TE is a lot like QB but it’s
much more stratified up top with three distinct tiers before the differentiation
becomes tougher and tougher especially as you move from TE2s into TE3s and 4s.
The usual suspects are up top, but identifying sleepers and the boring pick that
you can get late is going to be the trickiest part of navigating tight ends
this if you aren’t willing to pay up for the premium guys.
ADP is from July 5th
|
Tier 1 (1-2) Elite Target Hogs |
|||||||||
|
Rank |
Player |
Tm |
Tar |
Y/T |
TD |
PPR |
ADP |
PADP |
Diff |
|
TE1 |
Travis Kelce |
KC |
152 |
1306 |
10 |
298 |
13 |
1 |
0 |
|
TE2 |
Mark Andrews |
BAL |
145 |
1158 |
9 |
268 |
17 |
2 |
0 |
Duh.
|
Tier 2 (3-5) Elite Players |
|||||||||
|
Rank |
Player |
Tm |
Tar |
Y/T |
TD |
PPR |
ADP |
PADP |
Diff |
|
TE3 |
Kyle Pitts |
ATL |
110 |
927 |
6 |
197 |
32 |
3 |
0 |
|
TE4 |
Darren Waller |
LVR |
112 |
863 |
6 |
201 |
41 |
4 |
0 |
|
TE5 |
George Kittle |
SF |
110 |
1004 |
5 |
209 |
47 |
5 |
0 |
Double duh.
|
Tier 3 (6-9) Very Good Players |
|||||||||
|
Rank |
Player |
Tm |
Tar |
Y/T |
TD |
PPR |
ADP |
PADP |
Diff |
|
TE6 |
Dallas Goedert |
PHI |
101 |
793 |
6 |
187 |
87 |
8 |
-2 |
|
TE7 |
TJ Hockenson |
DET |
107 |
758 |
5 |
177 |
71 |
7 |
0 |
|
TE8 |
Dalton Schultz |
DAL |
107 |
800 |
6 |
194 |
63 |
6 |
2 |
|
TE9 |
Pat Freiermuth |
PIT |
84 |
545 |
7 |
163 |
106 |
11 |
-2 |
Triple duh, well maybe not a
completely duh tierwith slight variation. I’m higher on Goedert, he’s going to
have less focus and should be the main middle of the field pass catcher. I’m
also a touch higher on Freiermuth who had a TE 13 season as a rookie and should
be a nice outlet for whomever starts in Pittsburgh. You could place these four
in any order ultimately and I’d be really alright with it. This also denotes
the tier break that separates the tiers where I’m overtly confident from a couple
large tiers in which I’ll just wait until late to grab a TE or two.
|
Tier 4 (10-24) Big Ol’ Bag of Tight Ends |
|||||||||
|
Rank |
Player |
Tm |
Tar |
Y/T |
TD |
PPR |
ADP |
PADP |
Diff |
|
TE10 |
Tyler Higbee |
LAR |
85 |
620 |
5 |
150 |
164 |
21 |
-11 |
|
TE11 |
Robert Tonyan |
GB |
68 |
564 |
9 |
165 |
150 |
17 |
-6 |
|
TE12 |
Cole Kmet |
CHI |
99 |
673 |
4 |
155 |
131 |
14 |
-2 |
|
TE13 |
Dawson Knox |
BUF |
75 |
550 |
7 |
143 |
100 |
9 |
4 |
|
TE14 |
Hunter Henry |
NE |
74 |
569 |
6 |
144 |
127 |
13 |
1 |
|
TE15 |
Cameron Brate |
TB |
70 |
507 |
6 |
133 |
176 |
23 |
-8 |
|
TE16 |
Mike Gesicki |
MIA |
68 |
466 |
3 |
106 |
113 |
12 |
4 |
|
TE17 |
Zach Ertz |
ARI |
80 |
586 |
3 |
133 |
103 |
10 |
7 |
|
TE18 |
Albert Okwuegbunam |
DEN |
69 |
551 |
4 |
133 |
153 |
18 |
0 |
|
TE19 |
Mo Alie-Cox |
IND |
57 |
458 |
4 |
108 |
243 |
29 |
-10 |
|
TE20 |
Noah Fant |
SEA |
86 |
668 |
4 |
150 |
146 |
16 |
4 |
|
TE21 |
Logan Thomas |
WAS |
58 |
401 |
3 |
99 |
169 |
22 |
-1 |
|
TE22 |
Evan Engram |
JAX |
79 |
513 |
4 |
123 |
179 |
24 |
-2 |
|
TE23 |
Adam Trautman |
NO |
62 |
552 |
5 |
129 |
285 |
35 |
-12 |
|
TE24 |
Irv Smith Jr |
MIN |
86 |
653 |
6 |
164 |
133 |
15 |
9 |
This tier running from low
TE1s through the entirety of TE2s. Higbee is the first big difference and
I’m almost a full tier higher on him than ADP right now. Higbee has reached 85+
targets twice in the last three years, and has 5 TDs in two of those three as
well. I’m also 6 spots higher on Tonyan. With the departure of Adams,
and Tonyan being only 2 years removed from a TE 4 season, if he’s healthy it
doesn’t take much to envision a TE1 season from the Packers tight end. Brate
should be the lead TE in Tampa. He’s not flashy and has two TE1 seasons under
his belt (’16 & ’17). Tampa is going to throw a lot and with only rookies
pushing him there is a good chance Brate could return to 6 TDs and 500 to 600
yards. Like Brate, Ertz is 31, unlike Brate he’s coming off a TE 5
season. Much like Brate he’s going to be pushed by a rookie, but for Ertz that rookie
is Trey McBride. McBride was the top TE in the draft and I believe he will syphon
off some of the workload that Ertz has taken up recently. Mo Alie-Cox
has a fantastic name and hopefully a QB that will utilize his skillset. He does
need to worry about rookie Jelani Woods but Woods is a bit raw coming out of
Virginia and is most likely a future issue for Mo. Trautman is a tricky
one, he saw an increase in production last season, and inched ever closer to relevance
despite atrocious QB play. I have him as fringe TE2 so he’s not someone I
expect to draft very often, but I think there’s still upside. Irv Smith Jr,
is someone I’d like to move up, but I’m wary. His last year with Rudolph still
on the Vikings he broke into the TE2 range, scored 5 TDs and saw 40+ targets.
He tore his meniscus last September is tracking towards being completely ready
for camp. He’s most likely going to rise going forward, that potential is still
there.
|
Tier 5 (25-40) A Couple Starters and a Bunch of Potential |
|||||||||
|
Rank |
Player |
Tm |
Tar |
Y/T |
TD |
PPR |
ADP |
PADP |
Diff |
|
TE25 |
CJ Uzomah |
NYJ |
61 |
394 |
3 |
103 |
264 |
31 |
-6 |
|
TE26 |
Hayden Hurst |
CIN |
69 |
520 |
5 |
127 |
194 |
26 |
0 |
|
TE27 |
Gerald Everett |
LAC |
80 |
576 |
6 |
146 |
160 |
20 |
7 |
|
TE28 |
Austin Hooper |
TEN |
54 |
399 |
4 |
104 |
191 |
25 |
3 |
|
TE29 |
David Njoku |
CLE |
58 |
457 |
4 |
104 |
154 |
19 |
10 |
|
TE30 |
Trey McBride |
ARI |
46 |
340 |
2 |
77 |
278 |
34 |
-4 |
|
TE31 |
Jonnu Smith |
NE |
59 |
435 |
5 |
111 |
270 |
32 |
-1 |
|
TE32 |
Taysom Hill |
NO |
46 |
440 |
5 |
108 |
250 |
30 |
2 |
|
TE33 |
Cade Otton |
TB |
42 |
311 |
3 |
79 |
276 |
33 |
0 |
|
TE34 |
Brevin Jordan |
HOU |
46 |
304 |
5 |
93 |
224 |
28 |
6 |
|
TE35 |
Harrison Bryant |
CLE |
51 |
393 |
5 |
102 |
323 |
44 |
-9 |
|
TE36 |
Tommy Tremble |
CAR |
37 |
238 |
2 |
57 |
327 |
46 |
-10 |
|
TE37 |
Foster Moreau |
LVR |
32 |
258 |
3 |
68 |
316 |
42 |
-5 |
|
TE38 |
Daniel Bellinger |
NYG |
56 |
393 |
3 |
97 |
326 |
45 |
-7 |
|
TE39 |
Kylen Granson |
IND |
43 |
310 |
2 |
74 |
358 |
49 |
-10 |
|
TE40 |
Tyler Conklin |
NYJ |
24 |
160 |
1 |
38 |
293 |
37 |
3 |
A pretty straight forward
tier no one is more than 12 picks away from where they’re being drafted. I’m
lower on Njoku than consensus. To this point in his career Njoku has one
TE1 finish in his career, and last year’s “renaissance” saw him finish TE 23. It
also doesn’t help that I think Harrison Bryant is more talented than Njoku. Tremble
and Granson are two young TEs who have a shot at having increased roles
in less than exciting offenses. Tremble is listed as the TE1 on the Carolina depth
chart and Ian Thomas hasn’t lived up to what looked like a large amount of potential.
Granson showed flashes of explosive potential but he has Mo Alie-Cox in front
of him and that potential is based off of 15 targets.
|
Tier 6 (41-60) Lottery Ticket TEs |
|||||||||
|
Rank |
Player |
Tm |
Tar |
Y/T |
TD |
PPR |
ADP |
PADP |
Diff |
|
TE41 |
Will Dissly |
SEA |
34 |
280 |
2 |
67 |
351 |
48 |
-7 |
|
TE42 |
Ian Thomas |
CAR |
28 |
173 |
1 |
40 |
377 |
55 |
-13 |
|
TE43 |
Charlie Kolar |
BAL |
12 |
92 |
1 |
24 |
412 |
59 |
-16 |
|
TE44 |
Drew Sample |
CIN |
14 |
98 |
1 |
26 |
412 |
59 |
-15 |
|
TE45 |
Greg Dulcich |
DEN |
33 |
318 |
2 |
67 |
290 |
36 |
9 |
|
TE46 |
Jake Ferguson |
DAL |
16 |
121 |
1 |
29 |
412 |
59 |
-13 |
|
TE47 |
Charlie Woerner |
SF |
21 |
181 |
0 |
35 |
412 |
59 |
-12 |
|
TE48 |
O.J. Howard |
BUF |
13 |
109 |
1 |
26 |
297 |
38 |
10 |
|
TE49 |
Cole Turner |
WAS |
29 |
214 |
2 |
54 |
412 |
59 |
-10 |
|
TE50 |
Dan Arnold |
JAX |
16 |
116 |
1 |
27 |
299 |
39 |
11 |
|
TE51 |
Durham Smythe |
MIA |
27 |
187 |
1 |
43 |
412 |
59 |
-8 |
|
TE52 |
Marcedes Lewis |
GB |
27 |
195 |
1 |
43 |
412 |
59 |
-7 |
|
TE53 |
Pharaoh Brown |
HOU |
37 |
251 |
2 |
64 |
412 |
59 |
-6 |
|
TE54 |
Ricky Seals-Jones |
NYG |
31 |
200 |
2 |
49 |
305 |
41 |
13 |
|
TE55 |
Jordan Akins |
NYG |
44 |
315 |
2 |
74 |
370 |
52 |
3 |
|
TE56 |
Ross Dwelley |
SF |
6 |
48 |
0 |
12 |
412 |
59 |
-3 |
|
TE57 |
Nick Vannett |
NO |
15 |
150 |
1 |
30 |
412 |
59 |
-2 |
|
TE58 |
Geoff Swaim |
TEN |
33 |
220 |
1 |
56 |
366 |
51 |
7 |
|
TE59 |
Ko Kieft |
TB |
18 |
144 |
1 |
33 |
412 |
59 |
0 |
|
TE60 |
Adam Shaheen |
MIA |
14 |
94 |
1 |
27 |
412 |
59 |
1 |
