Clarence Kay is a career quality starter — a tight end whose body of work places Kay in the top quarter of all players at the position historically. The Knox model values sustained contribution over flash, and Kay's career arc reflects exactly that kind of reliable professional-grade performance.

TEDEN#0ACT

Clarence Kay

Top 14% all-time TEsIron ManTwo-Way Profile

Height6'2"

Weight225 lb

BornJul 30, 1961

Age64

CollegeGeorgia See College Stats

Rookie yr1984

Draft1984 · Rd 7, Pick 186 · DEN

Archetype Intelligence

Iron ManExplore archetypes →

A high-end tight end defined as much by exceptional availability — almost never missed time as by their on-field impact (top 20% all-time). Coaches and teammates could count on them being available.

Career Value · VORP

VORP 152 · #620 · High-Value

Worth 152 points of value above a freely-available replacement tight end — top 14% of all 4,642 ranked at the position. 9 of 9 seasons cleared the replacement bar, by +16.9 on average.See board →

Seasons above replacement

9 cleared

Beat replacement (adds to VORP) Below it — adds 0, never a debit

Replacement

the KC-H bar

→

Seasons over

cleared the bar

+16.9

Avg surplus

peak +30

9 seasons × ~16.9 surplus ≈ VORP 152

Combined Season Grid

The full season-by-season grids, joined on one timeline. Every selected stat family stays visible at once—no tab hopping.

2 grids split in one view

Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Receiving									Defense
Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Tgt	Rec	Yds	TD	Ctch%	Y/R	Y/Tgt	AirYd/T	1D	Tkl	Solo	Ast	TFL	QBHits	Sk	Dis	Int	PD	FF	FR	TD	Sfty
1984	—	DEN	16	—	—	16	136	3	—	8.5	—	—	—	4	4	—	—	—	0.0	0.0	—	0	0	—	—	—
1985	—	DEN	16	—	—	29	339	3	—	11.7	—	—	—	2	2	—	—	—	0.0	0.0	—	0	0	—	—	—
1986	—	DEN	13	—	—	15	195	1	—	13.0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1987	—	DEN	12	—	—	31	440	0	—	14.2	—	—	—	3	2	—	—	—	0.0	0.0	—	0	0	—	—	—
1988	—	DEN	14	—	—	34	352	4	—	10.4	—	—	—	1	1	—	—	—	0.0	0.0	—	0	0	—	—	—
1989	—	DEN	16	—	—	21	197	2	—	9.4	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1990	—	DEN	16	—	—	29	282	0	—	9.7	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1991	—	DEN	16	—	—	11	139	0	—	12.6	—	—	—	1	0	—	—	—	0.0	0.0	—	0	0	—	—	—
1992	—	DEN	16	—	—	7	56	0	—	8.0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Career		—	135	—	0	193	2,136	13	—	11.1	—	—	—	11	9	—	—	—	0.0	0.0	0	0	0	0	—	—

Receiving

Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Tgt	Rec	Yds	TD	Ctch%	Y/R	Y/Tgt	AirYd/T	1D	VAL
1984	23	DEN	16	—	—	16	136	3	—	8.5	—	—	—	10.6
1985	24	DEN	16	—	—	29	339	3	—	11.7	—	—	—	12.7
1986	25	DEN	13	—	—	15	195	1	—	13.0	—	—	—	7.7
1987	26	DEN	12	—	—	31	440	0	—	14.2	—	—	—	8.7
1988	27	DEN	14	—	—	34	352	4	—	10.4	—	—	—	13.3
1989	28	DEN	16	—	—	21	197	2	—	9.4	—	—	—	11.5
1990	29	DEN	16	—	—	29	282	0	—	9.7	—	—	—	9.5
1991	30	DEN	16	—	—	11	139	0	—	12.6	—	—	—	6.1
1992	31	DEN	16	—	—	7	56	0	—	8.0	—	—	—	5.6
Career			135		0	193	2,136	13	—	11.1	—	—	—	85.7

Defense

Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Tkl	Solo	Ast	TFL	QBHits	Sk	Dis	Int	FR	TD	Sfty
1984	23	DEN	—	—	4	4	—	—	—	0.0	0.0	—	—	—	—
1985	24	DEN	—	—	2	2	—	—	—	0.0	0.0	—	—	—	—
1987	26	DEN	—	—	3	2	—	—	—	0.0	0.0	—	—	—	—
1988	27	DEN	—	—	1	1	—	—	—	0.0	0.0	—	—	—	—
1991	30	DEN	—	—	1	0	—	—	—	0.0	0.0	—	—	—	—
Career					11	9	—	—	—	—	—	0	0	—	—

KV-H Anatomy

KV-H 66 · Strong Starter

A strong starter career by KV-H: a peak-driven profile that scores 66 of 100, era-normalized against rec yds/g peers across 9 scored seasons.

Sustained

career value

×.6

Peak

best 3 seasons

×.4

×1

Longevity

career length

Blend 66.2 × longevity 1 = KV-H 66· confidence 100%

What builds the career mark of 63

On-field 43.9

Availability 19.1

On-field production Staying available

Season-by-season quality (era-relative rec yds/g)

1984bestavg 63elite 701992

All-Time Standing

how this career measures against the all-time greats at the position

Depth

of 100

Reached 12% of the all-time Receptions leader — a rotational/depth all-time profile at the position.

12% of the all-time Receptions leader12

0 categories ≥25% of the all-time leader0

A 0–100 scale where 100 = matched the all-time leaderat this position. Built only from visible encyclopedia data — career production vs. the all-time leader, plus efficiency (EPA) and comparable-player confidence — so it's a transparent context score, not a subjective rating. Tiers: Elite ≥ 85 · Strong ≥ 65 · Solid ≥ 45 · Depth < 45. Comparable-player confidence: 89%.

Career Aging Trajectory

vs. position group average · KV-H basis

Amber = this player (normalized to own peak). Indigo = average tight ends aging curve. Group peak age: 25. Source: StatVault KV-H era (1999+).

College Stats

GeorgiaCollege listed; stat table pending import

College stats are not imported for this profile yet.

StatVault has the verified college attribution (Georgia), but no parsed college box-score table is present in this profile artifact. The section stays here so every profile has a consistent college-stats landing point without fabricating unavailable rows.

Reference Graph

Career teammates and draft class, derived from year-by-year rosters — every name is linked.

1984 Draft Class· this player went #186

#150Don KernTE #153Randy WrightQB #154Dwight CollinsWR #161Eric MullinsWR #169Jay CarrollTE #170Willie JoynerRB #171Lionel ManuelWR #174Jesse BendrossWR #191Scott CampbellQB #192Derwin WilliamsWR #203Billy GriggsTE #212Brad AndersonWR #225Rick MalloryG #237Brian HansenP #245Chris BrewerRB #247Rich ErenbergRB

Franchise Succession

the room, before and after

Clarence opened the Denver Broncos TE lineage the corpus knows, and handed it to Orson Mobley (1986–1990).

Clarence Kay 1984–1992Orson Mobley 1986–1990Shannon Sharpe 1990–2003Byron Chamberlain 1995–2000Desmond Clark 1999–2001Tony Scheffler 2006–2009

Similar Players

Statistical + physical similarity across every player in the database, position-relevant (0–100%).

Movementderived from season history

1992final season
Last recorded season with DEN
1984draft
Drafted by DEN — Round 7, Pick 186

Athletic & Unique Profile

verified measurements and curated source-tagged facts

6'2" / 225 lb

Frame

Knox

StatVault's proprietary player intelligence, informed by full career data. How Knox works →

Historical Knox · KV-H

Era-normalized career quality — z-scored against 9-season peers. See all →

peak 71

Season Report Cards· KV-H era-normalized per season

C+1984

B1985

C+1986

B+1987

B1988

B1989

B1990

C+1991

C+1992

Availability

Career durability — games played vs. scheduled, across 9 seasons.

94%

Era Translator

Rec Yds translated to the 2025NFL — each season's standing among its own-era peers, projected onto 2025's scoring environment. Modern-era (1999+) coverage.

Season	Actual Rec Yds	Rec Yds/G	→ 2025 Rec Yds	→ 2025 /G
1984	136	8.5	356+220	21
1985	339	21.2	591+252	34.8
1986	195	15	450+255	26.5
1987	440	36.7	899+459	52.9
1988	352	25.1	687+335	40.4
1989	197	12.3	437+240	25.7
1990	282	17.6	569+287	33.5
1991	139	8.7	376+237	22.1
1992	56	3.5	253+197	14.9

Data: nflverse:draft_picks, nflverse:players, wikipedia:season-stats (CC-BY-SA, facts-only), nfl.com:official-stats (facts-only reference), nfl.com:official-stats (games-played, facts-only reference) · multi-source verified via the StatVault Oracle · updated 6/18/2026

Career Value · VORP

152 career value over replacement — #620 all-time of 4,642. 16.9/season above a replacement-level TE.

Draft OutcomeSteal ↑

Pick #186 (Rd 7) · DEN · 1984 · +40.1 vs expected KV-H

66actual

25.9 expected · Δ+40.1

Fan Rating

Rate Clarence Kay — All-Time

Tap a star to rate

Explore More

Similar Players

Stephen Anderson

93% match

Dante Rosario

91% match

Lin Dawson

88% match

Brian Kinchen

87% match

Jim Thornton

87% match

Compare Clarence Kay vs Player Report data error

Clarence Kay

Archetype Intelligence

Career Value · VORP

Combined Season Grid

Receiving

Defense

KV-H Anatomy

All-Time Standing

Career Aging Trajectory

College Stats

Reference Graph

Top Teammates

1984 Draft Class· this player went #186

Franchise Succession

Similar Players

Movementderived from season history

Athletic & Unique Profile

Knox

Era Translator

Career Geography