All four teams remaining in the NFL Playoffs have elite tight ends
While the Cincinnati Bengals have become renowned for having an elite offense over the past several seasons, there is one position on the team that the organization clearly doesn’t put much stock in. While the tight end position has become more of a luxury position, there is certainly no coincidence that arguably the four best tight ends are all still in the playoffs. Detroit has Sam LaPorta, San Francisco has George Kittle, Baltimore has Mark Andrews and Kansas City obviously has Travis Kelce. So my question is: will Cincinnati ever put stock on the position that appears to be carrying teams through the playoffs?
What has Happened to the Tight End Position?
Before I can explain what Cincinnati has done on the offensive side of the ball, let’s do a quick summary of the recent history of the tight end position.
Historically, the position was utilized as a hybrid position on the end of the offensive line that blocked 50% of the time and ran routes the other 50%. That is why when the NFL started becoming a pass-dominated league, the position essentially became obsolete and there was essentially no credit given to the tight end position.
The problem grew so great that the “Tight End University” sponsored by Kelce and Kittle where they essentially run a training camp just for the league’s tight ends was created to try to revitalize the position.
While the position may have been fading into oblivion in the early 2010s with few high profile tight ends like Rob Gronkowski headlining the position, it finally seems to be making a comeback. While obviously the press work done Kelce and Kittle advocating for the position has made an impact, why has the position suddenly made a comeback.
My theory is that after an insane boost in salary at the wide receiver position, elite tight ends are actually so undervalued that there is actually a huge salary cap benefit to exhibiting a powerhouse tight end.
Specifically, the wide receiver position has exploded in recent seasons where the number one salaried wide receiver (Miami Dolphins Tyreek Hill) makes an average annual salary of $30 million. While Hill is a tremendous player, the number one salaried tight end (New York Giants Darren Waller) only makes $17 million.
While Hill is a tremendous player, having an elite pass-catching tight end like Kelce, Andrew or Kittle is simply a much cheaper option than having an elite receiver. There is a strong possibility that with the resurgence of the position comes a balancing of the positional salaries but that will be in several years at the minimum.
What will the Bengals Do to Solve their Tight End Dilemma?
Now enters a team like Cincinnati who clearly still believes that the position is obsolete after consistently making a minimal salary cap contribution to the position under head coach Zac Taylor. For perspective, the past three starting tight ends that Taylor has utilized have been C.J. Uzomah (averaged less than $3 million per season), Hayden Hurst (made $3.4 million in one season) and Irv Smith Jr. (made $1.75 million in one season).
While it may not be forward thinking with the way the tight end position has evolved over the past few seasons, there is a reason that Cincinnati has gone with this strategy. The modern tight end is a goal line target that uses a large frame to provide a target for a quarterback to put the ball where only he can pull it in. On the Cincinnati roster, that role has been filled by the lanky frame of the 6’4″ wide receiver Tee Higgins over the past four season and the team has therefore avoided brining in another option to infringe on his targets.
With the likely departure of Higgins this offseason, the team may finally need to find someone who fills the profile of a big bully at a receiving position who can go up and win contested catches. Obvious Ja’Marr Chase is one of the best receivers in the NFL but at only 6’0″, Chase is simply not big enough to be the physical goal line player that Higgins was. Luckily for Cincinnati, there are generally a plethora of mid-tier tight ends that constantly replenish the free agent market at the tight end position.
Since there are going to be a plethora of needs to fill in free agency for Cincinnati this season, the optimal value choice to bring in to the tight end position in Cincinnati is going to be former Seattle Seahawk Noah Fant. Fant was the 20th overall pick taken in the 2020 draft out of the University of Iowa by the Denver Broncos but simply couldn’t make any impact on the team without a real quarterback.
Then, the team decided to include him as a perk in the blockbuster trade for Russell Wilson and sent him to Seattle in 2022.
While Fant has struggled up to now during his short time in the NFL, he could certainly make an impact with an elite quarterback like Joe Burrow feeding him the ball. Also (since it’s clearly a priority to Cincinnati at the tight end position), he probably will come in cheap due to his lack of historical production. If Burrow were paired with an elite tight end, Cincinnati could be an elite red zone team with the size they would have at the receiver position.
READ MORE…
