Tight end is the “now” position in NFL

From Gonzo to Gronk to Graham, tight ends are running past, around and through defenders at an unprecedented rate. Hey, the Patriots’ Rob Gronkowski does all of those things on one play.

Once a glorified tackle, the position now requires the skills of a wide receiver – and a power forward. Speed, size, athletic ability, power, intelligence all are in the mix.

Along with nicknames, apparently.

“The tight end position is taking off,” said San Francisco’s Vernon Davis, who also is called Duke; his dad is Big Duke and he was Little Duke as a kid before growing to 6-foot-3, 250 pounds. “It’s almost as if you have to start playing tight ends with cornerbacks nowadays because they’re fast, these guys are strong and they’re making plays – they’re making plays like wide receivers.”

Nobody has made more plays at the position in one season than Gronkowski, who became an All-Pro in his second NFL season by catching 90 passes for 1,327 yards and 17 touchdowns. The yards and TDs are records, accomplished with plenty of power and flash.

“The guy is a beast,” Jets cornerback Antonio Cromartie, but that seems to be a common description for most outstanding tight ends in what a Hall of Famer from the position, Shannon Sharpe, dubs “the golden age” for tight ends.

Gronkowski mixes size (6-6, 265) and speed with great hands. Huge, great hands. He doesn’t drop the ball, and when he grabs it, he’s nearly impossible to tackle.

“He has run over a few guys,” noted fellow Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez, who along with Gronkowski has been dubbed the Boston TE Party.

If not for Gronkowski’s production, the Saints’ Jimmy Graham would have established an NFL mark with his 1,310 yards. He had 99 catches and scored 11 times.

Seven of the top 17 players on the receptions chart this season were tight ends: Graham; Gronkowski; Detroit’s Brandon Pettigrew; Atlanta’s Tony Gonzalez, the career leader in just about every receiving category for the position; Dallas’ Jason Witten; Hernandez; and Tampa Bay’s Kellen Winslow.

Considering that teams use two, and often three, wideouts per play, that’s highly disproportionate. And impressive.

“When I was playing,” said Hall of Famer Ozzie Newsome, who retired in 1990 and now is general manager of the Ravens, “the majority of tight ends were point-of-attack guys. You would line up on the line of scrimmage next to the tackle and we were basically two-back oriented.

“Now, tight ends are getting opportunities to be extended away from the tackles, able to stand up on the outside as receivers. These guys are getting taller, bigger and faster or as fast as guys in the past. If you were 6-3, 245 you were a big tight end at that time, and now they go 6-5, 260 or 270 and are just as athletic.”

The New England connection, or whatever sobriquet they come up with, is doubly dangerous. Hernandez’s numbers (79 catches, 910 yards, seven touchdowns) might have received Pro Bowl consideration a few years back.

Hernandez was drafted in the fourth round out of Florida in 2010, two rounds after the Patriots took Arizona’s Gronkowski. As rookies, they combined for 87 receptions for 1,109 yards and 16 touchdowns. Gronkowski eclipsed that by himself this season.

Gronkowski and Hernandez, who also has been used as a running back in New England and broke a 43-yard run against Denver in a 45-10 rout last week, have become close friends. They don’t see each other as competition anymore.

“It was definitely weird at first,” Gronkowski said. “We always knew about each other and everything, but it has been two years now. We are buddies now, we are good buddies. We have a lot of fun together.”