On Twitter (X or whatever it is) I've been reading a lot today about Travis Kelce and how he's clearly the greatest TE of all time. I know that we have our own favorite here, so let's just match them up. Kelce vs. Gronk.
Best season:
Kelce (2022): 110 rec, 1,338 yds, 72.4% catch, 12.2 y/c, 12 td, 12 AV
Gronk (2011): 90 rec, 1,327 yds, 72.6% catch, 14.7 y/c, 17 td, 14 AV
Career average season:
Kelce: 90 rec, 1,149 yds, 71.0% catch, 12.7 y/c, 7.6 td, 11.1 AV
Gronk: 56 rec, 844 yds, 64.7% catch, 15.0 y/c, 8.4 td, 8.8 AV
So Gronk AT HIS VERY BEST as a receiver was, IMO, better than Kelce has been at his very best, though obviously it's really close. Overall, of course Kelce has the advantage, due to having experienced MUCH better overall health (which matters!), and much greater consistency. He's just been awesome as a receiving tight end basically every year he's been in the league, and Gronk didn't quite have that kind of consistency. Kelce's career receiving numbers are going to pretty much bury Gronk's when all is said and done.
But that's only half of TE play. Blocking is the other. I'm looking for blocking ratings online through advanced metric services and am having a hard time coming up with them, so if anyone has PFF's ratings or whatever, please let me know. But I just know that you don't see this kind of stuff out of Kelce:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsGZIH2V-Fw
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFs9QzsVTR0
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqgJOcGCjk8
So I don't know how to objectively "measure" this, but what you see out of Gronk that you don't see out of Kelce is:
(1) Being left alone to handle a pro-bowl level DE both in the run and pass games (one on one against Mack, for example).
(2) Absolutely leveling defensive linemen and linebackers. Kelce will get in the way and is a willing blocker, but he doesn't level guys at the first and second level.
(3) Offensive tackle-caliber run blocking, whether straight ahead or outside.
Kelce may go down as the greatest receiving TE in history - certainly his career stats will probably show that to be the case. But we know that Gronk, at his best, was every bit as good (just didn't do it as consistently, or for as long). But Gronk was FAR better as a blocker.
So add it all up, and you end up with Gronk as the superior TE, though (and it pains me to say it) of course Kelce's health and consistency absolutely factor into this discussion, and he has it over Gronk. It would have been amazing to see Gronk healthy all career long, but that just wasn't in the cards for him.
Best season:
Kelce (2022): 110 rec, 1,338 yds, 72.4% catch, 12.2 y/c, 12 td, 12 AV
Gronk (2011): 90 rec, 1,327 yds, 72.6% catch, 14.7 y/c, 17 td, 14 AV
Career average season:
Kelce: 90 rec, 1,149 yds, 71.0% catch, 12.7 y/c, 7.6 td, 11.1 AV
Gronk: 56 rec, 844 yds, 64.7% catch, 15.0 y/c, 8.4 td, 8.8 AV
So Gronk AT HIS VERY BEST as a receiver was, IMO, better than Kelce has been at his very best, though obviously it's really close. Overall, of course Kelce has the advantage, due to having experienced MUCH better overall health (which matters!), and much greater consistency. He's just been awesome as a receiving tight end basically every year he's been in the league, and Gronk didn't quite have that kind of consistency. Kelce's career receiving numbers are going to pretty much bury Gronk's when all is said and done.
But that's only half of TE play. Blocking is the other. I'm looking for blocking ratings online through advanced metric services and am having a hard time coming up with them, so if anyone has PFF's ratings or whatever, please let me know. But I just know that you don't see this kind of stuff out of Kelce:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsGZIH2V-Fw
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFs9QzsVTR0
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqgJOcGCjk8
So I don't know how to objectively "measure" this, but what you see out of Gronk that you don't see out of Kelce is:
(1) Being left alone to handle a pro-bowl level DE both in the run and pass games (one on one against Mack, for example).
(2) Absolutely leveling defensive linemen and linebackers. Kelce will get in the way and is a willing blocker, but he doesn't level guys at the first and second level.
(3) Offensive tackle-caliber run blocking, whether straight ahead or outside.
Kelce may go down as the greatest receiving TE in history - certainly his career stats will probably show that to be the case. But we know that Gronk, at his best, was every bit as good (just didn't do it as consistently, or for as long). But Gronk was FAR better as a blocker.
So add it all up, and you end up with Gronk as the superior TE, though (and it pains me to say it) of course Kelce's health and consistency absolutely factor into this discussion, and he has it over Gronk. It would have been amazing to see Gronk healthy all career long, but that just wasn't in the cards for him.