Rob Gronkowski has retired from football, at the age of 29. At his peak, Gronk was the most dominant tight end of all time. He excelled at so many things and in so many ways: a remarkable red zone scorer, a tremendous blocker, a clutch receiver, and a consistent producer. From 2011 to 2017, Rob Gronkowski averaged 67.5 yards per game in all seven seasons; all other tight ends in the NFL combined to do that…. 7 times (Jimmy Graham twice, Travis Kelce twice, and Delanie Walker, Jordan Reed, and Greg Olsen once each).

But one of Gronk’s statistics that most interests me is his remarkable yards per catch, particularly given his size. The graph below shows the 300 players with the most receiving yards in pro football history. The X-Axis shows player weight; the Y-Axis shows yards per catch. This graph includes running backs, wide receivers, and tight ends, so lots of running backs are at the bottom of the graph. But what sticks out — as you would suspect — is how bare the upper right portion chart appears. In other words, players who weigh a lot typically don’t have high YPC averages.

And then there’s Gronk, who I have shaded in red. The three players at the outer hull (top and to the right) of the chart are Homer Jones (215 pounds, 22.26 YPC), Vincent Jackson (241 pounds, 16.81 YPC), and Gronkowski (265 pounds, 15.09 YPC)

Here’s the same information, but with only players who were predominantly tight ends shown.

The three tight ends who have higher YPC averages than Gronk are Rich Caster, who also spent some time at wide receiver, and Jackie Smith and John Mackey, two Hall of Famers who played in the era of the deep ball.

I don’t think we’ll ever see another player of Gronk’s size who is able to post such impressive YPC numbers.