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The original was posted on /r/nfl by /u/gyman122 on 2024-03-24 00:21:47.
Obviously this arises from the Kelce/Gronk discussion, Gronk was an elite inline blocker and Kelce is not so a lot of people take that as a reason for why they prefer Gronk. I would never begrudge this rationale, and I pretty much agree. Kittle obviously also factors in here
But, if that’s the case, and the collective football consciousness finds that important, why is it that most of the other guys who come up in these GOAT tight end conversations were unremarkable blockers? Ozzie Newsome, Kellen Winslow Sr., Shannon Sharpe, Antonio Gates, (early) Tony Gonzalez, most of these guys got the stats and acclaim they did because of their unique, Kelce-like usage and target volume which more or less tried not to feature them as blockers because most of them weren’t especially good at it. But we still consider them some of the greatest of all time
Meanwhile, a guy like Kyle Brady who is one of the best blocking tight ends in NFL history has had his legacy relegated to being yet another Jets draft bust despite a long, solid career
If we do comprehensively value blocking ability in evaluating in the legacy of a tight ends career, should we bump up guys like Mark Bavaro and Jason Witten, while knocking down guys like Gates and Winslow?