2023 Fantasy Football - 1st Rankings - PPR Tight Ends

 Tight end has the weirdest structure of any position, it’s incredibly top heavy and then the tiers bloat. Almost has a Fibonacci sequence vibe. I’m either going top 5 or I’m going to wait and grab a couple late and hope I get TE 10 out of it.

 

Note: TE1 is a player finishing 1-12, TE 1 is a specific position

 

Tier 1 – The Travis Kelce Tier
Rank	Player	Tm	Tar	Rec Yds	Rec TD	FP	Pos ADP	Diff
TE1	Travis Kelce	KC	155	1326	10	303	1	0

 

He’s the best and in a tier of his own until he isn’t and then he probably gets a second stinker or retirement before he gets replaced in redraft.

 

Rank	Player	Tm	Tar	Rec Yds	Rec TD	FP	Pos ADP	Diff
TE2	Mark Andrews	BAL	131	1046	8	240	2	0
TE3	TJ Hockenson	MIN	145	1097	7	248	3	0

 

Andrews and Hockenson have next level opportunities in the offenses they inhabit, Andrews gets the nod over Hock because he’s been more consistent but Cousins showed his trust in Hockenson immediately off the bat.

 

Rank	Player	Tm	Tar	Rec Yds	Rec TD	FP	Pos ADP	Diff
TE4	George Kittle	SF	92	815	6	184	4	0
TE5	Kyle Pitts	ATL	73	535	6	131	6	-1

 

Kittle and Pitts are opposites for me, I know what I’m getting from Kittle but I think his ceiling is limited because of the offense, his role, and the talent around him. Pitts is more volatile but his upside is tremendous and there’s 2 other interesting skill position options in Atlanta.

 

Rank	Player	Tm	Tar	Rec Yds	Rec TD	FP	Pos ADP	Diff
TE6	Dalton Schultz	HOU	72	492	5	130	11	-5
TE7	Dallas Goedert	PHI	72	590	6	147	5	2
TE8	Pat Freiermuth	PIT	93	608	6	161	9	-1
TE9	Darren Waller	NYG	82	616	6	155	7	2
TE10	Evan Engram	JAX	91	606	5	148	8	2

 

Schultz is my first “big” reach, I can’t defend this too much but a good receiving tight end for a rookie QB on a team with no real ball dominating receiving options, who’s coming off 3 straight TE1 seasons. This tier is the last of where I feel overly comfortable with players. So maybe I just need to make sure I draft one of these 10 to feel comfortable at TE.

 

Rank	Player	Tm	Tar	Rec Yds	Rec TD	FP	Pos ADP	Diff
TE11	Tyler Higbee	LAR	107	759	5	177	15	-4
TE12	Dawson Knox	BUF	76	571	7	146	21	-9
TE13	David Njoku	CLE	95	737	6	168	10	3
TE14	Greg Dulcich	DEN	71	544	4	121	16	-2
TE15	Chigoziem Okonkwo	TEN	68	585	5	136	14	1
TE16	Juwan Johnson	NO	66	471	5	117	17	-1
TE17	Irv Smith Jr	CIN	73	532	5	138	19	-2
TE18	Isaiah Likely	BAL	66	445	4	108	29	-11
TE19	Cole Kmet	CHI	63	435	3	102	12	7
TE20	Cade Otton	TB	57	374	3	92	35	-15
TE21	Jake Ferguson	DAL	64	493	5	134	34	-13

 

Knox and Kincaid are obviously linked, and while Kincaid is the future of the position in Buffalo, first year TEs are notoriously fickle and start their careers in fits and starts. I think Kindcaid will have a role but I think we’re getting out in front of our skis when it comes to the hierarchy in Buffalo. Likely had 34 catches on 60 targets for 373 yards and a trio of TDs as a rookie. Now some of the pessimism is going to come from the fact that he had 103 of that on 13 targets in week 18, and that’s fair, but he showed in that game and on limited targets that he’s capable of being a very good receiving option and on a team with limited viable weapons a couple more targets a game and the opportunity for a massive workload if anything were to happen to Andrews makes him worth a flyer at least late at a position without exciting options in the middle. Otton is the starter for Tampa, he was TE 26 as a rookie in a very muddled depth chart last season, he’s not flashy and Baker is going to have a bunch of mouths to feed but 35 seems too low for the surefire starter on any roster. Ditto for Ferguson, he’s got Schoonmaker to challenge him but, and I know I sound like a broken record, rookies have a tough time adjusting to the league, even ones I really liked coming out. Dak has targeted his starting TE quite a bit and moving into his second year Ferguson gets a shot to at least inherent the majority of Schultz’s workload at least to start out.

                                                                                                                                

Rank	Player	Tm	Tar	Rec Yds	Rec TD	FP	Pos ADP	Diff
TE22	Tyler Conklin	NYJ	82	594	4	140	26	-4
TE23	Gerald Everett	LAC	63	440	3	102	18	5
TE24	Zach Ertz	ARI	58	407	3	94	25	-1
TE25	Hunter Henry	NE	59	451	5	113	30	-5
TE26	Jelani Woods	IND	62	403	4	103	33	-7
TE27	Noah Fant	SEA	65	481	3	112	28	-1
TE28	Logan Thomas	WAS	67	502	3	114	36	-8
TE29	Trey McBride	ARI	49	338	2	82	27	2
TE30	Austin Hooper	LVR	60	469	4	114	38	-8
TE31	Luke Musgrave	GB	54	435	3	99	32	-1
TE32	Sam LaPorta	DET	41	308	3	78	20	12
TE33	Hayden Hurst	CAR	41	265	3	74	24	9
TE34	Will Dissly	SEA	43	349	4	93	38	-4
TE35	Luke Schoonmaker	DAL	43	331	3	81	37	-2
TE36	Dalton Kincaid	BUF	30	219	3	61	13	23
TE37	Michael Mayer	LVR	45	356	2	79	23	14

 

I noted my thoughts on the Buffalo tight ends above, and situation definitely dictates how I have the rookies ranked because they might, but probably won’t produce even if in great situation, Musgrave and LaPorta have the best year one chances.

 

Rank	Player	Tm	Tar	Rec Yds	Rec TD	FP	Pos ADP	Diff
TE38	Jordan Akins	CLE	54	440	2	94	38	0
TE39	Noah Gray	KC	42	329	3	84	38	1
TE40	Tucker Kraft	GB	41	310	2	71	38	2
TE41	Durham Smythe	MIA	40	292	1	66	38	3
TE42	Mike Gesicki	NE	39	278	2	64	22	20
TE43	Taysom Hill	NO	13	97	2	80	31	12
TE44	Josh Whyle	TEN	43	326	2	75	38	6
TE45	Daniel Bellinger	NYG	27	196	2	52	38	7
TE46	Foster Moreau	NO	18	142	2	37	38	8
TE47	Jonnu Smith	ATL	32	218	2	56	38	9
TE48	Mo Alie-Cox	IND	46	313	3	80	38	10
TE49	CJ Uzomah	NYJ	22	161	1	39	38	11
TE50	Kylen Granson	IND	31	196	1	49	38	12
TE51	Peyton Hendershot	DAL	23	162	2	44	38	13
TE52	Brock Wright	DET	27	212	3	59	38	14
TE53	Adam Trautman	DEN	16	127	1	30	38	15
TE54	Chris Manhertz	DEN	29	217	2	51	38	16
TE55	Donald Parham	LAC	22	168	3	47	38	17
TE56	Robert Tonyan	CHI	13	96	1	27	38	18
TE57	Charlie Kolar	BAL	13	104	1	27	38	19
TE58	Josh Oliver	MIN	32	204	1	47	38	20
TE59	Colby Parkinson	SEA	28	220	2	55	38	21
TE60	John Bates	WAS	20	164	1	36	38	22
TE61	Devin Asiasi	CIN	23	137	2	35	38	23
TE62	Tommy Tremble	CAR	19	108	1	29	38	24
TE63	Ian Thomas	CAR	19	114	1	30	38	25
TE64	Ko Kieft	TB	14	107	1	27	38	26
TE65	Cameron Latu	SF	8	68	1	19	38	27

 

I kept this tier in because I wanted to talk about Gesicki and Hill. I have Hill 12 spots behind ADP, and to be honest the only thing that gives me pause is that he finished last year TE 9 in PPR. Having a solid if unspectacular QB would suggest a fair amount of his QB snaps dry up but if the goal line snaps continue, we will all be wrong. Gesicki is just us chasing the receiving TE in New England, he’s a liability as a blocker and if he takes over Jonnu’s targets (38) he’ll have the least targets of his career since his rookie season and his upside is mid to low end TE2. There are just so many guys I’d rather take a chance on than take Gesicki at what I think is going to be near his ceiling/most likely output.