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

TEDAL#84CUT

Mikhael Ricks

Top 12% all-time TEsElite PlaymakerTwo-Way Profile

Height6'5"

Weight260 lb

BornNov 14, 1974

Age51

CollegeStephen F. Austin State See College Stats

Rookie yr1998

Draft1998 · Rd 2, Pick 59 · LAC

Archetype Intelligence

Elite PlaymakerExplore archetypes →

A top 20% all-time tight end who consistently made an impact across multiple seasons.

Career Value · VORP

VORP 97 · #1182 · High-Value

Worth 97 points of value above a freely-available replacement tight end — top 26% of all 4,642 ranked at the position. 5 of 5 seasons cleared the replacement bar, by +19.4 on average.See board →

Seasons above replacement

5 cleared

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

Replacement

the KC-H bar

→

Seasons over

cleared the bar

+19.4

Avg surplus

peak +26

5 seasons × ~19.4 surplus ≈ VORP 97

Combined Season Grid

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

4 grids split in one view

Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Receiving									Rushing								Passing													Defense
Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Tgt	Rec	Yds	TD	Ctch%	Y/R	Y/Tgt	AirYd/T	1D	Att	Yds	TD	Y/A	TD%	1D	1D%	Fmb	Cmp	Att	Cmp%	Yds	TD	Int	TD%	Int%	Y/A	AdjY/A	TD:INT	Rate	Sk	Tkl	Solo	Ast	TFL	QBHits	Sk	Dis	Int	PD	FF	FR	TD	Sfty
1998	—	LAC	16	—	—	30	450	2	—	15.0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1999	—	LAC	16	—	74	40	429	0	54.1%	10.7	5.8	—	24	2	11	0	5.5	0.0	0	0.0	0	0	1	0.0%	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	—	39.6	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1999	—	GB	2	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	2	2	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	0	0	0	—	0	0
2000	—	LAC	2	—	6	3	35	0	50.0%	11.7	5.8	—	2	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2000	—	SEA	1	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	1	1	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	0	0	0	—	0	0
2001	—	KC	11	—	30	18	252	1	60.0%	14.0	8.4	—	12	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2001	—	JAX	2	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	2	2	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	0	0	0	—	0	0
2002	—	DET	14	—	68	27	339	3	39.7%	12.6	5.0	—	16	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2002	—	GB	1	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	1	1	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	0	0	0	—	0	0
2003	—	DET	13	—	37	37	434	2	100.0%	11.7	11.7	—	24	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Career		—	78	—	215	155	1,939	8	72.1%	12.5	9.0	—	78	2	11	0	5.5	0.0	0	0.0	0	0	1	0.0%	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	—	39.6	0	6	6	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	0	0	0	—	0	0

Career EPA37.0·-0 passing · 0 rushing · 37 receiving·7.4/season

Passing

Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Cmp	Att	Cmp%	Yds	TD	Int	TD%	Int%	Y/A	AdjY/A	TD:INT	Rate	Sk	VAL
1999	25	LAC	16	—	0	1	0.0%	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	—	39.6	0	10.2
Career			16		0	1	0.0%	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	0.0	—	—	39.6	0	48.8

Rushing

Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Att	Yds	TD	Y/A	TD%	1D	1D%	Fmb
1999	25	LAC	16	—	2	11	0	5.5	0.0	0	0.0	0
Career			16		2	11	0	5.5	—	0	—	0

Receiving

Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Tgt	Rec	Yds	TD	Ctch%	Y/R	Y/Tgt	AirYd/T	1D
1998	24	LAC	16	—	—	30	450	2	—	15.0	—	—	—
1999	25	LAC	16	—	74	40	429	0	54.1%	10.7	5.8	—	24
2000	26	LAC	2	—	6	3	35	0	50.0%	11.7	5.8	—	2
2001	27	KC	11	—	30	18	252	1	60.0%	14.0	8.4	—	12
2002	28	DET	14	—	68	27	339	3	39.7%	12.6	5.0	—	16
2003	29	DET	13	—	37	37	434	2	100.0%	11.7	11.7	—	24
Career			72		215	155	1,939	8	72.1%	12.5	9.0	—	78

Defense

Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Tkl	Solo	Sk	Dis	FR
1999	25	GB	2	—	2	2	0.0	0.0	—
2000	26	SEA	1	—	1	1	0.0	0.0	—
2001	27	JAX	2	—	2	2	0.0	0.0	—
2002	28	GB	1	—	1	1	0.0	0.0	—
Career			6		6	6	—	—	—

Advanced (EPA)

Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Pass EPA	Rush EPA	Rec EPA
1999	25	—	—	—	-0.3	0.3	11.3
2000	26	—	—	—	—	—	-8.9
2001	27	—	—	—	—	—	4.7
2002	28	—	—	—	—	—	-7.3
2003	29	—	—	—	—	—	37.3
Career					—	—	—

KV-H Anatomy

KV-H 68 · Strong Starter

A strong starter career by KV-H: a well-rounded profile that scores 68 of 100, era-normalized against rec yds/g peers across 5 scored seasons.

Sustained

career value

×.6

Peak

best 3 seasons

×.4

×1

Longevity

career length

Blend 67.6 × longevity 1 = KV-H 68· confidence 100%

What builds the career mark of 66

On-field 48.2

Availability 17.8

On-field production Staying available

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

1998bestavg 65elite 702003

All-Time Standing

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

Depth

of 100

Reached 10% of the all-time Receptions leader — a rotational/depth all-time profile at the position.

10% of the all-time Receptions leader10

0 categories ≥25% of the all-time leader0

7.41 EPA/season over 5 seasons52

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: 88%.

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

Stephen F. Austin StateCollege listed; stat table pending import

College stats are not imported for this profile yet.

StatVault has the verified college attribution (Stephen F. Austin State), 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.

1998 Draft Class· this player went #59

#50Germane CrowellWR #51Kailee WongLB #52Tony SimmonsWR #53Bob HallenC #54Rod RutledgeTE #55Joe JureviciusWR #56Dorian BooseDE #58Jeremy NewberryC #60Charlie BatchQB #61Eric BrownS #62Chuck WileyDE #63Jon RitchieFB #64Olin KreutzC #65Leonard LittleDE #67Scott FrostDB #68Robert HicksOT

Franchise Succession

the room, before and after

Mikhael inherited the Detroit Lions TE room from Pete Metzelaars (1996–1997), and handed it to Casey Fitzsimmons (2003–2009).

Rob Rubick 1982–1988David Lewis 1984–1986Rodney Holman 1993–1995David Sloan 1995–2001Pete Metzelaars 1996–1997Mikhael Ricks

Similar Players

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

Movementderived from season history

2003final season
Last recorded season with DET
2002team change
Joined DET (from KC)
2001team change
Joined KC (from LAC)
1998draft
Drafted by LAC — Round 2, Pick 59

Athletic & Unique Profile

verified measurements and curated source-tagged facts

6'5" / 260 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 5-season peers. See all →

peak 70

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

B+1998

B+1999

C+2001

B2002

B2003

Availability

Career durability — games played vs. scheduled, across 6 seasons.

75%

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
1998	450	28.1	697+247	41
1999	429	26.8	655+226	38.6
2001	252	22.9	501+249	29.5
2002	339	24.2	503+164	29.6
2003	434	33.4	668+234	39.3

Data: nflverse:players, nflverse:player_stats, nflverse:player_stats_def, nflverse:draft_picks, nflverse:advanced-epa (CC-BY 4.0), wikipedia:season-stats (CC-BY-SA, facts-only), nfl.com:official-stats (facts-only reference), espn.com:stats-api (games-played, facts-only reference) · multi-source verified via the StatVault Oracle · updated 6/18/2026

Career Value · VORP

97 career value over replacement — #1182 all-time of 4,642. 19.4/season above a replacement-level TE.

Draft OutcomeSteal ↑

Pick #59 (Rd 2) · LAC · 1998 · +21.1 vs expected KV-H

68actual

46.9 expected · Δ+21.1

💔+29.1 stolen VORP·1.5 szns lost

Fan Rating

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Mikhael Ricks

Archetype Intelligence

Career Value · VORP

Combined Season Grid

Passing

Rushing

Receiving

Defense

Advanced (EPA)

KV-H Anatomy

All-Time Standing

Career Aging Trajectory

College Stats

Reference Graph

Top Teammates

1998 Draft Class· this player went #59

Franchise Succession

Similar Players

Movementderived from season history

Athletic & Unique Profile

Knox

Era Translator

Career Geography