Now that we've reached the end of the 2015 NFL season, who was the best tight end in the game? We're not talking about who made the Pro Bowl or even who got the All-Pro votes. Who was really, truly, the best? Forget reputation and how much money each player makes. We want the sort of cold, hard analysis that comes from watching the games and grading the players.

That's what the B/R NFL 1000 is for, and it's back for another year.

The B/R 1000 metric is based heavily on scouting each player and grading based on key criteria for each position. The criteria are weighted according to importance for a best possible score of 100.

Potential is not taken into consideration. Neither are career accomplishments.

Tight ends are judged on hands (35 points), route running (35), blocking (20) and the overall value of the position relative to the other spots on the field (eight points). The maximum score for this position is 98.

In the case of ties, our team asked, "Which player would I rather have on my team?" and set the rankings accordingly.

Subjective? Yes. But ties are no fun.

Each player was scouted by a team of experienced evaluators (Dan Bazal, Luke Easterling, Cian Fahey, Duke Manyweather, Matt Miller and Marshal Miller) with these key criteria in mind. The following scouting reports and grades are the work of months of film study from our team.

All statistics from Pro Football Focus. Players' heights, weights and seasons played from NFL.com.