Position Group Breakdowns: Tight Ends…. ugh….

July 15, 2023

by Alex Zeese

If there’s anything more questionable than the Washington Commanders new nickname it may be the tight end room in 2023.  This group had a down year in 2022 due to injuries to the number one tight end, Logan Thomas, and the inability of any of the young backups to step up and show themselves to be a solid targets in the league. In total, last season the team’s tight ends amassed 518 yards and just 2 touchdowns, finishing tied 26th in catches, 29th in total yards, and tied for 31st in touchdowns with the Patriots. There are 13 tight ends in the NFL who put up more yards just on their own, and 28 tight ends had more than two touchdowns on their own.  Are you as shocked as I am that it wasn’t 32nd across the board?

The group’s production was dreadful, but this year’s draft was fairly deep at the position. The backbreaker here is that Washington did less than nothing to restock their tight end position.

Logan Thomas did not look healthy last year, he has not been nearly as dynamic as he looked in his first year in Washington. Last year he had 39 catches on 61 targets for 323 yards and a touchdown while missing weeks 5-8.  he really only had 2 productive games last season, week 10 vs Houston where he put up 65 yards, and week 17 vs the Browns where he had 56 yards. Neither game was anything special. He finished 33rd among all tight ends in yards, while five teams had two ends who outproduced Thomas. The biggest concern I have when I look at Thomas’ numbers is he really didn’t improve that much over the season. During the 1st quarter of the season, he averaged 3.25 catches on 5 targets and 26.5 yards a game. During the final 4 games, he averaged 3.75 catches on 5.25 targets and 28.25 yards a game. Yes, he improved a little, but these are not starting caliber numbers.

Others see John Bates as the best blocker of the group and some of the advanced stats groups like to say that. I guess he is fine, he is better than the rest of the group, but that’s like me saying I’m the smartest guy in the room when the only other living thing in the room is a cat.  Because he’s used as a blocker, his pass-catching numbers should be taken with a grain of salt, 14 catches for 108 yards on 22 passes with only one touchdown. When he does go out to catch passes, he’s what I think of as a traditional tight end, with lots of short crossing routes to find space and be the safe passing option for the quarterback.

Earlier reports from Ashburn are that the team is expecting Cole Turner to make a big jump this season and he may be the preferred choice to start if Thomas is not fully back Turner is considered a better receiver than Bates, which favors him in the modern NFL pass-first offenses. If Turner does produce it would be a huge, good surprise, as last year he managed just 2 catches in nine passes and 23 yards. 2 for 9 is not the best average.

The team also brought back Armani Rogers, another athletic, quarterback-turning tight end who got hurt last season but showed some big play ability he had 64 yards on 5 catches when he was healthy.  Rogers however is out for the year as a result of a non-contact achilles injury suffered in May.

Curtis Hodges out of Arizona State returns.  If you’re looking for a crazy athletic prospect he may be the guy at 6-8 and 240 pounds.  He was signed by the Commanders last season.

Lastly, the team brought in Brandon Dillon, a 26-year-old out of Marion who is probably someone even diehard fans would not know. If you even want to find highlights of this kid online, you have to go all the way back to his high school film. Dillon was with the Vikings for the last 3 years and has 1 NFL catch on his resume for 6 yards.

For much of the early 2000s to the late 2010s, Washington usually had a strong group of tight ends. While the group was never really in the NFL’s elite conversations, they usually had solid starting production with pro-bowl caliber players like Chis Cooley and Jordan Reed, solid contributions from the likes of Fred Davis and Vernon Davis, Logan Pausen. There were solid opinions all over those rosters. It gave the quarterbacks a reliable inside safety valve, a guy they could dumb the ball off to when facing a rushing defender. Given the team’s starting a young quarterback, they desperately need him to build that relationship with someone in the tight end room to help him out.