The TE Radar Chart
What is a radar chart?
A radar chart is a way to quickly and effectively present information, especially when showing how a player compares across multiple statistics and their percentiles in those statistics. It has become one of the default ways of showing player stats in the other football (soccer) for how easily it conveys data, and was popularized by Ted Knutson and the team at Statsbomb.
Why use them?
Radar charts give a quick and easy look at the kind of player you are looking for. The statistics represent different TE archetypes. Do you have a pure receiver, a blocker, or an all-rounder? Does the TE play a high or low variance game?
However, there are a few things to remember when looking at these charts. All this represents is statistical output, and if you had players on other teams or in different situations, it would most likely affect all the numbers.
This is only a tool to help evaluate players and add extra context to a holistic evaluation.
The Stats and the Data Set
The data is all sourced from PFF and includes all RBs who played FBS football from 2015 to the present with at least 75 routes, and compares the TE against their draft year, unless otherwise specified. These stats were chosen because I believe they best exemplify what type of TE a prospect is.
- Man Route Grade – A proprietary PFF rating that evaluates a TE's route running effectiveness against man coverage.
- Man Y/RR (Yards per Route Run vs. Man) – A TE's receiving yards divided by routes run against man coverage
- Zone Route Grade – A proprietary PFF rating that evaluates a TE's route running effectiveness against zone coverage.
- Zone Y/RR – A TE's receiving yards per route run against zone coverage
- YAC per Reception – Average yards gained after the catch per reception.
- Drop Rate – The percentage of catchable targets a TE dropped, as graded by PFF. Lower is better.
- Contested Catch Rate – The percentage of contested targets a TE caught.
- Pass Block Grade – A proprietary PFF rating measuring how well a TE holds up in pass protection.
- Run Block Grade – A proprietary PFF rating measuring a TE's effectiveness as a run blocker.
Now for some fun charts!
