned Kellen Winslow into a roving Y receiver in San Diego, and the position was transformed. Players standing 6'5" and weighing 240 pounds or more became matchup nightmares—too big for any safety and too quick for most linebackers.

Then, the wave of basketball players—from Antonio Gates to Jimmy Graham—came in, and the position evolved. Now, it doesn't matter if your tight end blocks as well as your starting halfback. You want him on the field because he understands angles and leverage well enough that he's nearly impossible to defend in the red zone and end zone.

Yes, there are still those who block and block well. In fact, the best tight end of the modern era, and the top guy in our position rankings, blocks as well as any we've ever seen. But most tight ends are specialists as opposed to generalists these days.

When NFL teams deploy two- and three-tight end sets, they may do so with a blocking tight end, one who can get open in short and intermediate route concepts and another who can get deep and create explosive plays. You can create "levels" concepts with nothing but tight ends these days—the 2016 Tennessee Titans were particularly good at this before their offense regressed in 2017.

So, when evaluating tight ends, we must consider their specific value as opposed to their general value. What is this player being asked to do, is it the right thing he should be asked to do, and how well does he do it?

The Seattle Seahawks have had Graham for the last three seasons following an expensive trade, but they never had the best version of him because they insisted he follow the paradigm of tight end as blocker. The New Orleans Saints had no such concerns about him. They knew the kinds of matchup advantages he could be schemed to create.

NFL1000 receivers and tight ends scouts Joe Goodberry and Marcus Mosher watched every NFL tight end all season, and they ranked them based on the following criteria:

Route Running: 20 points. How much of the full route tree is the player asked to run, and how well does he run it? Is he able to create separation on slants, drags and other crossing routes to present an easy read to the quarterback? How well does he run option routes up the seam or up the numbers? Can he combine with other receivers well on crossing and pick concepts?

Hands: 25 points. Tight ends have to make contested catches a lot of the time. How well does this player hold up when he's got defenders all over him? How well does he bring the ball in when he's asked to go over the middle into a nest of defenders? How well does he hold on to the ball when he's jumping to beat a defender in the end zone?

YAC: 20 points. How well does this player use his size to break tackles and gain yards after the catch? Does he have a second gear that allows him to break away for explosive plays? Is he agile enough in space to elude defenders?

Blocking: 25 points. This is less important for every tight end than it used to be, but how well does this player block both in the formation and split wide? Can he act as an effective sixth lineman in the running game? How is his technique and effort?

Position Value: 7 points. This score takes into account the importance of the position when comparing scores across other spots in the offense. Tight ends are given 7/10 points across the board, making their top possible grade 97.

Make sure to check out all of the NFL1000 rankings from the 2017 season.