Jason Witten ranks in the all-time elite tier for tight ends — a career that places Witten in the top 1% of all players at the position. The Knox value model assigns Witten a career score of 97, reflecting sustained impact that most players at the position never approach.

On the boards· Appears on 5 boards

TELV#82ACT

Jason Witten

11× Pro Bowl2× All-ProTop 0% all-time TEsIron Legend👑 #1 Tight End · 2012 🌅 Early Bloomer · 2004 Team Carrier · #157

Career Value · VORP

542 career value over replacement — #9 all-time of 4,695. 31.9/season above a replacement-level TE.

Career Profile

4 top-10 seasonstop-10 marks Compiler25% in top 3 yrs

Draft OutcomeSteal ↑

Pick #69 (Rd 3) · DAL · 2003 · +54 vs expected KV-H

97actual

43 expected · Δ+54

Fan Rating

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Compare Jason Witten vs Player Report data error

Height6'6"

Weight263 lb

BornMay 6, 1982

Age44

CollegeTennessee See College Stats

ConferenceSoutheastern

Rookie yr2003

Draft2003 · Rd 3, Pick 69 · DAL

Team Carrier Evidence

Ranked #157 of 568 by seasons where high individual production happened on low-win teams. Score aggregates only tracked StatVault categories.

Full board

Total Score

4 qualifying seasons

2010 DAL·6 team wins#3

Receptions · 94 · score 23

2004 DAL·6 team wins#12

Receptions · 87 · score 14

2010 DAL·6 team wins#14

Receiving Touchdowns · 9 · score 12

All-Time Standing

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

Strong

of 100

Reached 79% of the all-time Receptions leader — a strong all-time profile at the position.

79% of the all-time Receptions leader79

3 categories ≥25% of the all-time leader100

A 0–100 scale where 100 = matched the all-time leader at 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%.

Encyclopedia Coverage6/8 data layers

StatVault aggregates multiple open-licensed and proprietary sources into a single profile. The depth indicator above shows which layers are available for this player.

Bio & DraftBirth date, height/weight, draft round/pick, college — sourced from nflverse players.csv (CC-BY 4.0). Covers all NFL eras.

Season Stats (1999–present)Week-by-week box scores aggregated to season totals: passing, rushing, receiving, defense. Source: nflverse player_stats. Counting stats are exact; rates are derived.

Advanced (EPA, 1999–present)Not available for this player

Snap Counts (2012–present)Offensive, defensive, and special-teams snap counts with team-share percentages. Essential for OL and situational players. Source: nflverse snap_counts.

Where this data comes from

Modern-era stats (1999+) come from nflverse's open data releases. Pre-1999 seasons are backfilled additively from Wikipedia and NFL.com's own official season pages — never from rights-restricted sources.

nflverse — CC-BY 4.0 — attribution required
Wikipedia — Facts extracted under Feist v. Rural Telephone; courtesy CC-BY-SA attribution
NFL.com — Official league site; facts extracted under Feist, courtesy attribution

Methodology · Trust Center

Per-Snap Impact

Tight Ends · proprietary · 2012+

Above average

SIS

Yards / snap:0.644 ydsSee leaderboard →

Yards/snap0.644Touch rate0.092EPA/snap0Snap share86.2%Off snaps6,368ReliableCV 0.33

Production per snap — the box score normalized by opportunity. SIS is z-scored within tight ends, shrinkage-regularized so small samples don't spike, over the NFL snap-count era (2012+).

Career Aging Trajectory

vs. position group average · KV-H basis

Combine · 2003

Percentiles compare each raw measurement against position peers, the full combine pool, and the same draft class where enough samples exist.

TE · 2003 class

4.65s

40-Yard

Above avg · 72th pct

Pos 72thAll 53thClass Pos 76thClass All 61th

31"

Vertical

Low · 21th pct

Pos 21thAll 30thClass Pos 17thClass All 27th

25 reps

Bench

Playoff vs Regular Season

📊 Consistent

Yards / Reception: 10.6 regular season → 10.8 playoffs (6 playoff seasons)

+2%

vs reg season

Career Milestones13

Major career thresholds crossed, derived from regular-season totals (1999+).

20041K career receiving yards
2004100 career receptions
2006250 career receptions
20073K career receiving yards
200825 career receiving TDs
20095K career receiving yards

Understanding These Stats

Passing

Cmp / Att — Completions and pass attempts.

Cmp% — Completion percentage — completions ÷ attempts × 100.

Yds — Passing yards — total air + yards after catch on completions.

TD / TD% — Passing touchdowns. TD% = TDs per 100 attempts, measuring scoring efficiency.

Int / Int% — Interceptions thrown. Int% = INTs per 100 attempts — the primary ball-security metric.

Y/A — Yards per attempt — passing yards ÷ attempts. The core passing efficiency rate.

AdjY/A — Adjusted yards per attempt: (Pass Yds + 20×TD − 45×INT) ÷ Att. Penalizes turnovers and rewards touchdowns — widely considered the most predictive single-season QB metric.

TD:INT — TD-to-interception ratio — passing touchdowns ÷ interceptions thrown. Elite QBs sustain career ratios above 3.0; HOF greats often exceed 4.0. Not shown when no interceptions.

Rate — NFL passer rating — the official formula combining Cmp%, Y/A, TD%, and INT% on a 0–158.3 scale. Good QB performance ≈ 90+; elite ≈ 110+.

Sk — Times sacked — how many times the QB was brought down behind the line of scrimmage.

Postseason Career

8 playoff games

Receiving

Tgt55Rec45Yds486TD1Ctch%81.8%Y/R10.8Y/Tgt8.81D26

College Stats

TennesseeCollege listed; stat table pending import

College stats are not imported for this profile yet.

StatVault has the verified college attribution (Tennessee), 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.

Top Teammates

Tony RomoQB12y Terence NewmanCB9y DeMarcus WareOLB9y Bradie JamesILB9y

Franchise Succession

the room, before and after

Jason inherited the Dallas Cowboys TE room from Jay Novacek (1990–1995), and handed it to Dalton Schultz (2018–2022).

Billy Joe DuPree 1973–1983Doug Cosbie 1979–1988Jay Novacek 1990–1995Jason Witten 2003–2019Dalton Schultz 2018–2022Jake Ferguson

Similar Players

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

Movementderived from season history

2020team change
Joined LV (from DAL)
2020final season
Last recorded season with LV
2003draft
Drafted by DAL — Round 3, Pick 69

Athletic & Unique Profile

verified measurements and curated source-tagged facts

6'6" / 263 lb

Frame

264 lb at 4.65s

Size-speed

25 reps

Bench power

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 17-season peers. See all →

peak 97

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

B2003

A+2004

A2005

B+2006

A+2007

A2008

A2009

A2010

A2011

A2012

B+2013

B+2014

B+2015

B+2016

B2017

B2019

D2020

Availability

Era Translator

Rec Yds translated to the 2025 NFL — 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
2003	347	31.5	626+279	36.8
2004	980	61.3	1,310+330	77.1
2005	757	47.3	913+156	53.7
2006	754	47.1	850+96	50
2007	1,145	71.6	1,245+100	73.2
2008	952	63.5	1,120+168	65.9
2009	1,030	64.4	1,059+29	62.3
2010	1,002	62.6	1,019+17	59.9
2011	942	58.9	931-11	54.7
2012	1,039	64.9	1,031-8	60.6
2013	851	53.2	845-6	49.7
2014	703	43.9	705+2	41.5
2015	713	44.6	743+30	43.7
2016	673	44.9	782+109	46
2017	560	35	615+55	36.2
2019	529	33.1	621+92	36.5
2020	69	6.9	100+31	5.9

Data: nflverse:players, nflverse:player_stats, nflverse:snap_counts, nflverse:combine, nflverse:draft_picks, nflverse:injuries · multi-source verified via the StatVault Oracle · updated 8/31/2026

Defensive StatsNot available for this player

College StatsCollege attribution is present, but this profile artifact does not yet carry a parsed college stat table.

NFL Combine / Pro Day40-yard dash, vertical, broad jump, 3-cone, shuttle, bench press. Source: nflverse combine.csv.

Proprietary LayersKV-H (Knox Value-Historical) — era-normalized career rating 0–100 calibrated within position group (1999+ coverage). SIS (Snap Impact Score, 2012+) — per-snap production z-scored within position. VORP — value over replacement player. Durability IQ — games-played percentile adjusted for era.

Pre-1999 players have bio + draft data but counting stats are not available from any freely-licensed source. Players with ★ Career Only see verified career aggregates from nflverse draft_picks.

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

Pos 87thAll 74thClass Pos 78thClass All 68th

500 career receptions

20128K career receiving yards

2012750 career receptions

201350 career receiving TDs

201410K career receiving yards

20151000 career receptions

201712K career receiving yards

Receiving

Tgt — Targets — how many times the receiver was thrown to, regardless of completion.

Rec — Receptions — catches made.

Yds — Receiving yards.

TD — Receiving touchdowns.

Ctch% — Catch rate — receptions ÷ targets × 100. Measures how reliably a receiver turns opportunities into gains. 70%+ is elite.

Y/R — Yards per reception — receiving yards ÷ receptions. Measures big-play ability; 15+ is elite for WRs.

Y/Tgt — Yards per target — receiving yards ÷ targets. The single most complete receiving efficiency metric: accounts for both drops and incomplete targets. Elite receivers post 8+ yards per target.

AirYd/T — Air yards per target — average depth of route at time of target. High values indicate a deep threat role; low values indicate a slot/check-down role.

1D — First downs gained on receiving plays.

Snap Counts (2012–present)

Off / Off% — Offensive snaps played and share of team total. The most reliable usage metric for skill positions and OL.

Def / Def% — Defensive snaps played and share of team total.

ST / ST% — Special-teams snaps played and share of team total.

Proprietary StatVault Metrics

KV-H (Knox Value-Historical) — Era-normalized career rating 0–100 within position group, calibrated so a 50 = average starter and 90+ = all-time great. Covers 1999–present. Built on a 5-year IQR/robust-std era window.

SIS (Snap Impact Score) — Per-snap production z-scored within position group and era (2012+). Measures how much a player produced per opportunity, not raw volume.

VORP (Value Over Replacement) — Sum of max(0, season KV-H − positional replacement level) across a career. Measures career value above the minimum-roster baseline at each position.

Durability IQ — 0–100 score reflecting how many games a player played relative to peers at the same position in the same era. Adjusts for injury-shortened seasons.

The room is reconstructed from arrival order among durable members (≥4 seasons with the club) at the player’s position group — a lineage by arrival, not a week-by-week depth chart. Distinct from the league-wide positional GOAT torch.

Career durability — games played vs. scheduled, across 17 seasons.

20032020

2003 · cause not documented · 69%

Durability IQ

Composite score across availability, IR frequency, and injury severity. See all →

Iron

Canton Monitor · HOF

Calibrated Hall-of-Fame probability — fit against actual enshrinement. See all →

34%

Building a Case

What carries the case

Era Quality (KV-H) 31.4%Pro Bowls 24.9%All-Pro 18.1%Longevity 18.1%All-Time Ranks 7.5%

Monitor score 132.6 · components sum to the score (All-Pro ×12 · Pro Bowl ×3 · League Lead ×4 · ranks/era/longevity weighted).

What Would It Take?

To reach 50% HOF probability (score target: 109.1 · current: 132.6 · gap: -23.5)

Paths ranked cheapest first · accolade-based, data-calibrated vs actual enshrinement

Career Fingerprint

Statistical profile across 5 dimensions

Overall

Longevity97

Peak97

Accolades48

Consistency65

Per-Snap50

Historical Rank · Era-Adjusted

Best single season, projected to Receiving Yards (TE) in a modern 17-game schedule. See all →

#30

2004 · TE · all-time

On the boards· Appears on 5 boards

Jason Witten

Team Carrier Evidence

All-Time Standing

Where this data comes from

Per-Snap Impact

Career Aging Trajectory

Combine · 2003

Postseason Career

Receiving

College Stats

Reference Graph

Top Teammates

Franchise Succession

Similar Players

Movementderived from season history

Athletic & Unique Profile

Knox

Era Translator

2003 Draft Class· this player went #69