This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/nfl by /u/JPAnalyst on 2024-07-04 13:00:20+00:00.

Through 11 seasons, Travis Kelce has 11,328 receiving yards, a massive 1,400 yards more than the 2nd highest total of 9,882 by Tony Gonzalez through 11 seasons. In fact, Kelce also leads through 12 seasons after playing only 11. Barring injury, Kelce will own the record through 13 seasons after his 12th year, and he has a fairly reasonable shot to also own the 14-season record after year 12 (needing 1,135 yards). Kelce is disadvantaged by playing only one snap (a special teams snap) in his entire rookie year.

Mike Ditka, despite playing in the 14-game era, owns the rookie record and the record through two seasons, averaging 71 yards per game.

Before the Chiefs takeover of this stat, the record through years 3-6 were owned at different times by George Kittle, Jimmy Graham, and Rob Gronkowski.

Tony Gonzalez the all-time TE record holder with 15,127 yards, starts to show up on this list through 13 seasons and owns the record from that point on. His per-game average of 56 is quite a bit lower than Kelce’s 71. Kelce’s per-game number is sure to drop as he ages, but even comparing these two through year 11, Kelce has 71 vs 58 for Gonzalez. Different eras/passing game is a factor that can’t be overlooked when comparing those numbers.

Obligatory caveats

  • 14-game era up to 1978 (Ditka); 16-game era 1978-2020 (most on this list played primarily in the 16-gm era); 17-game era 2021+ (Kittle, Kelce, Graham)
  • This is straight up volume, and I’m not attempting to make any era adjustments or evaluate efficiency. Different eras have various rules, pace of play, and pass/run rates which is a factor when looking at historical numbers.
  • I agree that suggestions to do this by games played instead of by years would be cool, but my spreadsheets and process are set up nicely to do this by year, and I don’t want to do the extra work required for that right now. I have added a column for games played and per-game to the table for that additional context though.