The TE in football, the most misevaluated, misunderstood, and underestimated position in football.

12 Personal.

Anyone that knows me, is probably bored and tired by my droning, obsessively repetitive promotion of a two TE formation. I am convinced, that the most devastating, most demoralizing, most effective destabilizer of a defensive game plan is 12 personal (1RB-2TE).

The Resiliency of Brutality. 

At a young age, during my inaugural year playing organized football as a defensive player, I formulated a fundamental football philosophy; "Chasing and missing strengthens resolve, Planting and losing all leverage and anchor to a player with no intent to elude, is DEMORALIZING." It may seem ridiculously rudimentary and an oversimplification of an extremely complex team sport, but it is a reality that can be cited OVER AND OVER AND OVER again. An effective brute force offensive attack may not be sexy, but it is immune to travel, resistant to turnovers, effective in bad weather, ideal for clock management, and predictable in the 4th quarter. Brutality is the most effective method to demoralize a defense.

The Knights of Brutality.

Like in Chess, most offensive positions operate with predictable linearity, lineman block, receivers operate under strict guidelines, running backs instinctually navigate in space, but the TE exist as both a lineman and a receiver. Idealistically, the roll of the TE is the most unique of all other positions in football because much of their success isn't measured by actual physical engagement, it is measured by the doubt and instability of a defense negotiating two disciplines in a fraction of a second.

Great TE's are RARE!!!

Understand, my definition of a great TE is a drastic departure of what modern player evaluators would conclude as a 'consensus". Kyle Pitts, Darren Waller,  NOT GREAT TE's! Mark Andrews, George Kittle, those are great TE's. I withhold judgement on Kelce because he is a talent that transcends this perspective, plus he benefits from maybe the most talented QB that ever played. Nevertheless, excluding Kelce, in my evaluation there are only two great TE's in the NFL. 

Narrative distorts development.

As I observed the hyperbolic infatuation over what I considered a mediocre TE (Kyle Pitts), an obsession with athleticism measured in space with no resistance or contact, I realized why the position and it's strategic importance has been distorted into a glorified slow WR. The TE position CANNOT be measured by open space metrics, A TE can only be evaluated by how he negotiates his competence of brutality while leveraging his threat as a target. This reality can only be observed under the conditions of full speed contact. 

The biggest mistake in analyzing the new age TE, is to conclude that receptions and yards equates to greatness. The roll of the TE isn't to accumulate stats, it is to destabilize and demoralize a defense with "versatile brutality". 

Now imagine simultaneously fielding two of these Unicorns?!