Timo Riske of Pro Football Focus took a look at the NFL's best receivers by route, which included tight ends. In addition to the analytics site's receiving grade for each player, Riske examined the production per route run, meaning, what was accomplished when the player lined up for the route. Did it result in a touchdown, first down, several yards?

How often a player is targeted during a route is also factored into the equation.

"While this ignores whether the target was actually successful," notes Riske, "it still carries a lot of signal for skill because receivers are rarely targeted if they can't get open."

Other calculations were factored into the analysis. You can get a detailed explanation over at Pro Football Focus.


So did any San Francisco 49ers players make the rankings by route? One.

Tight end George Kittle was listed as the best in the NFL at shallow cross routes. The top three players in this category are listed below.

Player TAE100 Adj. YPRR First-down rate PFF grade rank
George Kittle 15.5 (1) 7.0 (1) 25.2% (1) 1
Stefon Diggs 12.6 (3) 4.8 (3) 17.0% (3) 2
Cooper Kupp 10.9 (4) 5.7 (2) 17.3% (2) 3

TAE100: Targets above expectation per 100 routes run
YPRR: Adjusted yards per route run

Wrote Riske: "When you watch the San Francisco 49ers and notice Shanahan dialing up a shallow cross for tight end George Kittle, you can almost bank on the ball getting thrown his way (47% target rate over the last two years) with a successful play happening shortly after (31% first-down rate over the last two years)."

Kittle is entering his fourth year with the 49ers, the team that made him a fifth-round draft pick in 2017. The tight end has earned two Pro Bowl selections, and last season was named a first-team All-Pro. He has recorded 1,000-or-more receiving yards in each of his past two seasons, including setting the NFL record for receiving yards by a tight end in a single season in 2018 with 1,377.
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