Let me start by saying that Gil Brandt is the Godfather when it comes to the NFL and the Dallas Cowboys. He has forgotten and dismissed more about the game of football than I or any of us will ever know. Capeesh? Capeesh.
As loyal members of Cowboys Nation we can admittedly look at things through America’s Team-tinted glasses. Our guys are always the greatest. Our stuff is the best. You get the picture.
Mr. Brandt poked the Cowboys Twitter Bear on Wednesday when he sent this tweet/poll.
Who's the best NFL tight end of all-time?
— Gil Brandt (@Gil_Brandt) June 22, 2016
Well well well. Look who’s not on this list. Settle down, we’re going to address Jason Witten. Don’t worry!
This is obviously a subjective practice and the parameters aren’t defined. There are many different types of tight ends: receiving threats, blocking specialists, complete packages… so how do we define best?
I’m an objective thinker and that’s the way that I believe we can most fairly decide anything in life, the Greatest Tight End of All Time certainly falls under the umbrella of anything so let’s give it a shot.
| Player | Receptions | Yards | Touchdowns | Seasons |
| Mike Ditka | 427 | 5,812 | 43 | 12 |
| Rob Gronkowski | 380 | 5,555 | 65 | 6 |
| Ozzie Newsome | 662 | 7,980 | 47 | 13 |
| Kellen Winslow | 541 | 6,741 | 45 | 9 |
| Jason Witten | 1,020 | 11,215 | 60 | 13 |
| Tony Gonzalez | 1,325 | 15,127 | 111 | 17 |
It would appear on June 23rd, 2016 that the Greatest Tight End of All Time is Tony Gonzalez, who, like Jason Witten, is absent from Mr. Brandt’s poll.
Obviously, the large contingency of us would like to count Jason Witten as the best ever, but that’s simply not true. He is the only other one in the Thousand Yard Catches and Over Ten Thousand Yards clubs with ToGo, but it is very unlikely that he will catch him before he hangs them up. If it’s any consolation to you, I named Jason Witten the Greatest #82 in Dallas Cowboys History.
Mr. Brandt seemed to get a lot of flack on Twitter for including Rob Gronkowski in this pool of greatness. While Gronk and Jason Witten are the lone active members we’ve discussed today, it is worth nothing that if we assume Gronk maintains a pace similar to the one he’s had during the first six years of his career, that he is going to completely shatter all of these records. Consider that he has more touchdowns than Witten, a statistic many people care about, with almost a third of the catches and a half of the yards. That’s insane!
Surely Mr. Brandt meant no disrespect to – as Tony Romo referred to him – the Greatest Dallas Cowboy ever. Similarly we mean no disrespect to Mr. Brandt. We just want some respect shown to one of the best to ever put a Star on his head – Jason Witten.
Where do you think Jason Witten ranks as far as the Greatest Tight Ends in NFL History are concerned? Let us know! Comment below, Email me at RJ@RJOchoaShow.com, or Tweet to me at @rjochoa!
Great work RJ. Mr. Brandt deserves a ton of respect, however I feel that his work with NFL.com has gotten really poor. That said. Any all-time TE list that doesn't include Witten is a bad list. To not include Witten or Gonzales (the greatest in my opinion), is a travesty, imo. Not only was Tony a great receiver (the stats bear that out) he was a part of some great rushing straka the Chiefs put out there (Priest Holmes, Larry Johnson, Marcus Allen, Jamaal Charles). To Witten. He has been as important to the Cowboys as any other player not named Romo. His consistency, attitude, leadership, integrity are stabilizing factors for an organization that was once mired in instability. It will be a sad day when 82 hangs em up. Hopefully, Stephen will do the smart thing and convince him to take a role with the coaching staff. He would make an excellent coach.
Thanks, John!
I agree completely with everything you're saying. Especially with the success ToGo had in KC's run game. Those stats aren't as "wow" as their catches, yards, and touchdowns… But both Witten and Gonzalez have been a part of great ground games which suggests how great of blockers they are.
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