TOP 5 TE's in the NFL----NAME EM

[Bretsky]

I'm curious to see some lists and any explanations if you choose. I really do like Finley and want TT to keep him, but if he's looking to be the top paid TE in football he's up for a couple years of franchising.

I'll probably put Finley in my top 5 list, but to be honest I'm not even sure he's the top young TE in the NFC right now.

[mission]

Graham
Gronkowski
Gonzalez
Gates
Witten
Finley

[pbmax]

Not sure about Gates any longer, his speed and health are shot. I'd take a flyer on him for a year, but not for more.

Witten
Gronkowski
Graham
Gonzlaez
Finley
Scheffler
Boss

[denverYooper]

No Vernon Davis?

Pinocchio
Porny
Fatty
Gonzo
Rosy
Pig Finn
Vern

Fred (who?) Davis apparently has been having a good season but got popped for spiking his own punch.

And what the hell happened to Dallas Clark? Just a case of Painter-itis?

[Upnorth]

Gronkowski
Witten
Graham
Gonzo
Davis
Keller
Olson
Finley

[smuggler]

Gronkowski
Gates
Finley
VDavis

Witten and Graham are good, both solid blockers as well as good receivers, but their receptions are quantity over quality. Gonzo is still good, but the other 4 guys above are all better.

[pbmax]

Dallas Clark was banged up all year and is on IR now.

[Tony Oday]

Finley is not top 5

[mraynrand]

Gronkowski
Graham
Witten
Finley
Gates

That's based on play I've seen. I think Finley has more physical tools than any of them, and should be better than all of them, but he needs to improve in his blocking and catching stuff.

[pbmax]

Finley is not top 5

Follow instructions Tony!

[pbmax]

Player 	        Team 	DYAR 	Rk 	YAR 	Rk 	DVOA 	Rk 	VOA 	Passes 	Yards 	EYds 	TD 	CatchRt  FUM
R.Gronkowski 	NE 	325 	1 	331 	1 	50.7% 	3 	51.7% 	84 	864 	1,181 	11 	71% 	0
J.Graham 	NO 	266 	2 	276 	2 	30.5% 	9 	31.9% 	102 	957 	1,172 	8 	66% 	0
T.Gonzalez 	ATL 	197 	3 	201 	3 	26.8% 	12 	27.6% 	83 	630 	914 	7 	71% 	0
F.Davis 	WAS 	166 	4 	157 	5 	26.2% 	14 	24.4% 	75 	699 	777 	3 	71% 	1
J.Finley 	GB 	153 	5 	146 	6 	31.1% 	8 	29.3% 	56 	513 	667 	5 	64% 	0
A.Gates 	SD 	153 	6 	167 	4 	30.3% 	10 	33.8% 	59 	463 	675 	4 	68% 	0
J.Ballard 	NYG 	143 	7 	139 	9 	36.7% 	6 	35.5% 	47 	490 	584 	3 	64% 	0
O.Daniels 	HOU 	142 	8 	134 	10 	26.9% 	11 	25.0% 	62 	509 	660 	3 	66% 	0
S.Chandler 	BUF 	142 	9 	143 	7 	45.5% 	5 	46.0% 	37 	312 	535 	6 	86% 	0
H.Miller 	PIT 	138 	10 	141 	8 	33.8% 	7 	34.8% 	53 	485 	582 	2 	74% 	0
J.Witten 	DAL 	129 	11 	124 	11 	14.4% 	17 	13.7% 	86 	713 	780 	5 	65% 	1
A.Fasano 	MIA 	107 	12 	109 	12 	46.9% 	4 	47.7% 	30 	290 	400 	4 	63% 	0
J.Dreessen 	HOU 	106 	13 	95 	13 	63.5% 	1 	56.1% 	24 	253 	358 	4 	63% 	0
A.Hernandez 	NE 	84 	14 	90 	14 	9.9% 	20 	11.2% 	69 	480 	592 	5 	68% 	1
K.Boss 	 	OAK 	81 	15 	88 	15 	63.4% 	2 	69.8% 	20 	237 	273 	1 	80% 	0
V.Davis 	SF 	74 	16 	65 	17 	12.2% 	18 	9.8% 	57 	484 	479 	5 	75% 	2
T.Scheffler 	DET 	60 	17 	72 	16 	26.6% 	13 	33.4% 	26 	190 	281 	5 	62% 	0
J.Cook 	 	TEN 	55 	18 	42 	22 	9.9% 	19 	5.7% 	53 	425 	392 	2 	53% 	1
D.Keller 	NYJ 	53 	19 	62 	18 	3.7% 	23 	5.4% 	73 	574 	525 	4 	55% 	1

Football Outsiders has Finley tied for 5th with Gates. And likes Fred more than we do.

[pbmax]

Rank	Player		Team	G	WPA	EPA	WPA/G	EPA/P	SR(%)	YPR	Rec	Yds	RecTD	Tgts	%Tgt	YPT	CR(%)	%Deep
1	87-R.Gronkowski	NE	12	2.29	63.0	0.19	0.63	64.0	14.3	65	928	13	90	19.7	10.3	72.2	26.7
2	80-J.Graham	NO	12	1.33	58.3	0.11	0.51	60.0	13.9	75	1046	8	112	22.8	9.3	67.0	22.3
3	88-T.Gonzalez	ATL	12	1.26	37.0	0.11	0.37	64.4	11.1	66	730	7	93	21.5	7.8	71.0	15.1
4	82-J.Witten	DAL	12	1.25	42.0	0.10	0.44	55.8	12.5	61	760	5	92	21.6	8.3	66.3	17.4
5	81-O.Daniels	HST	12	1.00	27.9	0.08	0.41	60.3	12.4	44	544	3	67	19.9	8.1	65.7	16.4
6	85-J.Ballard	NYG	12	1.00	24.0	0.08	0.44	58.2	16.3	33	537	3	53	12.1	10.1	62.3	35.8
7	46-D.Walker	SF	9	0.89	3.5	0.10	0.10	37.1	10.8	17	183	3	30	9.3	6.1	56.7	10.0
8	83-H.Miller	PIT	12	0.82	26.9	0.07	0.45	61.7	12.1	41	497	2	56	13.7	8.9	73.2	12.5
9	88-J.Finley	GB	12	0.78	34.0	0.07	0.48	54.9	14.3	42	600	6	67	16.6	9.0	62.7	29.9
10	80-A.Fasano	MIA	12	0.74	21.4	0.06	0.55	61.5	15.5	23	356	4	36	10.3	9.9	63.9	33.3
11	85-A.Gates	SD	8	0.65	27.2	0.08	0.40	66.2	11.6	40	463	4	59	14.5	7.8	67.8	16.9
12	84-S.Chandler	BUF	12	0.57	27.8	0.05	0.68	68.3	10.3	35	360	6	41	10.0	8.8	85.4	2.4
13	88-G.Olsen	CAR	12	0.56	16.5	0.05	0.19	46.6	11.5	41	472	4	79	19.3	6.0	51.9	22.8
14	85-V.Davis	SF	12	0.56	15.2	0.05	0.22	47.1	10.8	48	516	5	65	20.1	7.9	73.8	23.1
15	87-B.Pettigrew	DET	12	0.49	2.0	0.04	0.02	52.2	8.5	56	475	3	87	18.0	5.5	64.4	10.3

Advanced NFL stats has Finley 9th behind surprises Heath Miller, Delanie Walker and someone who probably should have been on our lists: Owen Daniels.

[denverYooper]

Gronk, Graham, Gonzalez. Gates was the cream of the crop until he got into mama's home cookin'.

TT needs to think about drafting a TE with a last name that starts with G. Surefire top 3.

[denverYooper]

Football Outsiders has Finley tied for 5th with Gates. And likes Fred more than we do.

Fred got caught juicing. He's probably going to drop out. http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports...=pm_sports_pop

[denverYooper]

It's interesting that Graham's catch rate is only 2% better than Finley's. If Finley got as many targets, I'm not sure his catch rate wouldn't be better.