A fun, lovingly crafted and detailed look at one of football's most important positions. A great roll through league history, and the author's camaraderie with his interview subjects is on clear display. For fans of the game, mostly, although one doesn't need an advanced degree in football-ology to enjoy.

I really enjoyed this- it gave me an enjoyable way to learn more about football. Finding an entertaining book about football is tough for me so I was very pleased when I read this!

A fascinating look at how the tight end position has changed football over the years. One time they were looked at as just a blocking position and even though Dikta really began the change with his style and play it still took years before everything would change for the position.
Here the author takes you through the different men and with their interviews and stories you get to look at the position and look into the men that played the position as well. I liked Tony Gonzalez, Dallas Clark which I will always remember for the catch, and Jimmy Graham, I really liked the look into the life of Jeremy Shockey and his story and of course, Gronk his story was funny and really added to this book can’t have it without him. Of course, though I still remember Kellen Wislow's game in the playoffs and watching John Mackey who along with Ditka changed the position. A good book.

This book has been a lot of fun to read. As a former Tight End it was great to see some of the best ever to get some publicity. As well as reading all the background stories. Well researched, well written. A great overall read.

Filled with interesting facts and details of players you may not be familiar with. I kept hoping details would be told as stories, but information remains matter of fact even when sharing locker room pranks.

Through short biographies of big name players (e.g., Ditka, Shannon Sharpe), it was awesome to learn about how the tight end position has evolved over the decades. I enjoyed reading about how Mike Ditka essentially invented the modern day tight end position and then seeing how different coaches and players changed the position to their benefit. Additionally, these players are some of the toughest out there! Overall, this book is a must-read for any football fan.

Fun book about the greatest NFL tight ends. The book is more profiles of the greats (Ditka, Newsome, Gonzalez, Gronk, etc) than a history of the position. It was interesting to see how common and different the personalities were that excel at the position, from quiet (Newsome, Clark) to loud and brash (Shockey, Gronk, Kittle). Learned quite a bit from reading.

The position of tight end in football is one of the most challenging positions. For a player to excel in this position, he must have the strength to block defensive linemen who may weigh over 300 pounds, be smart enough to read pass coverage by linebackers and safeties, and also be quick enough to outrun 180-pound cornerbacks. But as any football fan knows, there are many who have not only played this position but have done so at a very high level. Some of these exceptional tight ends are profiled in this entertaining book by Tyler Dunn.

It should be noted that this is not a ranking of the best players to play the position and it is not meant to be taken that just because a player is not profiled that he would not be considered one of the best to have suited up at tight end. It starts with Mike Ditka, who began the change of strategy in the use of tight ends to be effective pass receivers as well as blockers. Dunn interviews and shares the stories of 15 tight ends from Ditka to George Kittle and in between, there are so many interesting stories, on-field recaps and very personal memories.

Of the memories and stories, I felt the most emotional ones were for Dallas Clark (who lost his mother to a heart attack) and for Jimmy Graham, who was literally dropped off by his mother at a group home with his clothes in a garbage bag. Those two stories both resulted in producing great tight ends who would stop at nothing to succeed. The circumstances are very different and their paths were certainly not identical, but they both made for compelling reading.

That isn’t to say that every player profiled in this book had tragic or hard stories. Some were out of fear (hard to believe Tony Gonzalez didn’t want to play football because he was afraid of the hard contact), some were just from the “boys being boys” category (Jeremy Shockey’s battles with his siblings) and some were just fun (Rob Gronkowski is probably the most notable party animal). But they, along with all the other tight ends profiled, had in common an unquenchable appetite for success and an incredible work ethic to make sure he did his best to achieve that success.

It should also be noted that while the actual game text is not plentiful in this book, the plays and games that are covered are recapped in an excellent manner. The most compelling of these is one of the most incredible individual performances in NFL history – Kellen Winslow’s performance in the 1982 playoffs for the San Diego Charges in their memorable win over the Miami Dolphins. That is just one example of the in-game coverage that is very good when it is presented in the context of that player’s story.

Football fans who remember many of the great tight ends since the era of Ditka and John Mackey will love reading about these players, their stories and their performances. For me, this book was much like Gronkowski’s early NFL career – just a lot of fun to read.

I wish to thank Twelve Books for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Why I Read It: One of the first football players I remember from my childhood was Russ Francis.

Summary: The history and evolution of the tight end position in professional football as told through the lives of many of its greatest players.

My Thoughts: Evolution is the key.

When we look back at football history, we notice that the position names have changed through time. There has been an increasing level of specialization in all three phases of the game, at many positions. "Ends" were once just that, the guys who played at the ends of the lines, mostly as blockers. Tight ends played shoulder to shoulder with offensive tackles. Through time, they changed, almost like they were weaponized. Starting with Mike Ditka, tight ends became monstrous forces with which to content, bigger and stronger than most running backs, and all wide receivers.

Dunne carried us through the progression, from Ditka to George Kittle, highlighting the special skillset each star has brought to the position through time, each new problem presented to defenses league-wide. He describes tight ends as the Swiss army knife of the offense, switching from pass catching and route running to blocking on every play, dynamic offensive components that must be accounted for on every snap of the ball. Each chapter, each life, is captured in personality; when you're reading about Jeremy Shockey, you feel the brashness. When you read about Rob Gronkowski, and the rest of the Gronks, there's a party going on inside those pages.

So, they're all here, right? I would argue that there is one missing. While I'd like to say that Russ Francis should have been profiled, I may be wrong, if we're picking the top 15 of all time. Also, as a lifelong New England Patriots fan, I may have some local bias playing through my head. But, Francis has a fantastic background, with his father being a famous pro wrestler. I think it would have made for a raucous backstory, as Russ and his brother also got into the ring when young. Tell me that didn't play into his outlook on the field! But, the one player I really missed was from the New York Giants. As I moved through the 1980s in the book, I said aloud, "Where's Mark Bavaro?" He was the gold standard of the time, the name that made us stand up and take notice when someone said "tight end" in the late '80s. Ironically, both are mentioned in the same sentence later in the book.

The book is relentlessly driven by testosterone, fueled by adrenaline, each player defined by an unwavering desire to be the best. We learn stories we may never have heard before about very public figures and better understand why they are who they are, why they have done what they have done. Football fandom can be superficial and laundry-driven. We root for our guys and hate their guys. This book gives us all a better appreciation of the men - some would say maniacal men - who pledge every Sunday to stand toe-to-toe with monsters, drive them backwards, leap over them to make one-handed catches and win at all costs. Seeing through my Patriots-colored glasses, I can honestly say that even though they play or played for others teams, well, I guess I can respect them all after all.

Finding good football books always seems more difficult than it ought to be. Most offerings tend to be either too dry or too, let’s say, fan-driven. Either the sport just doesn’t lend itself well to the format or the best writers in the sport don’t prioritize this particular medium.

Thus I was especially delighted by The Blood and Guts, a lively, narrative-driven history of tight ends in the NFL.

Dunne does a masterful job of blending his information with good storytelling, and as a result we get a good mix of Xs and Os and zany off-field stories relating to the league’s most famous tight ends.

As long as you’ve some historical football knowledge, you’ll likely recognize all or most of the players featured here, but you’ll also learn something new about each of them.

It’s refreshing and different to get something NFL-related that is both long form and position specific that doesn’t read like a dictionary. This is fun *and* informative and ought to work for any fan of the game.

I was excited to receive an advanced readers copy of “The Blood and Guts” by Tyler Dunne. And the book did not disappoint. Dunne has authored a very interesting sports book: which doesn’t often occur. Dunne has mixed together both the background stories of a number of legendary NFL tight ends while also telling fascinating on-the-field stories. Dunne begins his narrative with the (still living!) legendary Chicago Bear Mike Ditka — my childhood football hero —and advances through the greats all the way to current superstar George Kittle. And we get full -on Rob Gronkowski too. Of particular interest is the tale of one Jimmy Graham, who I had little interest in while watching him play on Sundays but to whom I now realize and respect what he overcame to become a great professional tight end.
So I feel fortunate to be one of the first to read “The Blood And Guts.” And one the first to give this book 5 big ole stars.