The Facts: Ebron set career-bests in receptions (61) and yards (711). He was eighth among tight ends in yards, ahead of Jordan Reed, Jason Witten and Martellus Bennett. He was 10th in catches, in front of Bennett, Gary Barnidge and Antonio Gates. For the first time in his career, opponents started to scheme defenses to take him out of games instead of leaving him in single coverage and taking their chances with him being unable to make a play. "I felt like I've done that when I was healthy and I feel like I can continue to do more, as always," Ebron said. "I'll always feel like I can do more."

Diehards Line:As ESPN.com's Michael Rothstein pointed out, that hits on three things for Ebron. The first is his health. He set career-highs despite playing hurt essentially the entire year. There are also the drops. While he improved in this space in 2016, he still had five of them. Only Gates and San Francisco’s Garrett Celek dropped more passes among tight ends. He also knows he didn’t get into the end zone much. He scored two touchdowns (one receiving, one rushing), but he felt he became more of a full-field tight end this season, evidenced by his statistics despite the lack of end-zone attention. Still, during Detroit’s stretch of eight wins in nine games, Ebron was one of Matthew Stafford's most-targeted options. And he caught 70.9 percent of his targets. But Ebron wants more. That, he said, is where he sees his next step for 2017.