Grading the Packers: Tight Ends

Our grades are focused on performance relative to the salary cap. Losing Robert Tonyan to a torn ACL was a major blow to the offense.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Player grades are a staple series of stories at the end of every NFL season. Ours are different, as we grade based on their impact relative to the salary cap. That’s because the cap is such a big part of building a roster. Not only must a team’s high-priced players deliver but it must have some of its less-expensive players outperform their contracts.

Generally, the Green Bay Packers got high marks from both groups in posting their third consecutive 13-win season, though too many fell flat in the playoffs.

This series continues with the tight ends. All salary data is from OverTheCap.com.

Grading the Tight Ends

Marcedes Lewis ($2.425 million cap charge; ranking No. 34 among TEs)

“Big Dog” was forced to be the top dog at the position. Lewis caught 23-of-28 passes (82.1 percent) for 214 yards (9.3 average). He did not get in the end zone, but his catch percentage was the highest of his career and his catch count was his second-highest since 2013.

Of the 53 tight ends who were targeted at least 25 times, Lewis ranked third in catch percentage and eighth in yards after the catch per catch (6.5), according to Pro Football Focus. Get this: Lewis forced nine missed tackles. That was as many as Baltimore’s Mark Andrews, who caught 107 passes, and more than Arizona’s Zach Ertz (74 catches), Miami’s Mike Gesicki (73) and six others who caught 60-plus passes.

Of course, Lewis wasn’t paid to catch passes or run over defenders. He was paid to block, lead and inspire. He did all those things, too. Lewis is under contract for next season, though the team can move on and save almost $2.5 million. It would be a shame if his last noteworthy play was the fumble that turned the NFC Championship Game.

Grade: B-plus.

Robert Tonyan ($1.50 million cap charge; ranking No. 51 among TEs)

The Packers used third-round draft picks on Richard Rodgers, Jace Sternberger and Josiah Deguara. They signed Martellus Bennett, Jared Cook and Jimmy Graham in free agency. It turns out the difference-making tight end they had been seeking for years was a college quarterback-turned-receiver who joined the practice squad late in the 2017 season.

Tonyan had a breakout 2020 season in which he caught 52 passes for 586 yards and 11 touchdowns. Of the 34 tight ends who were targeted at least 40 times in the passing game, Tonyan was No. 1 in catch percentage (89.7), drop percentage (0.0) and passer rating (148.3), according to PFF, and tied for No. 1 in touchdowns. To keep suitors at bay, the Packers gave him a second-round tender in restricted free agency, which was worth $3.38 million, then restructured it by adding four void years to deal with the cap hit.

With a strong 2020 and dominant training camp, Tonyan had positioned himself to get a big contract as an unrestricted free agent this offseason. Instead, he suffered a torn ACL in Week 8 at Arizona. He caught 18-of-29 passes – those 11 incompletions more than all of 2020 – for 204 yards and two touchdowns. He even dropped a pass, which was worthy of a breaking-news bulletin on CNN. After a four-game stretch in which he caught just 6-of-13 for 32 yards, Tonyan caught 4-of-5 for 63 yards vs. Washington and 3-of-4 for 49 yards with a season-long gain of 33 vs. Arizona before the injury.

The grade is harsh – it’s not his fault he was injured, after all.

Grade: D.

Josiah Deguara ($1.03 million cap charge; ranking No. 60 among TEs)

After missing most of his rookie season with a torn ACL and because of Tonyan’s torn ACL this year, Deguara’s snap count went from 31 to 367. He caught 25-of-33 passes (75.8 percent) for 245 yards (9.8 average) and two touchdowns. Thanks in large part to his 62-yard touchdown at Detroit, he finished second among tight ends with 8.3 yards after the catch per catch. He dropped only one pass during the regular season but had a big drop on a slightly off-target ball during the third quarter against the 49ers.

When the Packers drafted him, they envisioned him playing a role similar to that of 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk with an ability to play here, there and everywhere. This year, according to PFF, he played 162 snaps as a traditional tight end, 108 as a slot receiver, 53 as a wide receiver and 44 at fullback. That’s probably too many snaps as a traditional tight end – at 6-foot-2, he’s not cut out for that role – but he did what he could to handle some of Tonyan’s role. As a fullback, especially, he really showed his ability to block.

Grade: C.

Dominique Dafney ($685,556 cap charge; ranking No. 103 among TEs)

Playing 167 snaps as injuries limited him to 10 games, the former nightclub bouncer caught 2-of-4 passes for 34 yards. His big play of the year was a 26-yarder at Detroit. With a size and skill-set similar to that of Deguara, he played 119 snaps as a traditional tight end, 22 at fullback, 21 at slot receiver and five as a wide receiver. Generally speaking, he blocked well and couldn’t have been more of an afterthought in the passing game. With Deguara probably entrenched in the “universal” role, as position coach Justin Outten called it, Dafney will have to stick around because of his play on special teams.

Grade: D.

Tyler Davis ($650,000 cap charge; ranking No. 109 among TEs)

Plucked off Indianapolis’ practice squad in late September, the 2020 sixth-round pick played in 14 games and caught 4-of-5 passes for 35 yards. The only tight end on the roster with something approximating Tonyan’s physical skill-set in terms of size and athleticism, he logged 88 of his 121 snaps during the final four regular-season games and 11 more in the playoffs. If he can block as well as he did in limited duty, he’s got a chance to stick around for 2022.

Grade: D-plus.

RELATED STORIES

Grading the Quarterbacks

Grading the Running Backs