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#4 Overall, Travis Kelce: Kansas City Chiefs, #1 Tight End
2024 Pre-Season Rank #5, 2023 Pre-Season Rank #7, 2022 Pre-Season Rank #12, 2021 Pre-Season Rank: #20, 2020 Pre-Season Rank #37. Peak Period: 2018-22
Travis Kelce's performance is exceptional, especially when compared to the only two legends in the Modern Positional Average statistics, Shannon Sharpe & Tony Gonzalez. Despite this daunting comparison, Kelce has not only measured up but surpassed expectations. In the 2010s, he was the number two Tight End behind Rob Gronkowski, and now, he stands as the top man at his position among active players. It's not an exaggeration to say that he is the most recognized man in football.
Dating Taylor Swift (and now engaged to) will do that.
This man is a rock star of an athlete, but even if he was a mute, Kelce has the numbers of a Hall of Fame Tight End: over 12,000 Yards and 77 Touchdowns, a nine-year Pro Bowl streak, and four First Team All-Pros. Throw in three Super Bowls, and you have a man making a first-ballot Hall of Fame case and someone looking at the Mount Rushmore of Tight Ends.
Kelce might be declining, but not in popularity.
Modern Positional Average
Tight Ends: Antonio Gates (2025), Tony Gonzalez (2019), Shannon Sharpe (2011).
Please note that there are only three Tight Ends who have been inducted in the last two decades and we will base the average only on these three players. This should change in the next five years.
Here are the statistics that we are using based on the last group of Tight Ends to enter the Pro Football Hall of Fame:
- Games Played: 236.7
- Approximate Value: 126.7
- Approximate Value per Games Played: 0.5352
- Games Started: 204.3
- Approximate Value per Games Started: 0.6198
- Approximate Value per Five-Year Peak: 54.3
- Approximate Value’s Best Five Results: 57.3
- Pro Bowls: 10
- First Team All-Pros*: 4.3
- Receiving Yards: 12,342.7
- Receiving Yards Five-Year Peak: 4,880
- Top Five Receiving Yards Finish: 0
- Receiving Touchdowns: 96.3
- Receiving Touchdowns Five-Year Peak: 38
- Top Five Receiving Touchdown Finishes**: 1.7
- Receptions: 1,032
- Receptions Five-Year Peak: 380.7
- Top Five Receptions**: 4
- Super Bowl Wins 1
- Super Bowl Appearances 1
*This is an aggregate of the Top Five finishes (5th = 1, 4th = 2, 3rd = 3, 2nd = 4th, 1st = 5)
**This is a reminder that the All-Pros we use are from the AP.
Modern Positional Average
Wide Receivers: Isaac Bruce (2020), Andre Johnson (2024, Calvin Johnson (2021), Randy Moss (2018), Terrell Owens (2018).
Has the Wide Receiver position not been the most backlogged offensive position for the Pro Football Hall of Fame for decades? This will only get harder with the increased receiving numbers we have seen over the past ten years, and we will see barring significant rule changes.
Here are the statistics that we are using based on the last group of Wide Receivers to enter the Pro Football Hall of Fame:
- Games Played: 197.4
- Approximate Value: 143.8
- Approximate Value per Games Played: 0.7285
- Games Started: 182.4
- Approximate Value per Games Started: 0.7475
- Approximate Value per Five-Year Peak: 66
- Approximate Value’s Best Five Results: 71.8
- MVP Top Five Finishes* **: 0.6
- Offensive Player of the Year Finishes* **: 3.2
- Pro Bowls: 6
- First Team All-Pros*: 3
- Receiving Yards: 14,526.6
- Receiving Yards Five-Year Peak: 6,539.6
- Top Five Receiving Yards Finish: 13.4
- Receiving Touchdowns: 122.2
- Receiving Touchdowns Five-Year Peak: 15,098
- Top Five Receiving Touchdown Finishes**: 15.8
- Receptions: 923.4
- Receptions Five-Year Peak: 430.4
- Top Five Receptions**: 7.4
- Super Bowl Wins 0.8
- Super Bowl Appearances 0.2
*This is an aggregate of the Top Five finishes (5th = 1, 4th = 2, 3rd = 3, 2nd = 4th, 1st = 5)
**This is a reminder that the All-Pros we use are from the AP.
#16 Overall, Russell Wilson, New York Giants, #4 Quarterback
2024 Pre-Season Rank #13, 2023 Pre-Season Rank #10, 2022 Pre-Season Rank #10, 2021 Pre-Season Rank #17, 2020 Pre-Season Rank #19. (Peak Period: 2016-20)
The Russell Wilson era in Seattle ended after a Super Bowl win and nine Pro Bowls, but what if Marshawn Lynch ran on that play (you all know which one!) and punched it through the end zone? That would have made Wilson a two-time Super Bowl champion, and when a QB leads a team to back-to-back titles, it is considered Canton worthy, but, alas, that didn’t happen.
Wilson was traded to Denver, but his two years in Denver were disastrous, evoking post-Philadelphia Donovan McNabb vibes. Wilson then went to Pittsburgh and earned a tenth Pro Bowl (though he only had 2,482 Yards and 16 TDs), but he did successfully limit the damage to his reputation.
Wilson is now a New York Giant, and like last year, his grasp on the starting QB position has a young incumbent (Jaxson Dart) waiting in the wings. He may need to compile statistics to secure his Hall of Fame credentials and reinforce his narrative.