This week, I’m going to revisit the 2016 signings and note where each player stands after 13 games on their new contracts. This will be the final installment until the end of the season, when I will look at each new signing’s full season along with their game to game consistency.
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Wide Receiver Consistency
In several of my WR and TE tier articles this year, I have used consistency or lack thereof as a reason why a particular player is or is not meeting his contract expectations. However, “Player A is consistent and Player B is not” without supporting analysis isn’t a very strong argument. Today, I would like to explore two methods of determining a player’s consistency: median statistics and frequency of hitting specific milestones.
My earlier posts on receivers and tight ends looked at production when averaged over 16 games. While it is important to look at season totals, a significant missing piece was what to do with players like Marvin Jones who started the season hot, then cooled off significantly. Jones’ 2016 totals should look good when viewed as one number, but the Lions are really getting several games at amazing value and several games where they’re getting well below market value.
2017 Free Agency: Martellus Bennett
Martellus Bennett was drafted in the second round (61st overall) by the Dallas Cowboys in 2008 and was the fourth tight end selected in that draft. In his four years in Dallas, Bennett’s season highs were 33 receptions, 47 targets, 283 yards, and 4 touchdowns. Unfortunately for Bennett, he was stuck behind Jason Witten during Witten’s run of excellence from 2007 to 2012. In that period, Witten never received less than 117 targets in a season and never caught fewer than 79 receptions for 942 yards.
When Bennett’s contract with the Cowboys expired, he signed a one year deal with the New York Giants for $2.5M. In his lone year with the Giants, Bennett set career highs in every receiving category.
Tight End Contract Tiers through 2016 Week 8
This week, I’m going to revisit the 2016 signings and note where each player stands after 8 weeks on their new contracts.
Methodology
See my prior article here for more information regarding how these tiers were constructed and what types of tight ends fit into each tier.
| APY | Catches/16 | Targets/16 | Catch % | Yards/16 | TDs/16 | |
| Tier 1 | $9M+ | 80 | 120 | 66% | 1,000 | 11 |
| Tier 2 | $6.5M-$9M | 75 | 110 | 68% | 800 | 5 |
| Tier 3 | $4M-$6.5M | 55 | 85 | 63% | 500 | 4 |
| Tier 4 | <$4M | n/a – Veteran Backup/Blocking Tight End | ||||
Wide Receiver Contract Tiers through 2016 Week 8
This week, I’m going to revisit the 2016 signings and note where each player stands after 8 weeks on their new contracts.
Methodology
See my prior article here for more information regarding how these tiers were constructed and what types of receivers fit into each tier.
| APY | Catches/16 | Targets/16 | Catch % | Yards/16 | TDs/16 | |
| Tier 1 | $14M+ | 100 | 160 | 64% | 1,450 | 11 |
| Tier 2 | $10M-$11.5M | 90 | 130 | 68% | 1,100 | 8 |
| Tier 3 | $6M-$8M | 70 | 115 | 60% | 1,000 | 6 |
| Tier 4 | $3M-$5M | 55 | 80 | 65% | 675 | 4 |
State Tax Rates Part 2
My recent article on state tax rates created enough follow-up questions that I would like to clarify in more space than is feasible for the comments section. I am not an expert in any of these areas, so please note in the comments section if my research has missed something.
Tight End Contract Tiers
The free agency period is long over and we now have a few games worth of results to assess how recent signees are performing compared to their compensation. The question I’m trying to answer with this research is: “Is Team A getting the proper value out of its contract with Player B?”
I’ll revisit this topic throughout the season as we have more and more data to work with.
Today, I’m looking at how tight ends are producing relative to their contract tier expectations. For a similar analysis on wide receivers, please see the Wide Receiver Contract Tiers post from earlier this week.