this is my favorite thing about Keller. People are always looking to compare high draft picks to the elite's at their position's rookie years. Not only is Keller in the same Ball park, he has surpassed everyone in TD's Yardage and is less than a handful of receptions away from passing Gonzo's rookie reception mark. So essentially he already having the best rookie year of today's Elite tight ends, what does that hold for his future? My belief, is pure and utter dominance. If he can stay healthy, whoa boy Canton is going to need to make room for this kid. but thats all of course requiring, we have decent QB's to get him the ball, over the course of his career, that he's not the only receiving option in town, that he lives up to his potential (which looks incredibly promising right now) and of course he stays healthy. Go keller kick some ass down the stretch! edit: apparently Keller has already surpassed Gonzo's reception mark. what more needs to be said? the kid is going to be a star!
Tony Gonzalez only had 33 receptions in his rookie season. To me, Keith Jackson in 1988 with the Eagles had the best rookie season from the tight end position in the quarter century that I've been watching the game. He caught 81 passes and was effective when blocking. He added a big dimension to the team that year and was a key reason why the Eagles made it back to the playoffs for the first time since the Dick Vermeil era.
ture i had forgotten about Jackson, but I was speaking in terms of today's elite TE's rather than those of the past, simply because they are more household names in todays world, that and I would have no idea how to remember everyone and look up their rookie seasons. Regardless it is very telling that Keller is ahead of Gonzo (NFL's all time leader in receptions by a TE) already with 4 weeks to. Kid's going to be a stud.
Shockey had 70 receptions, but he played and started all 16 games. Gonzales didn't start in one game but he was apart of a 2 TE set in KC, just was never the starting TE in his rookie year. Gates and Clark both played similar Game Starts to Keller and Keller is having the better season.
Just wanted to correct the Shockey numbers- he played in 15 games and started 14 as a rookie and caught 74 passes. Getting back to Jackson, he was a 1st team All-Pro as a rookie. In chronological order, these are arguably the best rookie seasons from tight ends- Mike Ditka, 1961 Bears John Mackey, 1962 Colts Charle Young, 1973 Eagles Junior Miller, 1980 Falcons Robert Awalt, 1987 Cardinals Keith Jackson, 1988 Eagles
Keller's numbers are great for a rookie and far exceeded most of our expectations. He barely played in the first 8 games or so too. Most of his numbers probably come from the past 4-5 weeks, and maybe 1 game from the beginning of the season.
I would be curious to know exactly what the breakdown is by game. I don't remember noticing him much at all before the last 4 or 5 games. Hopefully he keeps racking up the stats.
I agree that he is playing awesome the past couple of games but I think it is utterly ridiculous to start bringing up the Hall of Fame when talking about a player who has just played 10 games.
Rec Yds Y/R Lng TD - - - - - 1 19 19.0 19 0 4 41 10.3 14 1 1 24 24.0 24 1 - - - - - 1 6 6.0 6 0 4 38 9.5 23 0 2 19 9.5 15 0 6 107 17.8 54 1 8 87 10.9 20 0 6 42 7.0 16 0 7 77 11.0 20 0 Two weeks he recorded no catches Week 1 and Week 6 Last 4 Games 27 of his 40 catches 313 of his 460 yards
Factoid of the day: By my research Keller has the most receiving yards of any Jet TE since Johnnie Mitchell in 1993! How ridiculous of that. Says as much about our TE history as it does about Keller of course, but still.
He is a really big component in this offense. Seems to have a knack for gwetting first downs. I just wish he wouldn't celebrate every time he catches the ball. I find that pretty annoying, but i hope to continue being annoyed. It only means he's moving the ball down field.
He strikes me as a really modest guy. Him, and VG. Alot of people complain that VG doesn't play with any excitement. Well, if you watch his college tapes, you'll see he was the same way then as well, even coming off of a really nice sack, he didn't get exxcited. Same with Keller for the most part. Only times I've seen him get excited is on game winners.
Hey, thanks for the breakdown. It's even more encouraging seeing the actual numbers. What a huge contribution this kid is making as a rookie.
well with four games to go, I dont think it is to unreasonable to predict Keller's final stat line as being relatively close to the following 60 catches (20 in four games or 5 per game, the last four games he is averaging 6.75 rec/game) 690 yards (maintaining his 11.5 yards per reception average that he has now) 5 TD's (4 games, catching 2 tds isnt unreasonable, besides he's due, he hasnt had one since week 6) now I dont know how that ranks up there amongst all time great rookie seasons for a TE, but it is more than what any Jets fan could have asked for. It is Phenomenal. Even if it doesnt even crack the top of this list, IDC the kid surpassed, Gonzo's, Gates', Clark's and many other rookie seasons of todays "elite" tight ends.
I had him ranked high as a WR, but low as a TE. I'm from the philosophy that "my TE should fuggin' block and catch (see Baker), if he's fast too, then holy crap".
