New tight ends adding glamour to the position
By Stacy Kaneshiro
Advertiser Staff Writer
Face it. What youngster growing up playing Pop Warner really aspires to play tight end? After all, the position had traditionally been as an extra blocker on the offensive line.
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"I didn't play tight end when I was growing up," said New York Giants tight end Jeremy Shockey, the only rookie in today's Pro Bowl. "I always played receiver, so I always looked up to the greats like Jerry Rice. My favorite player when I was watching when I was little was Walter Payton. I watched the heart, the head, the desire. As I got older, I played tight end."
The Giants' Jeremy Shockey led NFL tight ends in receiving this season.
In his first season as a pro out of the University of Miami, Shockey led NFL tight ends with 74 catches for 894 yards. But to put his season into a larger perspective, he was 25th in receptions and 28th in receiving yards among all receivers in the NFL. A look deeper shows his totals rank second-best all-time among rookie tight ends to Keith Jackson's 81 receptions in 1988 and Mike Ditka's 1,076 yards in 1961.
Shockey, named the Pepsi Rookie of the Year (as opposed to the NFL's rookie of the year, Denver running back Clinton Portis), wasn't the only one to move from another position to tight end as a youngster. The Baltimore Ravens' Todd Heap wanted to be on the other end.
"I wanted to be a quarterback, actually," said Heap. "In my freshman year in high school, I was a quarterback, and then my sophomore year, they said, 'Why don't you try tight end?' And I did. I liked it."
All Heap did this past season in succeeding the departed Shannon Sharpe — another tight end of distinction — was lead AFC tight ends in receiving with 68 catches for 836 yards. In his second season as a pro, he is making his first Pro Bowl appearance as a backup to Kansas City's Tony Gonzalez.
With the success of these two Pro Bowl representatives, Gonzalez said the perception of tight end has changed.
"Now, it's becoming a glamour position," said Gonzalez, making his fourth Pro Bowl start for the AFC. "Guys like Shannon Sharpe, Jeremy Shockey, Todd Heap. Hopefully little kids say, 'I want to be a tight end, I want to be a tight end.' If you're a good tight end, you're going to get the ball, 70, 80, maybe 90 times a year. It's not a bad position to play."
Granted, there have been great receiving tight ends, such as Kellen Winslow, Russ Francis (called All-World by the late Howard Cossell) and John Mackey (who has an award in his name that goes to college's best tight end). But those type of players weren't as plentiful as they are today.
"There are a lot of great tight ends in the league right now, and that's definitely become a focal point across the league," Heap said.
The idea of a 6-foot-5, 252-pound Shockey, a 6-6, 260-pound Bubba Franks of the Green Bay Packers, or a 6-4, 248-pound Gonzalez going one-on-one against a 5-11, 235-pound linebacker such as Zach Thomas of Miami or a 6-2, 220-pound safety like John Lynch of Tampa Bay is inviting for the offense, and terrifying for the defense.
"There are so many good athletes on the offensive side of the ball now, and they create matchup problems for the defense," Chicago linebacker Brian Urlacher said.
Shockey said a good tight end can reap dividends for other players, as well.
"If you have some big guy who can run up the middle of the field, then it takes the pressure off the outside guys," he said. "I don't think about us being glamorous."
Urlacher could not single out one particular tight end as the best, but the ones here for the Pro Bowl looked pretty good to him.
"I play Bubba Franks twice a year and he's over (for the Pro Bowl) every year," Urlacher said. "I say Shockey has to be right up there. And of course, Gonzalez is up there."
Franks is the NFC's starter in front of Shockey, who is taking advantage of his Pro Bowl appearance to pick up pointers from colleagues.
"Bubba's a great mentor to watch," Shockey said. "How he plays the games, how he does things. I've tried to watch everybody in every situation."
Heap said in his rookie year with Baltimore, he studied Sharpe and apparently was a quick study.
"I loved watching him," Heap said. "He taught me a lot in that past year. Just being able to watch him, how he handles himself, his worth ethic. It's fun to be around a guy like that. I don't know if I filled his shoes, but I'd sure like to get there."
Gonzalez said he also studied Sharpe and tight ends from before he played, such as Winslow and former Dallas Cowboy Jay Novacek.
"I'm just trying to take it to that other level and keep trying to get better and better every year because the competition is getting better," Gonzalez said.
NOTES: Jeremy Shockey and Todd Heap are the youngest players in the Pro Bowl. Both are 22 ... Kansas City's Tony Gonzalez, who played for the Miami Heat's summer league team, said he is expecting to get a tryout with one of several NBA teams in about three weeks. He said he wants to land a 10-day contract that teams use to fill their rosters when depleted by injuries. But he said he has no intention of making basketball his sole sport. "It's both or football," he said. "I'm never ever quitting football."
