Ranking NFL's 7 Greatest Tight Ends of All Time
Rankings 6/23/23
I love the tight end position. That’s not a surprise, given I spent nine seasons in the NFL playing it. However, that experience didn’t make ranking the greatest to play the position any easier.
Here’s my list of the greatest tight ends in NFL history.
Top 7 Tight Ends of All Time
7. Shannon Sharpe
For the No. 7 spot, we’re going back in time a bit. You might know him from his talk show with Skip Bayless, but I know him as one of the guys to change the tight end position. His name is Shannon Sharpe.
He was a seventh-round draft pick and won three Super Bowls. He was the first tight end to have 10,000 yards. He retired as the all-time leader in yards, receptions and touchdowns among tight ends.
His numbers might not be as good as some of the tight ends you see today — the Wittens, the Kelces, the Gronks. You know, some of these guys, even Zach Ertz. But Sharpe played at a different time.
He was the catalyst for tight ends no longer being viewed as just in-line blockers. They became considered as receiving threats. Sharpe was one of John Elway’s favorite targets with the Denver Broncos and Trent Dilfer’s with the Baltimore Ravens.
Sharpe is a Hall of Famer for a reason, but he is my seventh-best tight end of all time.
6. Antonio Gates
My No. 6 tight end is someone I was blessed enough to play across the field against. What makes Antonio Gates so special? The way he changed his speed.
He’s going fast. He’s going slow. Gates made you think he was running a vertical route when he wasn’t. He just got in and out of his breaks so well. Gates took basketball to the football field.
He was undrafted out of Kent State but played 16 years in the NFL. In eight of those seasons, he made the Pro Bowl, and he retired with the most touchdowns for a tight end.
Gates was a mismatch problem. The guy scored so many touchdowns. It was incredible to watch him and be on the field against him. I was supposed to be looking at the tablet and the coverages. Instead, I was watching Gates play. The guy was truly special.
He changed the game for a lot of today’s tight ends. He made it so basketball players could play basketball on the football field.
5. Kellen Winslow Sr.
Kellen Winslow Sr. was the original matchup problem as a tight end. He was selected to four All-Pro teams and made the Pro Bowl five times. In 1989, he broke Mike Ditka’s record for receptions by a tight end.
He was the first tight end to be used as a deep threat, showing coaches and offensive coordinators how to change the game.
He averaged 61.8 yards a game, third all-time behind Travis Kelce and Rob Gronkowski. That’s hard to do when you're playing in the 1980s. The game was different back then. They were running power and ISO concepts all the time.
That’s how great Winslow was. He is the original matchup problem and the original deep-threat tight end.
4. Jason Witten
If there’s one word to say about Jason Witten, it would be: dependable. He had 1,000 yards four times, was selected to 11 Pro Bowls and had more than 13,000 career yards. Witten also had 1,228 receptions and 74 touchdowns in his career.
This guy played 235 consecutive games. If you don’t play football, you might not know how impressive that is, but it’s insane.
Witten was a solid blocker, too. He would help the running backs just as much as he would help in the passing game. Many tight ends who put up massive receiving numbers weren’t good blockers. Witten is the exception to that. He did everything, and that’s one of the reasons I love his game.
He was the fastest tight end to reach 600 career receptions, and he caught 71 percent of his targets, a record for a tight end.
3. Tony Gonzalez
Tony Gonzalez was the definition of sure-handed. He only lost two fumbles in his entire career. He made 14 Pro Bowls and was voted an All-Pro 16 times. He finished his career with 1,325 receptions, good for third all-time behind Jerry Rice.
Gonzalez is not only an all-time tight end, he’s an all-time receiver. There are so many good things I could say about him. The only downside in his game is he wasn’t much of a blocker.
Did he need to be? No. He was so sure-handed and just created first down after first down. He was a true game-changer at the tight end position.
2. Travis Kelce
Travis Kelce is the best receiving tight end I’ve ever seen. I watched film of Gates, Gonzalez and Witten. Kelce is far and away a better receiver than those guys. He gets open better, runs better routes and has better hands.
When it comes to receiving the football, nobody has done it as well as Kelce. He has seven seasons with at least 1,000 yards, the most for a tight end. He had 1,416 yards in a season, the most by a tight end.
He has four first-team All-Pros and eight Pro Bowls and was the fastest-ever tight end to reach 500 receptions. He’s got two Super Bowl rings with Patrick Mahomes. Mahomes is great, too, but those guys lift each other up.
Kelce is the second-greatest tight end of all time, but he’s got a chance to move up if he keeps doing what he’s doing.
1. Rob Gronkowski
Rob Gronkowski is my No. 1 tight end of all time. Everyone knows Gronk. He has four first-team All-Pros and eight Pro Bowls. What I love most about Gronkowski is that he would’ve been a Pro Bowler at offensive tackle.
He was a devastating blocker. I played with him, and he would use his hand placement to move defensive ends consistently. The New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers had so much success because of what Gronkowski did in the pass and run game.
People understand how good his numbers are. In 2011, they saw him become the only tight end to lead the league in touchdown receptions, with 17. They didn’t see the Patriots running a power-run concept to his side because he was such a devastating blocker.
If you were to create a custom tight end, it would be Gronkowski. He was the best blocker and best receiver in the league. He was a true playmaker.
Clay Harbor played tight end for seven seasons in the NFL. Follow him on Twitter @clayharbs82.