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In the modern NFL, having a strong pass-catching tight end is no longer a luxury, but rather a necessity for an effective offense. In fact, in some cases, the tight end may actually be one of the team’s top receivers; at certain points in their careers, such was the case for Vernon Davis of the San Francisco 49ers and Greg Olsen of the Carolina Panthers. During the 2000s and 2010s, each tight end was the quarterback’s best friend in his prime and had a long career highlighted by a peak in which he was one of the league’s elite tight ends, thus prompting the question:
Who was better – Vernon Davis or Greg Olsen?
The Beginning
Highly versatile athletes at the high school level, Davis and Olsen both parlayed standout college football careers into being first round NFL draft picks, though each would take some time to make his mark at the highest level.
A native of Washington D.C., Davis excelled at a variety of sports in high school (football, basketball, and track and field) and was one of the nation’s top tight end recruits while playing alongside future NFL kick return extraordinaire Josh Cribbs; additionally, Vernon’s younger brother Vontae was a football star in his own right and would also later play in the NFL at cornerback. For college, Davis attended nearby University of Maryland, where he gradually improved and earned All-Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and All-American honors as a junior in 2005. Following his standout junior campaign, he declared early for the 2006 NFL Draft and was selected sixth overall in the first round by the San Francisco 49ers after posting impressive numbers at the Combine, including a blazing 4.38 time in the 40-yard dash. However, Davis struggled on the field as a rookie with injuries and inconsistency, tallying just 20 receptions for 265 yards and 3 touchdowns.
Meanwhile, Olsen was born and raised in New Jersey where he also competed in football, basketball, and track and field at the high school level; a USA Today First Team All-American and a finalist for Gatorade Player of the Year on the gridiron in his senior year, he originally went to Notre Dame for college, but quickly transferred to the University of Miami, where he redshirted as a freshman. He gradually improved during his three seasons with the Hurricanes and would declare for the 2007 NFL Draft after his redshirt junior season; selected 31st overall in the first round by the Chicago Bears, Olsen likewise had a ho-hum rookie season with 39 receptions for 391 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
Career Comparison
At their respective peaks, Davis and Olsen were both Pro Bowl tight ends who set single-season receiving records at the position (though those records have since been surpassed in today’s pass-happy NFL).
For his first few NFL seasons, Davis remained somewhat underwhelming given his lofty draft status. After improving to 52 catches for 509 yards and 4 touchdowns in 2007, he regressed to just 31 receptions for 358 yards and a pair of scores the next year. However, upon being benched by head coach Mike Singletary during the season, a lightbulb went off and Davis finally put everything together in 2009: with career-highs of 78 receptions for 965 yards and a league-leading 13 touchdowns, he made his first Pro Bowl and tied Antonio Gates for the single-season touchdown record by a tight end (since surpassed by Rob Gronkowski’s 17 scores in 2011). For his efforts, he became the NFL’s highest-paid tight end and showed that his breakout was no fluke by posting 56 catches for 914 yards and 7 touchdowns as an encore in 2010.
By this time, Davis had established himself as one of the league’s best tight ends and would continue to have solid seasons. Though his numbers dipped in 2011 (67 catches for 792 yards and 6 touchdowns) and 2012 (41 receptions for 548 yards and 5 scores in 2012), he returned to the Pro Bowl in 2013 and also earned a Second Team All-Pro selection on the strength of 52 receptions for 850 yards and 13 touchdowns (matching his career-high). However, this would be his last great season in a 49ers uniform – following a dreadful 2014 campaign with just 26 receptions for 245 yards and 2 touchdowns, he was traded midway through the 2015 season to the Denver Broncos for late-round draft picks; across San Francisco and Denver, Davis scored no touchdowns in a season for the only time in his career.
As a free agent in 2016, Davis signed with the then-Washington Redskins, his hometown team. While his role was meant to be a veteran backup and complement to budding star Jordan Reed, Davis had a couple of productive seasons with the team of 40+ receptions for 500+ yards, highlighted by a 2017 season where he caught 43 balls for 648 yards and 3 touchdowns. Nevertheless, his role continued to diminish as a backup tight end and following just four games played in 2019 due to a concussion, he retired from the NFL at age 35.
In contrast to Davis’ slow start, Olsen quickly became a solid contributor at the tight end position. Following a sophomore season of 54 catches for 574 yards and 5 touchdowns, he improved to 60 receptions for 612 yards and a career-high 8 touchdowns with new Bears quarterback Jay Cutler under center. However, after regressing in 2010 to 41 catches for 404 yards and 5 touchdowns under a new offensive coordinator, Olsen was dealt to the Carolina Panthers in 2011 for a third-round draft pick.
It was in Carolina that Olsen would hit his stride as a sure-handed target for quarterback Cam Newton. While his numbers were pedestrian in his first year with the Panthers in 2011 (45 receptions for 540 yards and 5 touchdowns), he would then proceed to put up five straight seasons with at least 800 receiving yards. Notably, from 2014 to 2016, he became the first tight end in NFL history to record three straight 1,000-yard seasons, earning Pro Bowl honors each year with a pair of Second Team All-Pro selections in 2015 and 2016:
- 2014: a career-high 84 receptions for 1,008 yards and 6 touchdowns
- 2015: 77 receptions for a career-best 1,104 yards and 7 touchdowns
- 2016: 80 receptions for 1,073 yards and 3 touchdowns
Coming off this incredible streak of consistency, Olsen would be plagued by injuries for the rest of his career. Across the 2017 and 2018 seasons, he played in only 16 total games; in his last full season in 2019, he had 52 catches for 597 yards and 2 touchdowns, but was released at season’s end, leaving Carolina as the career leader in receptions and receiving yards by a tight end and third overall among all pass catchers behind Steve Smith and Muhsin Muhammad. He signed with the Seattle Seahawks for the 2020 season and played one more uneventful year before likewise retiring at the age of 35.
All in all, Davis and Olsen each played 14 NFL seasons and are separated by just one regular season game (198 for the former vs. 199 for the latter). On one hand, Olsen racked up more receptions and receiving yards with one additional Pro Bowl selection (3 vs. 2), while on the other hand, Davis scored more touchdowns. This dichotomy is also reflected in their “great” seasons and per-game averages: Olsen racked up more 800-yard and 1,000-yard seasons (5x vs. 3x and 3x vs. none, respectively), but Davis scored double-digit touchdowns twice vs. none for Olsen (he never reached the end zone more than 8x in a season). On a per-game basis, Davis averaged 2.94 receptions for 38.19 yards and 0.32 touchdowns per game vs. Olsen’s 3.73 receptions for 43.63 yards and 0.30 touchdowns per game. While both tight ends had some outstanding seasons and great career overalls, neither is likely to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Regular Season Statistics
| Vernon Davis | Player | Greg Olsen |
| 14 (2006-2019) | Seasons | 14 (2007-2020) |
| 198 | Games Played | 199 |
| 583 | Receptions | 742 |
| 7,562 | Receiving Yards | 8,683 |
| 63 | Receiving Touchdowns | 60 |
| 2x | Pro Bowls | 3x |
| – | All-Pro | – |
| 1x | Super Bowls | – |
| – | Other Awards | – |
| – | Hall of Fame Induction | – |
Source: Pro-Football-Reference.com
During their respective primes, Davis and Olsen each helped their teams become perennial playoff contenders and actually faced off in Super Bowl 50 between the Broncos and Panthers. In a 24-10 victory for Denver, Davis did not show up in the scoresheet (in fact, he had no catches during the championship run), while Olsen contributed 4 receptions for 41 yards in a losing effort.
In addition to this Super Bowl title with Denver, Davis was part of three straight playoff teams with the 49ers from 2011 to 2013 during the Jim Harbaugh era, notably playing in Super Bowl XLVII vs. Ray Lewis and the Baltimore Ravens; however, the 49ers would lose by a close 34-31 final score despite 6 receptions for 104 yards from Davis. Individually, he posted back-to-back postseasons in 2011 and 2012 of double-digit receptions with 200+ receiving yards and at least a touchdown; most famously, in a thrilling 36-32 victory over the New Orleans Saints in the Divisional Round, Davis had 7 catches for 180 yards and 2 touchdowns, including the game-winning 14-yard touchdown pass from Alex Smith in what is now referred to as “The Catch III” (after Dwight Clark’s “The Catch” and Terrell Owens’ “The Catch II”).
Similarly, sandwiched between one postseason trip apiece with Chicago and Seattle, Olsen played in the playoffs 4x with the Panthers in the mid-2010s. His best individual postseason was during the Super Bowl run, as he accumulated 16 catches for 231 yards and a touchdown in three games.
Playoff Statistics
| Vernon Davis | Player | Greg Olsen |
| 11 | Games Played | 10 |
| 27 | Receptions | 41 |
| 600 | Receiving Yards | 631 |
| 7 | Receiving Touchdowns | 3 |
Source: Pro-Football-Reference.com
Every athlete goes through a natural career lifecycle, from starting off as a rookie to reaching peak years of performance and finally, declining into the inevitable retirement due to a combination of age and/or injury; following some record-breaking seasons with the 49ers and Panthers, respectively, Davis and Olsen both saw their production decline in their 30s and would finish their NFL careers in unfamiliar uniforms. For Hall of Fame caliber players across sports, I like to look at a concept I call a “decade of dominance.” The thinking behind this is that for most Hall of Fame type careers, there are roughly 10 great seasons that define an athlete (this idea is embodied in a sense by the NFL’s All-Decade teams), though due to injury or other factors, they might not be 10 consecutive years.
Decade of Dominance
| Vernon Davis | Player | Greg Olsen |
| 2007-2013, 2015-2017 | Decade of Dominance | 2008-2016, 2019 |
| 156 | Games Played | 158 |
| 502 | Receptions | 635 |
| 6,562 | Receiving Yards | 7,571 |
| 55 | Receiving Touchdowns | 52 |
Source: Pro-Football-Reference.com
In looking at each player’s best decade, the numbers are in-line with their overall careers – while Olsen racked up more catches and yards, Davis was the more dangerous option in the red zone.
My Thoughts
Some of the age-old questions in sports include peak dominance vs. consistent greatness and higher floor vs. higher ceiling, both of which are embodied in the debate between Vernon Davis and Greg Olsen. At his absolute peak (e.g. his record-setting touchdown season), Davis was clearly the superior player; however, that peak only lasted for a few seasons, and he was relatively average (or even a backup tight end) for the rest of his career. In contrast, Olsen was a model of consistency and excellence, as evidenced by his five straight 800+ yard and three consecutive 1,000+ yard seasons with Carolina and overall better career statistics. Putting their careers side-by-side, I would want Davis on my team for one season at his best, but for a half-decade or decade, I would prefer Olsen and his consistent production year in and year out; overall, the consistency and longevity win out for me.
Thus, after weighing their careers against each other in terms of statistics, achievements, and impact, the winner of this faceoff is:
Greg Olsen
As always, vote for your choice and leave your thoughts and comments below.
Further Reading
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