Rob Gronkowski Scored 18 Touchdowns in a Season as a Tight End

Rob Gronkowski set the tight end record with 18 total touchdowns in 2011, won four Super Bowls, and made four first-team All-Pro squads. He is also the only tight end in NFL history with more than 1,000 receiving yards in the playoffs.

Gronkowski caught 621 passes for 9,286 yards and 92 touchdowns in 143 games. That is roughly 65 yards and a touchdown every other game, and it is dragged down by three seasons that injuries cut in half. The healthy version was better than the career line suggests, which is the reverse of how longevity usually flatters a resume.

The reason he tops this list rather than the yardage leaders is that he was two players. Most great receiving tight ends are wide receivers who tolerate blocking. Gronkowski was a genuine inline blocker, the kind an offense can run behind on third and one, who also happened to be the most dangerous red zone target in football. New England did not have to substitute to change what it was doing, which meant the defense could not substitute either.

That is what made him unsolvable. A safety could not handle him physically. A linebacker could not run with him. Inside the twenty there was no correct answer, only a choice of which mismatch to lose, and the record book reflects it: 92 touchdowns from a position that averages about a third of that over a comparable career.

Tony Gonzalez is the honest counterargument and it is a strong one. He played 270 games to Gronkowski's 143, finished with 1,325 catches and 15,127 yards, and made 14 Pro Bowls. Longevity is a real skill and Gonzalez has twice as much of it. Travis Kelce has since passed Gronkowski in receiving yards and has more 1,000-yard seasons.

But Gonzalez and Kelce are receivers first, and neither would be asked to seal an edge against a defensive end on a goal line run. Gronkowski was the best blocker and the best receiver at his position in the same season, more than once, and he has four rings and the postseason records. Peak and completeness go to him; the counting stats go to Gonzalez.

The verdict: Gronkowski for peak and completeness. Gonzalez for the career.