cfb zeitgeistZeitgeist
OFFSEASON · SUMMER 2026 · COMMITMENT SEASON
Heisman / Players / Decker DeGraaf /Washington

Decker DeGraaf

TE · Washington · So · #86

Below the discourse floor — the honest stats-only state.

360 REC YDS · 32 REC · 2 REC TD

2026 RETURNINGReturning to Washington for 2026

2026 Outlook

Returning to Washington for 2026

2026 Depth chart

Projected starter

Tight end · Washington

Returning around him

  • 42% of 2024 offensive production back (Moderate turnover)
  • 7 Washington players drafted to NFL
  • Transfer portal: -9 net (14 in / 23 out)

2026 Award watch

No preseason watch lists yet (most drop June 15 – July 15)

Washington · Last season: 9-4 (AP #24) · Talent rank #37 · 2026 recruiting class #23

TE · WASHINGTON · BIG TEN

Decker DeGraaf

  • 2
  • #86
  • 6-3 | 245 lb
  • San Dimas, CA

CFB Zeitgeist Score

60

Solid starter in the position cohort. Carried by rec yards at the 72nd percentile.

Heisman Heat

#587

<1% win probability

Fan Belief

Awaiting

Player-specific FI not yet ingested. Falls back to team mood below.

Respect Gap

Awaiting

Coming online with player-level FI.

Reality Gap

Awaiting

Coming online with player-level FI.

ACCOLADE PROBABILITY

Heisman

<1%

TOP TE AWARD

Mackey

CONSENSUS

All-American

Player Standing · 17 rungs

Tier 2 · Starter

R07 · Impact starter

Impact starter. Producing measurable value above replacement.

Not on team2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Development Trajectory · receiving yards

2024–2025
2332024
3602025

+55%

Up 55% from first season to most-recent.

Career Arc

HS
Recruit
★★★
#819 national
CFB
College
Washington
2024–2025
NFL
NFL Draft
Not drafted (yet)

Identity & Role

The durable bio layer: position, size, hometown, and roster role.

PositionTE
Class2
Jersey86
Measurements6-3 | 245 lb
HometownSan Dimas, CA
Primary teamWashington

Recruiting Pedigree

How big the prospect was before college, and whether the later career arc beat that expectation.

Top pedigree 3-star No. 819 recruit
Composite rating 0.8733 HighSchool
Signed with -- 2024
Origin Glendora Glendora, CA, USA
Class Profile Context
2024 3-star | 0.8733 No. 819 recruit | HighSchool

Transfer Arc

Portal movement changes role, context, and perception. This keeps that path in one place.

Portal moves 0 No portal entry on file
Latest destination -- --
Transfer stars -- CFBD transfer rating context
Eligibility -- Transfer date TBD
Season Move Context
No transfer portal moves on file for this player.

Heisman Lens · 2024 Season · Final

Where the player landed at the end of the listed season — final nowcast rank, win/finalist/ballot probabilities, and the cleanest official Heisman placement on file.

HIGH CONFIDENCE· through week 16
Current nowcast#587Latest modeled ballot order
Season forecast#655Where the full season sim points
Win probability0.0%Chance to actually win the trophy
Finalist probability0.0%Chance to make the finalist tier
Ballot probability0.0%Chance to appear anywhere on a ballot
Best official finish--Best completed Heisman placement on file

Heisman Futures

Not yet listed on major futures markets.

Achievements

  • Program Benchmark 5.5% Program Benchmark Season leader for the program at the player's position across the headline volume metric (passing yards / rushing yards / receiving yards). Held by 5.5% of the 2025 pool. Team leader in receiving yards (360).

Selector Grid · 2025

AP
FWAA
AFCA
WCFF
SN
SI

Selector recognition fills in once the major honors lists (AP, FWAA, AFCA, Walter Camp, Sporting News, SI) are scraped and ingested.

NIL · Recruiting · NFL Draft

Market value, pedigree & pro outcome

Recruit stars

★★★☆☆

to —

Composite

0.8733

#819 national

Today’s Hot-Take

The Hot-Take engine fires when this player’s percentile profile crosses a defensible threshold (top 10% in a cohort, 100+ snap sample). When it’s quiet, the model is honoring its “must be defensible” rule.

Anti-Take

PENDING

The contrarian read fires when the rules-engine detects a stat that complicates the Hot-Take. Quiet here means the model hasn’t found a defensible counter yet — not that one doesn’t exist.

The Room on Decker DeGraaf

Fan sentiment ·

Belief Meter

50

Mixed Sentiment

Sample 1 mentions
Confidence BELOW-FLOOR

Top Take

Trajectory

Cohort divergence mapbearishbullishheatedcalmOwn fans: 1 mentions · belief +0 · "Decker DeGraaf is looking to round out his game for Washington in 2026 &nbsp;&nb"Own fans
  • Own fans · n=1

Rival Radar

How rival fanbases talk about Decker DeGraaf

No rival-bucket mentions in the current season.

2025 Signature · 2025 season

Yards per reception

11.3

yds

All FBS WRs, min 20 receptions

National rank #331 of 531
Percentile vs All FBS WRs, min 20 receptions 38th

Why it matters

#331 of 531 All FBS WRs at 11.3 yards per reception (32 catches).

Vs cohort

This player 11.3 (38th)

HIGH · n=32 cohort 531

  • Also strong
  • Receiving yards (total)#341 / 531
  • Receiving TDs#302 / 531

Signature Moment

Week 12 vs Purdue — 91 ypr

Result W 49-13

The week the volume broke through — put up 91 yds vs Purdue.

A 3-act season arc returns once this player has six or more games on the ledger.

Season Pace · Projection

Where the receiving totals stand

projecting to 13-game
Through 11g
360Rec yards
32Receptions
2Rec TDs
Per game
32.7Rec yards
3Receptions
0Rec TDs
Projected (13g)
425.5Rec yards
38Receptions
2Rec TDs

To hit 700-yard receiver (currently 360): needs 170/game over remaining 2.

To hit 1,000-yard receiver (currently 360): needs 320/game over remaining 2.

To hit 60-catch season (currently 32): needs 14/game over remaining 2.

To hit 80-catch season (currently 32): needs 24/game over remaining 2.

To hit 8 receiving TDs (currently 2): needs 3/game over remaining 2.

To hit 10 receiving TDs (currently 2): needs 4/game over remaining 2.

What made this player interesting

The fast read on the thing that makes this player more than a generic stat line.

Decker DeGraaf's story is about how role and output meet each other. For Washington, the card already shows enough current-season production to explain why he is on the serious-player board, and the next layer is determining whether the profile is just very good or actually distinctive.

Current place #587 0.0% win | 0.0% finalist
Role load 5.0% Overall usage share
Profile quirk All-purpose load 10 return yds

2025 Season · Final

Traditional stats first. Advanced context underneath.

Last season

TE season snapshot

2025 season snapshot | final

2025 season snapshot | finalData: CFBD player stats + local Heisman modelPeer context: same position + same level
Receptions 32 2 rec TD | #42/475 (91st pct)
Receiving yards 360 11.3 per catch | #50/475 (90th pct)
Scrimmage yards 360 Total offensive yardage | #50/475 (90th pct)
Player identity What kind of player is this?

30-second read

What kind of player is this?

Target magnet against FBS receiving peers.

Target magnet

2025 Season · Final

2025 season snapshot | final

Receiving

REC
32 91st
YDS
360 90th
YPR
11.3 68th
TD
2 84th

Game Log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 11 games

Box score · CFBD
WkOppRECYDSAVGTDLONGNote
Wk 1W 38-21vs Colorado State4205.008
Wk 2W 70-10vs UC Davis166.006
Wk 5L 6-24vs Ohio State22412.0023
Wk 6W 24-20@ Maryland66210.3021
Wk 7W 38-19vs Rutgers23919.5028
Wk 8L 7-24@ Michigan4266.5014
Wk 9W 42-25vs Illinois2136.5111
Wk 12W 49-13vs Purdue59118.2030Season-high 91 yds
Wk 13W 48-14@ UCLA34615.3124
Wk 14L 14-26vs Oregon22613.0024
BowlW 38-10vs Boise State177.007
Total3236010.8230
Season-by-season tables Career rows + per-season box score

Traditional history

Traditional Stats

Season rows up top, career context at the bottom.

Season rows Career row

Season context · Team result + system

2024Washington6-7HC: Jedd Fisch · Balanced
2025Washington9-4HC: Jedd Fisch · Run-leaning
SeasonTeam
2025Washington3236011.22--
2024Washington1523315.53--
Career2 loaded seasons4759312.65--
Advanced layer Usage, value, and context

Advanced metrics second

Advanced Metrics

Usage, value, and opponent-adjusted context.

Usage Value Context
Pass share

The tight end's share of the passing offense, which helps distinguish a featured receiving tight end from a secondary option.

Role share

A blended usage view that shows how often the offense flows through the tight end compared with other same-level peers.

Peer percentile

Every percentile is compared against players at the same position and level, so an FBS quarterback is judged against FBS quarterbacks, not the whole sport.

Traditional first

The top tables stick to the stats fans already know from broadcasts and box scores. Advanced context is pushed underneath instead of replacing the basics.

Usage 5.0% 10.7% pass-game share | #77/468 (84th pct)
Return yards 10 0 return TD
Touchdowns 2 Across offense and returns | #79/475 (84th pct)
Open full stat explorer
0 metrics visible Showing all metrics
Group Metric Value Rank Pct Why it matters
Receiving Receptions 32 #42/475 91st pct Volumevs FBS TE
Receiving Receiving yards 360 #50/475 90th pct Volumevs FBS TE
Receiving Receiving TD 2 #79/475 84th pct Scoringvs FBS TE
Receiving Yards / catch 11.3 #154/475 68th pct Efficiencyvs FBS TE
Usage Pass share 10.7% #77/468 84th pct Air-game usagevs FBS TE
Receiving Receiving LONG 30 #134/475 72nd pct Metricvs FBS TE
Usage Passing-down usage 5.6% #118/468 75th pct Known-passing sharevs FBS TE
Usage 2nd-down usage 5.4% #91/468 81st pct Middle-down loadvs FBS TE
Usage 3rd-down usage 5.3% #138/468 71st pct Money-down loadvs FBS TE
Usage Role share 5.0% #81/468 83rd pct Share of team offensevs FBS TE
Usage Standard-down usage 4.8% #77/468 84th pct Base-situation sharevs FBS TE
Usage 1st-down usage 4.6% #99/468 79th pct Early-down loadvs FBS TE
Usage Rush share 0.0% #58/468 88th pct Ground-game usagevs FBS TE
Ball Security Fumbles lost 0 #1/55 100th pct Turnoversvs FBS TE

Player Standing

Universal 17-step ladder. Tier pills below; accolade streams nested.

AWAITING CLASSIFICATION

On-team2-deepStartingRecognizedEliteApex

AWAITING CLASSIFICATION · Rung None of 16

Why he’s here

Standing classification populates when honors, Heisman, and roster signals all align.

What moves him up

What moves him down

Accolade streams

StatusAwaiting tracker

The Mackey award tracker integrates per-week probability once a dedicated scraper for this award lands. Confirmed past winners and finalists for this player will surface here.

Splits · Per-game

2025 season · 11 games

Home/Road · Win/Loss · Season halves

Home vs Road

REC/gYDS/gYPRTD/g
Home8g2.428.210.90.1
Road3g4.344.710.70.3

Win vs Loss

REC/gYDS/gYPRTD/g
Wins8g3.035.511.00.2
Losses3g2.725.310.50.0

First half vs Second half

REC/gYDS/gYPRTD/g
Weeks 1-76g2.726.310.00.0
Weeks 8+5g3.240.411.90.4

Pocket and defense-quality (clean vs. pressure) splits are coming soon.

Savant · Box-rate percentiles

Where this profile ranks vs the TE cohort

60Solid starter
6 metrics · season cumulative

Production sits in the middle of the position cohort across the board.

Receptions#42 / 175 · 75th pct
32rece
Fumbles lost#1 / 33 · 74th pct
0fumb
Rec yards#50 / 175 · 72nd pct
360rece
Yards / catch#66 / 175 · 62nd pct
11.3rece
Rec TDs#76 / 175 · 43rd pct
2rece
Long catch#105 / 175 · 39th pct
30rece

Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score rates.

Advanced Savant · TE · 2024

Percentile Card

Advanced opponent-adjusted percentile bars are coming soon for this player.

P4G5All FBS
EPA / dropback
awaiting
CPOE
awaiting
Success rate
awaiting
Explosive rate (20+)
awaiting
aDOT
awaiting
Deep-ball accuracy
awaiting
Pressure-to-sack
awaiting
3rd-down EPA
awaiting
Red-zone TD rate
awaiting
Play-action EPA
awaiting
Scramble EPA
awaiting
Turnover-worthy play rate
awaiting

Advanced Savant

Opponent-adjusted advanced metrics with a cohort filter.

Advanced opponent-adjusted metrics are coming soon for this player. Selected cohort: P4.

Peer Comparator · Fingerprint match

Three closest profiles by box-rate percentile

3 peers · 6 metrics
Decker DeGraafWashingtonHouston ThomasUTSA· 91% simLuke LindenmeyerNebraska· 90% simHunter TiptonMiddle Tennessee· 87% sim
Receptions
75
DeGraaf
79
Thomas
66
Lindenmeyer
90
Tipton
Fumbles lost
74
DeGraaf
Rec yards
72
DeGraaf
69
Thomas
63
Lindenmeyer
81
Tipton
Yards / catch
62
DeGraaf
42
Thomas
53
Lindenmeyer
47
Tipton
Rec TDs
43
DeGraaf
43
Thomas
43
Lindenmeyer
43
Tipton
Long catch
39
DeGraaf
42
Thomas
23
Lindenmeyer
58
Tipton

Closest peers by overall box-score percentile profile at the same position.

Player DNA

The Complete TE

Dual-threat: blocks when needed, catches when needed. Coveted on both sides.

TE

His 2025 production profile sits closest to Ryan Jones’s 2022 season.

Ryan Jones

76%match

East Carolina · 2022

#2

Luke Lindenmeyer

Nebraska · 2025

76%
#3

Christian Trahan

Houston · 2021

75%
#4

Kenyon Sadiq

Oregon · 2024

NFL Rd 1 · Pk 16
75%
#5

Keyan Burnett

Arizona · 2024

69%

Matches Ryan on

Total EPA (college ability)
TD rate
Yards / reception

Differs from Ryan on

Class year (lower)
Reception volume (lower)

Not enough data yet for this comparison.

As a sophomore, his production profile tracks closest to Willie Rodriguez's sophomore season at Kentucky (2025).

Willie Rodriguez

80%match

Kentucky · 2025

#2

Tyler Hunt

Michigan State · 2021

78%
#3

Richie Anderson

Fresno State · 2025

77%
#4

Hunter Tipton

Middle Tennessee · 2025

77%
#5

Hunter Welcing

Northwestern · 2025

76%

Matches Willie on

TD rate
Weight
Height

Supporting Cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2025 season

Head Coach

Jedd Fisch

Pass share

44.9%

370 pass / 454 run

Plays / game

63.4

13 games

OL sack rate (allowed)

9.3%

268 dropbacks · PBP

Scheme: Run-leaning.

Coaching Lineage · 2024–2025

1 coach
2024
Jedd Fisch
Washington
2025
Jedd Fisch
Washington

Played his entire career under Jedd Fisch.

Bio · Recruiting · Transfer · Roster

Off-field context — switch tabs to drill into recruit profile, transfer arc, or roster timeline.

HometownSan Dimas, CA
Height6'3"
Weight245 lb
Class2
PositionTE
Jersey86

Trophy Case · Detail

Every honor on the ledger, broken out by stream and selector.

Honors

No formal honors on the ledger yet

All-America, all-conference, player-of-the-week, watch-list, and postseason awards land here when they're earned. The absence is the signal: most players never collect formal honors, and that's its own kind of context.

Honors Timeline

Season-end distinction and week-by-week recognition on one timeline.

Season Honor Scope Team / Selector Context
No formal honors on the ledger yet. All-America, all-conference, weekly awards, watch lists, and postseason trophies land here when they’re earned.

Heisman By Year

Modeled rank and official finish by season.

Season Team Role Latest Model Forecast Win Finalist Official Finish Points Context
2024 Washington TE2 #587 #655 0.0% 0.0% -- -- W16 snapshot | Big Ten

Roster Timeline

Team, conference, and class by season.

Season Team Conference Pos Class Bio
2025 Washington Big Ten TE 2 No. 86 | 6-3 | 245 lb | San Dimas, CA
2024 Washington Big Ten TE 2 No. 86 | 6-3 | 245 lb | San Dimas, CA