CHARLOTTE – Greg Olsen, a model of consistency over the past few seasons, has been the best tight end in the NFL through six games in 2016.
Olsen is the NFL's second leading receiver with 610 yards, averaging 101.7 yards per game. He trails only Atlanta wide receiver Julio Jones, who has 656 yards, and is just ahead of Cincinnati wide receiver A.J. Green, who has 606 yards.
The tight end with the second-most receiving yards is New England's Martellus Bennett, who has 362.
It's early, but after such a red-hot start, Olsen could approach Rob Gronkowski's single-season record for yards by a tight end (1,327 in 2011). Olsen, who is currently eighth all time in career receiving yards for tight ends, is also seeking to become the first tight end in NFL history to record three consecutive 1,000-yard seasons.
"Greg has a keen awareness and he's talented," offensive coordinator Mike Shula said. "Obviously moving forward we're going to have to continue to spread the ball around because teams are going to try to not only lock in on him with double coverage, but also find different ways to do it.
"If everybody's doing well in the running game with Stew and Cam and those guys and the fact that there's Kelvin and Ted and Devin … hopefully that's something where they can't lock in on Greg."
Take a look back at some of Olsen's top moments so far this season.
Career-long catch against the 49ers:
One-handed touchdown grab against the Falcons:
Olsen's nine catches for career-high 181 yards against the Buccaneers:
