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

TELV#83ACT

O.J. Santiago

Top 26% all-time TEsHigh-End Starter⭐ Shooting Star · 1999

Height6'7"

Weight265 lb

BornMar 4, 1974

Age52

CollegeKent State See College Stats

Rookie yr1997

Draft1997 · Rd 3, Pick 70 · ATL

Archetype Intelligence

High-End StarterExplore archetypes →

A quality tight end with a top 30% among starters — a legitimate starter who contributed meaningfully across their career.

Career Value · VORP

VORP 48 · #2115 · Above Average

Worth 48 points of value above a freely-available replacement tight end — top 47% of all 4,642 ranked at the position. 4 of 5 seasons cleared the replacement bar, by +12 on average.See board →

Seasons above replacement

4 cleared

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

Replacement

the KC-H bar

→

Seasons over

cleared the bar

+12

Avg surplus

peak +25

4 seasons × ~12 surplus ≈ VORP 48

Combined Season Grid

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

3 grids split in one view

Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Receiving									Defense													Advanced (EPA)
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	Pass EPA	Rush EPA	Rec EPA	Pass AirYd	Rec AirYd
1997	—	ATL	11	—	—	17	217	2	—	12.8	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1998	—	ATL	16	—	—	27	428	5	—	15.9	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1999	—	ATL	10	—	30	15	174	0	50.0%	11.6	5.8	—	8	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1999	—	JAX	2	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	2	2	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	0	0	0	—	0	0	—	—	—	—	—
1999	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	1.4	0	0
2001	—	CLE	11	—	27	17	153	2	63.0%	9.0	5.7	—	7	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2001	—	CIN	1	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	1	1	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	0	0	0	—	0	0	—	—	—	—	—
2001	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	-2.5	0	0
2003	—	LV	4	—	5	5	69	0	100.0%	13.8	13.8	—	2	1	1	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	0	0	0	—	0	0	—	—	—	—	—
2003	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	5.2	0	0
Career		—	55	—	62	81	1,041	9	130.6%	12.9	16.8	—	17	4	4	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	0	0	0	—	0	0	—	—	4.1	0	0

Career EPA4.1·4 receiving·1.4/season

Receiving

Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Tgt	Rec	Yds	TD	Ctch%	Y/R	Y/Tgt	AirYd/T	1D	VAL
1997	23	ATL	11	—	—	17	217	2	—	12.8	—	—	—	8.5
1998	24	ATL	16	—	—	27	428	5	—	15.9	—	—	—	15.2
1999	25	ATL	10	—	30	15	174	0	50.0%	11.6	5.8	—	8	4.7
2001	27	CLE	11	—	27	17	153	2	63.0%	9.0	5.7	—	7	6.3
2003	29	LV	4	—	5	5	69	0	100.0%	13.8	13.8	—	2	1.1
Career			52		62	81	1,041	9	130.6%	12.9	16.8	—	17	35.8

Advanced (EPA)

Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Pass EPA	Rush EPA	Rec EPA
1999	25	—	—	—	—	—	1.4
2001	27	—	—	—	—	—	-2.5
2003	29	—	—	—	—	—	5.2
Career					—	—	—

KV-H Anatomy

KV-H 58 · Strong Starter

A strong starter career by KV-H: a well-rounded profile that scores 58 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 58 × longevity 1 = KV-H 58· confidence 90%

What builds the career mark of 56

On-field 41.6

Availability 14.4

On-field production Staying available

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

1997bestavg 50elite 702003

All-Time Standing

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

Depth

of 100

Reached 5% of the all-time Receptions leader — a rotational/depth all-time profile at the position.

5% of the all-time Receptions leader5

0 categories ≥25% of the all-time leader0

1.37 EPA/season over 3 seasons50

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: 86%.

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

Kent StateCollege listed; stat table pending import

College stats are not imported for this profile yet.

StatVault has the verified college attribution (Kent 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.

1997 Draft Class· this player went #70

#61Sedrick ShawRB #62Troy DavisRB #63Frank MiddletonG #64Jay GrahamRB #65Dexter CoakleyLB #66Ronde BarberFS #67Dan NeilG #68Ryan PhillipsOLB #71Duce StaleyRB #72Adam TreuC #73Jason TaylorOLB #74Michael HamiltonLB #75Denard WalkerCB #77Greg ClarkTE #78Stalin ColinetDE #80Derek M. SmithILB

Franchise Succession

the room, before and after

O.J. inherited the Atlanta Falcons TE room from Mitch Lyons (1993–1996), and handed it to Brian Kozlowski (1997–2003).

Junior Miller 1980–1983Cliff Benson 1984–1985Ken Whisenhunt 1985–1988Mitch Lyons 1993–1996O.J. Santiago 1997–1999Brian Kozlowski

Similar Players

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

Movementderived from season history

2003team change
Joined LV (from CLE)
2003final season
Last recorded season with LV
2001team change
Joined CLE (from ATL)
1997draft
Drafted by ATL — Round 3, Pick 70

Athletic & Unique Profile

verified measurements and curated source-tagged facts

6'7" / 265 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 61

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

C+1997

B+1998

C+1999

C2001

F2003

Availability

Career durability — games played vs. scheduled, across 5 seasons.

65%

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
1997	217	19.7	541+324	31.8
1998	428	26.8	670+242	39.4
1999	174	17.4	459+285	27
2001	153	13.9	288+135	16.9
2003	69	17.3	311+242	18.3

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), nfl.com:official-stats (games-played, facts-only reference) · multi-source verified via the StatVault Oracle · updated 6/18/2026

Career Value · VORP

48 career value over replacement — #2115 all-time of 4,642. 9.6/season above a replacement-level TE.

Draft OutcomeValue ↑

Pick #70 (Rd 3) · ATL · 1997 · +14.4 vs expected KV-H

58actual

43.6 expected · Δ+14.4

Fan Rating

Rate O.J. Santiago — All-Time

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Compare O.J. Santiago vs Player Report data error

O.J. Santiago

Archetype Intelligence

Career Value · VORP

Combined Season Grid

Receiving

Advanced (EPA)

KV-H Anatomy

All-Time Standing

Career Aging Trajectory

College Stats

Reference Graph

Top Teammates

1997 Draft Class· this player went #70

Franchise Succession

Similar Players

Movementderived from season history

Athletic & Unique Profile

Knox

Era Translator

Career Geography