More BTA Rankings: Quarterback | Running Back | Wide Receiver | Tight End
Better Than Average (BTA) was developed to show which players were truly better than their peers when the advantage of the schedule was removed. . This is a true 1:1 measurement because it only considers how well players did against all others who faced a particular defense. It counts up three occurrences:
“8” – When a TE produced one of the top 8 game performances for fantasy points allowed by a defense.
“4” – When a TE scored in the top 4 game performances for fantasy points allowed by a defense.
“1” – Who had the best fantasy game against a defense over the past year. There could only by 32 such events since each defense can only allow one “best game”.
BTA – Simply adding up the 1, 4 and 8 values for a numerical expression of how effective a tight end truly was last year against all other players in his position. The strength of schedule doesn’t matter. Only what a player produced against all other players in that position against that defense. It is a measurement of player ability against the others in his position.
| Multiple “Best Games” | |
|---|---|
| Jimmy Graham | 6 |
| Vernon Davis | 3 |
| Jason Witten | 3 |
| Julius Thomas | 2 |
| Jordan Cameron | 2 |
| Charles Clay | 2 |
| Garrett Graham | 2 |
The best tight ends are never hard to figure out since the position offers only marginal value outside of one to three players per season. Comparing how productive tight ends were last year really meant only one – Jimmy Graham. And then the rest splayed out behind with marginal difference from player to player.
Notable though was Jordan Cameron’s emergence that may no longer matter since the coaching staff is entirely different. But Charles Clay and Timothy Wright both far exceeded expectations and are new comers to the party. This metric is a little less accurate for tight ends than for other positions because there is so much variance in what tight ends a defense has to face. A few teams rely heavily on the position and a few almost never use them. The schedule is a far bigger element when dealing with tight ends.
| NAME | BTA | 1 | 4 | 8 | NAME | BTA | 1 | 4 | 8 | NAME | BTA | 1 | 4 | 8 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jimmy Graham | 30 | 6 | 11 | 13 | Marcedes Lewis | 8 | 0 | 3 | 5 | Zach Miller | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Vernon Davis | 21 | 3 | 7 | 11 | Brandon Myers | 7 | 0 | 1 | 6 | Anthony Fasano | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Julius Thomas | 20 | 2 | 8 | 10 | Brent Celek | 7 | 0 | 2 | 5 | Kyle Rudolph | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Jason Witten | 17 | 3 | 6 | 8 | Jermaine Gresham | 7 | 0 | 2 | 5 | Logan Paulsen | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Jordan Cameron | 17 | 2 | 6 | 9 | Jermichael Finley | 7 | 0 | 3 | 4 | Mychal Rivera | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Tony Gonzalez | 16 | 1 | 7 | 8 | Ladarius Green | 7 | 1 | 2 | 4 | Andrew Quarless | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Charles Clay | 15 | 2 | 5 | 8 | Scott Chandler | 7 | 0 | 2 | 5 | Brandon Pettigrew | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Greg Olsen | 13 | 0 | 3 | 10 | Tyler Eifert | 7 | 1 | 2 | 4 | Gary Barnridge | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Timothy Wright | 13 | 1 | 5 | 7 | Heath Miller | 6 | 0 | 2 | 4 | Gavin Escobar | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Antonio Gates | 12 | 1 | 5 | 6 | Joseph Fauria | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | Lance Kendricks | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Garrett Graham | 12 | 2 | 4 | 6 | Zach Ertz | 6 | 0 | 2 | 4 | Luke Willson | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Coby Fleener | 11 | 1 | 4 | 6 | Clay Harbor | 5 | 0 | 1 | 4 | Sean McGrath | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Martellus Bennett | 11 | 0 | 4 | 7 | Dallas Clark | 5 | 0 | 1 | 4 | Benjamin Watson | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Rob Gronkowski | 10 | 1 | 4 | 5 | Jeff Cumberland | 5 | 0 | 1 | 4 | Brandon Bostick | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Delanie Walker | 8 | 0 | 2 | 6 | John Carlson | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | Chris Gragg | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Jared Cook | 8 | 0 | 4 | 4 | Owen Daniels | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | Dennis Pitta | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Jordan Reed | 8 | 1 | 2 | 5 | Rob Housler | 5 | 0 | 1 | 4 | Kellen Winslow | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
