Ultimate 2024 Fantasy Football TE Rankings (Top 25)

2024 NFL TE Landscape the onesie positions today it is tight ends been an interesting few years for this position for so long it was owned by the old heads who just kept getting older and older yet producing but now Hayden there's a massive injection of Youth over the last few years in 2023 in fact rookie tight end combined to catch 341 passes on 469 targets those are the highest totals ever at the position for an incoming rookie class that does not even include early career Jake Ferguson early career Trey McBride so Hayden how do you view this position as a whole as we enter 2024 we need these young guys to step up because it was also one of the worst top end performances at the tight end position since at least 2010 the tight end won last year averaged 11 and a half half PPR points that was the second fewest since 2010 the top uh three overall that was the second worst on average since 2010 and it's not even close to like the the elite numbers the Travis Kelce groon Antonio Gates there's a bunch of those guys even the tight end ones that we were dreaming of this year Sam leaport Trey mcbrides this next class Dalton concade they have a lot of work to do to get back to those truly Elite Seasons so it's deeper but like deeper in the sense that there's like nine names I can get fired up about but the top two top three are this is not Travis Kelce from a couple years ago not even close there's a few points I want to head on there the the first is like you talked about Travis Kelce just two seasons ago he was the difference if you didn't have him then you were always trying to make up points every single week on that team I mean he had 15.4 half Point BPR points every single game on average last year that was down to 11.5 and that tied with Sam Le pora for the most on a weekly basis I get your point that at the top end pushing the ceiling of the scoring wasn't there but I do think the best talents are being featured by good play callers a lot more often than we have seen in the past just from like a a mass standpoint like Rich rear had these stats five different tight ends had a Target share of 20% or more after just four of those names in 2022 and just two of those names in 2021 and then the net is pretty wide as well 16 different Titans had a Target share of 15% or more that's the most in a season since 2015 now that's just targets that doesn't go to touchdowns as We Know touchdowns are really where most of these guys score the vast majority of their points yeah and then some of the top end guys we're talking about a 35y old a 31y old TJ hawson was one of the biggest producers he's on the pup list with the Toren ACL as well so there's a lot of factors here I think my final point with this is we're both coming up with stats that the top end guys aren't as good but there's a more of them that are pretty decent I would I would say decent is is a fair way to describe this what's the point of being rushing into getting the first tight end if we think that the tier is pretty wide like David and joku who is like the tight end 10 in in ADP he was the tight end one over a long stretch is he that dissimilar than Sam leaport Travis Kelce Mark Anders maybe but I'm not like I would feel way way different between Jaylen Herz versus Caleb Williams you know yeah I I think that's a huge debate this year is are you gonna go in the same range of drafts Elite quarterback or Elite tight end because you kind of have to pick one or the other quarterback for me not even close I think it's quarterback for me as well okay speaking of tight ends and Travis Kelce Underdog has a special for all of you yes not just firsttime depositors every single person right now has a special for the first Thursday game of week one all he needs all he needs is one yard that's it so if you're a first time subscriber first time depositor guess what you also get our PDF rankings in your email right now plus a Bree hul special for week one plus matching 50% of your first deposit if you use promo code the show or just click the link in the description down below all right let's get into it we're going to tear it out the first name is Sam Le pora when we combine our rankings Tier 1 - Sam LaPorta I think it's also worth poting out where these players are going he's actually the Titan two in home League drafts right now around the sixth pick of round three when you combine all these manage League adps uh he's the first Titan though who goes off the board in under doog what do you like and maybe dislike about s laora didn't like his price tag in round three I'm more open to him in round four first of all he's a fantastic player I think that he's going to get better in year two we just saw it from last year weeks one through 11 he averaged 8.8 expected points from week 12 through the playoffs that jumped up to 11.2 now 11.2 is good it's not fantastic and he ran really hot with touchdowns he scored four more touchdowns than his expected usage would indicate it's just really hard to score 10 touchdowns like he did last season all that said we're talking about one of the best offenses one of the best play callers there's honestly a lack of depth at the pass catching group for the Lions and rookie tight ends don't produce like what Sam leaport did so he's very clearly on the path to being a top three guy over the next couple years in a row and I do believe that the age curve is Kinder to Sam lorta than Travis Kelce I just think that he's like a fourth round pick and not a third round guy yeah you're talking about the 23-year-old versus the 32-year-old even though the 32-year-old recently posted 15.4 fantasy points per game and Sam the Porter's best season so far even with the most receptions ever for a rookie tight end and even for 10 touchdowns as a rookie were tied for the second all time that's only down to 11 and a half fantasy points but like top down Sam Porter has all the talent to be considered the best tight end in the NFL and we mentioned prior to last year that even when they trade away TJ hackinson their second second and third tight end scored a whole bunch of touchdowns combined inside the Red Zone and to me that's the greatness that comes with Sam the Porter is that you're also getting Ben Johnson attached to him because he's a wizard inside of the 10 yard line he finds ways to isolate a player and get them the football and we have seen Sam lorta play in line quite a bit we've seen him actually out wide at a high high rate and then motion inside again he's one of those featured players and he has the size and that combination again the size to beat smaller DBS or the quickness and speed to beat linebackers so again it's an awesome awesome combination to have connected to an awesome play caller yep he he really is like bus proof I would say it just depends on the price tag so nothing but positives to Sam lorta it's pretty amazing that he still had 60% of his snaps in line and by the way he can definitely improve as a blocker but he was only behind Kyle pittz Travis Kelce and Mike giki in the rate of snaps lined outside the weird part was the slot rate the slot rate wasn't there as high as a bunch of these other quote unquote receiving tight ends okay our tight end two is none other than Travis Kelce Travis Kelce himself he's going the end of round two in home league so you're still having to pay that 212 3-1 pick for him um career lows in yards per catch at 10.6 and yards per Target at 8.1 and Hayden that's after never previously averaging fewer than 12 yards per catch in any season of his career prior to 2023 his efficiency was basically at a at an all-time low and his usage was at a seven-year low attached to Patrick Mahomes that led to him being the 56th overall player in fantasy points over placement per game last year so 56 you say he's going round two I don't understand the Gap I think we're at the point with the Chiefs Dynasty especially with the upgraded weapons where they don't have to force feed Travis Kelce the ball anymore in fact I don't think they have to play them play him that much this year I think there's going to be a little bit of saving him for the playoffs now the difference between last year's Chiefs and this year's Chiefs could be ginormous because you know Mahomes might throw for 45 50 touchdowns this year and that's where Kelsey like was truly lacking the yards and the receptions they were good enough to be the tight end one but he only scored what five touchdowns I can see him bouncing back to 10 even if the yards and and the uh receptions aren't anywhere near those Peak Seasons so there's no point of just like hammering ball to Travis Kelce over and over and over again now that you have rased rice Xavier worthy and Hollywood Brown so I think that we're seeing the drop off in his game I would draft him in the fourth round not the second we know he opened the season last year with already some bumps and bruises that continued on for the entire season he was on the field for his lowest percentage of dropback since his first year in the NFL there is some load management I believe that is going to happen here with Travis Kelce on the other side this is I think of all these tight ends maybe the one that I point to of the lack of volume but high efficiency on top of it because as we said the additions of Xavier worthy the addition of Hollywood Brown is just going to make life easier for Travis Kelce it's going to make life easier for also Rashi rice but as you said you only have to look at his playoff performances to show that on some level this team was saving it saving it for when it mattered most he went for 7 for 71 then 575 and two scores 11 116 and one and then nine for 93 in the playoffs yep that's like better than any single game he had in the regular season last year yeah he is going to be 35 years old this year there were a couple of like the Hall of Fame uh 35y old tight ends that still had like one last season so I think that's what we're going to get with Travis Kelce I'm just not expecting the usage uh to be the same now going back to your first point quarterbacks versus tight ends at the top of your drafts I would rather have Patrick Mahomes straight up over Travis Kelce I think that's kind of a hot take based off like the under Underdog a but to me if Kelsey does great Mahomes did great and Mahomes also throw the ball a ton to all these wide receivers so to me I would take the momes and you guys can have the Kel at this point yeah again he's going the 24th or 25th pick in home leagues right after that is Josh Allen then it goes a few picks later Sam Le pora and then Patrick Mahomes and Jaylen Herz in your home league so you have to make this decision and yes if I have to draft one Chief early I do believe it is Patrick Mahomes in a much better environment than he was in last year versus Travis Kelce who's also in a better environment but we've seen the load management kind of play its part yep and I think it will continue to do that okay before we move on to our next here which is loaded with names and really the the core of this conversation just want to shout out the 39% of you who over the last 28 days August has been a massive month for us we're basically two Xing everything that we did last year that's a credit to truly all of you that as soon as you see our videos around 8:00 pm every single night Eastern Time on YouTube you click them you watch them that's so cool shout out to producer wees who's been helping us really double up every single time it's a it's a lot of work it's a lot of research but uh you guys have made it a great great month for us a great draft month so again shout out to the 39% who have been subscribing and you sickos in the worst way possible 61% just watch and move on with their lives could never beat me all right tight end three for us is Trey McBride who by the way on some high stakes Trey McBride leagues I've even seen it in Underdog drafts I've seen people select him as a tight end one overall do you think that is an outlandish thing to do I don't think it's outlandish I would actually even move Trey McBride up a tier after reviewing all my notes this is just an offense that wants to throw the ball to the tight end and for my money Trey McBride could be the best tight end in football over the next couple years for example last year the Cardinals they were fourth in their tight end usage remember it took a while for Trey McBride to get onto the scene but from week eight on he averaged 11.7 half PPR points per game that's when they got rid of Zack hers in comes Kyler Murray and then you really just saw Trey McBride do a little bit of everything he's like a great athlete he's also pretty dang physical as well he's like the perfect tight end for this offense if he kept up that like late season Pace that would put him right there with Kelce Mark Andrews leaport TJ hawson so I do think that he is in this tier the question is you bring in Marvin Harrison how much of the target share comes down but at the same time when you do bring in Marvin Harrison does that make the Cardinal's offense better and make them want to pass the ball a little bit more is there less double coverages who knows that's kind of the wishy-washy thing we're talking about here but Trey McBride to me on tape he has it so I think that he should be pretty much right next to Sam lorta and Travis Kelce but he's going in round four in home leagues almost a full round after where Sam loraa is going so he might be the best value out there in one of our cheat code videos we attached Trey McBride uh to one of our teams and was totally in love with it uh I mean he was not the team's full-time starring tight end like you said playing over six% of the snaps until week eight he didn't get Kyler until week 10 and then that first game with Kyler he got 14 targets he went on to average six and a half catches and 65 yards per game I mean in those final 10 weeks of the Season he had five top five tight end finishes he had 18 15 plus yard catches from week six to week 18 that's nutso stuff I mean this I I I don't want people to forget tra McBride's name when they bring up Sam lorta and Dawn concade especially in a Drew petting offense which we have seen come from the Kevin stefansky tree that heavily features Tier 2 - Mark Andrews tight ends he's going to be a focal point of this offense this year and for many years to come I believe yeah I agree uh we have this truly disgusting salary cap auction League that has contracts attached to it it's also tight end premium and I have both Sam lorta and Trey McBride uh and I feel great about it okay next now is Mark Andrews fair to be the first name of the next tier I think we have dropped a tier now he still can finish the tight end one overall but it's been a couple Seasons now since he's been that truly Elite tight end over the last two years on a per game basis 61st overall 64th overall that's with removing the injured games they have Z flowers now you had Derrick Henry there could be a little bit of regression uh with Lamar Jackson he's 29 years old he has this lengthy injury history at this point and then like last year when he was on the field he was fourth best in yards per route run that came down uh a couple points versus his like absolute peak season so I think we're I'm like at the point where like I want him to prove it again I'm happy with drafting him in the fifth round after these first three guys come off uh the board here uh the way I can be wrong is if this is just the Todd monin offense it's the second year in the system and everybody just goes crazy with the Ravens uh I think that's possible so I I do think that we should be he should be a Target in the fifth round um but it has been a little bit since we've seen the best of Mark Andrews definitely I will say 70% of his snaps were in the slot this past season the next closest among these top tight end names that we're talking about was 50% and Slot alignments are the most beneficial because it is likeliest to end in a midd thefield Target where we know so many of these defenses are most susceptible to being attacked right now the most efficient passes are over the middle of the field um and he was also targeted on 46.5% of his routes when he was in the slot that's the highest rate at the position so it's the guy who played the slot the most and was targeted the highest rate when playing the slot the most uh I know he's actually been missing practice since August 14th he did return today okay that is fantastic news and Hayden it's on my radar and we'll talk about this maybe about the last name we're going to discuss today too that despite being an MVP caliber quarterback last year a second year in the Todd monin system this team literally only has two wide receivers yeah yeah it is z flowers who's not your prototypical wide receiver one and then it's Rashad bman that they gave like a tiny contract to kind of when you consider all the other wide receiver contracts in the league so one I could see Mark enu just leading the team and receiving and then two are we going to see more two tight end sets but maybe we can continue that conversation later on yeah all those uh the high Target rate on the slot that's like the RPO in effect when he's out in the slot Lamar Jackson RPO throw the ball to slant to Mark Andrew so he's got a chance to do it again it's just he's a the injuries man is just a little bit harder to to figure out uh and he's also going in round four in the same category as Trey McBride in your home leagues okay that brings us to Dalton conade who Dalton Kincaid is our tight end five and really the tight end five on every single platform out there I mean this is early on we started talking about Dawn Kade this summer it feels like he's been a topic nearly every single week you seem tired about it I I kind of am man because the only thing that really has to change is he has to play more snaps you know compared to the tight end one on this list Sam lorta had 452 blocking snaps in the regular season more than any other tight end donin Kade had 211 I'm not saying that you get fantasy reports from being a run blocker but you do get fantasy points when being on the field and this is a team that their mindset when drafting Don concade was to pair him with Dawson Knox and to run 11 and a half personnel and when being matched up in nickel they felt like they had an advantage or in dime and they had an advantage there when it came to it they didn't have an advantage really when these two tight ends were on the field at the same time and so I know there were injuries to both they kind of moved away from it though I mean they ended up being just 18th in 12 Personnel last year at 19% so again I believe in the talent of dton concade I think he could potentially lead this team in targets and everything receiving wise they just had to figure out how to get him on the field at all times yeah there's a couple things we have to get right we all know that donin Kate is good but how good because that's where we have to kind of nitpick here I think you and I both agree that he's going to be a top 10 guy for a very long time because he is a fluid mover is he the total kid ass tight end that's where I think I'm at one tier down from him week seven through the NFL playoffs pretty big sample size once they got rid of the Dalton can trying to figure out what he is he averaged 8.9 half PPR points that was tight end 10 so we're expecting him to get better but I do think that is going to be the case the one note with the bills that I keep going back to once they got the new offensive coordinator they were 21st in neutral pass rate I think it's going be a pretty Dink and dunk offense more balance than we expect and when they get into the Red Zone like you said it's Marshall Faulk it's Josh Allen when it comes to fantasy points in the Red Zone because of how much he runs the ball so it's a little bit harder for him to score as many touchdowns unless the bills completely change their offense here so I think he has a chance a chance to be like the tight end one or tight end two this year but I think we have to get a lot of things kind of right in a row he does have one of the safest floors like some of these next games we're gonna get to pretty low floors I think Donan Cade's floor is better than that um but I think we have to get a couple more things right for him to be all the way to the top I kind of think a feelings higher than a lot of the other names we're about to talk about too like to me it makes sense that he is in this range but I've seen people you know draft him as the tight end three overall as well uh there was a change and I felt his usage just from certain routes early on the season with kend dorsy he was kind of the check down near the line of scrimmage and then once Joe Brady took over there was more deep play action I'm G to hook over the middle of the field into this void and in the space yeah with that said he still only had 22 10 plus yard targets compared again to Sam La Porter's 38 10 plus yard Targets this past year so those gaps have to change in order for him to match his seconde player that's where I think D conade could separate versus a lot of these guys he he can actually run down the field so more Crossing routes more more of those post routes get him down the seam a little bit more no more check and release he's better than that I mean really it feels like though other than Keon Coleman our biggest questions with the Buffalo Bills are how many Snaps are these guys gonna play well and who's winning down the field you know that's my whole question with the Buffalo Bills this year we don't have massive disagreements uh with Kyle Pitts each other let's put it that way in our tight end rankings that we are combining here so I do want to just point out when we are like one spot difference we are with that with Mark Andrews I have him fourth you have him fifth that's flipped with dton concade our next two names are that way you have him as your tight end six and he's my tight end seven and that is Kyle pittz who has been the most volatile tight endend ever ever and tight end is like the most volatile position that you draft as well so uh talk me into why I'm one spot too low if I knew he was actually healthy I'm talking about pre-injury healthy there's GNA be so many ifs with this these entire statements I know if I knew he was actually healthy I would take him right there with Travis Kelce and Trey McBride way up a tier wow I haven't seen anything from training camp man I've checked ESPN the athletic I'm looking on Twitter I all I see is just clips from like 2021 or something in like a training camp thing where like the ball was thrown over his head where are the reports good or bad with Kyle pittz like to me like that's the thing I don't know if he's back or if it's over for Kyle pittz so I guess I have to play this thing down the middle now I will say this with Kyle pittz and I know you have all the stats about how bad he is no no no not how bad he is just how bad the usage was correct the best of Kyle Pitts is a rare breed this guy could actually win down the field a little bit which has been the bad part of his game because he hasn't had a quarterback to do that the theory of Kyle pittz is fabulous I mean unbelievable I think there's a chance he could be the best tight end in the NFL I can't sell you that that's going to happen with any confidence and that's why I'm playing this middle ground with him so compared to concade the floor is lower the pits ceiling is just blows do concade out of the water in my opinion I do believe that there's this fear of missing outs on the cow pit season that forces people to take cow pits this early on some level because again we can point back to his rookie year when he crossed 10,00 yards and you didn't love playing him on a weekly basis that was a Marcus marota stat in my opinion or whoever it was a touchdown stat I mean because Mar pit has not scored touchdowns as well um I'm with you man I am craving craving one report that says Kyle pittz is living in the slot and running tons of short intermediate routes I know where is that or just running routes like without a a limp turning left so if that's the case I need to bring up the negatives that we have seen so far you know there were 30 tight ends with at least 42 targets during the 2023 season cow pits was last with just 40.7% of his targets located in the zero to n yard range down the field that number was even lower in 20122 at 37 a half so what we need this year is exactly what I was craving it's the gimmies it's the short catch and runs because again the theory of a downfield explosive tight end is cool but that is high variance again at a super high variance position and I understand he's now attached to the best quarterback he's ever played with or second quarterback he's ever played with but I just want certainty like I want some level of a floor that I can attach myself to KY pit so we just don't obsess over this ceiling now how do how do we get there right I mentioned the gimmies I don't think Kyle Pitts is going to take on the Tyler Higg role because when you think about it Tyler higgy constantly was located in a two-point stance attached to the line of scrimmage right just over and over and in the flats like you talked about his rate of zero to nine yard targets was ridiculously high right cow pets was in line 21% of the time this past season so I don't know if this te's going to be like a true three wide receiver set team My Hope and again you'd think we'd have a report of this my hope for cowpits and this is how we get to the top of the mountain is he's their slot wide receiver yeah it's possible he is the Cooper cup that you match up against safeties and linebackers and all that type of stuff but where's the report on that so far yeah nobody knows if if any fantasy analyst that you listen to is very confident with their Kyle Pitts stance I I don't know where they're getting that Kyle Pitts Confidence from so I will say this we play for upside we talk about that on all our shows so there is an opportunity Drake London were drafting him at the round one two turn Drake London round one two turn we're expecting the offense to be much much better this year and we've completely written off Kyle pittz that easily could be the thing that needed to happen because of his injury just never the same or that was just playing out of fear and he's back and we're talking about a rare tight end without like a bunch of Target depth uh in general we we love playing this game he might be the player that after week one we have like the biggest Readjustment of you know again if he's playing a pukaa Cooper cup esque role where it's Crossing routes over the middle of field or Cooper cup 0o to nine yards let's match him up and find an empty space Oh Let's readjust yep let's readjust the other part of this again touchdowns are super important he had three targets inside the 10 yard line in 2023 four in 2022 7 in 2021 that equal won touchdown he has six touchdown careers touchdowns in his career right now six six six six um I don't want to miss out on it again I'm like totally open-minded to all this it's just with the Falcons we literally have zero answers to anything because they don't play their guys in the preseason you you drafted a ton this this offseason how much Kyle pits have you gotten not not a lot I I'll really look this up for you actually let's I think I'm pretty much even with the field uh is this a comfortable like 7.8% blanket that you have yeah this is this is my blanket it uh but I would rather like wait and get to Kyle pittz than like spend up on Sam lorta oh no yeah I knew it was going to be like 2% yeah it's 2.7% yeah exactly exactly oh I don't feel good about that okay exactly that's what I mean like you we you have no confidence in it but you can't be completely out either no but it's because I was drafting a lot of these top five names and this kind of middle area was not so much my friend and then I was going towards some of the names we're going to talk about a little bit later on right anyways let's go to that next name uh for us that is George KD uh George Kittle he actually match Sam laporta with three top tight in overall number one scoring weeks we know that this 49ers team Dro back about 33 times per game that's bottom three across the league and they just resigned Bren nauk to a nice deal so as we enter this year other than a CMC injury here or there they're totally healthy yeah will say with George KD he did have offseason core and shoulder surgeries I'm not sure if you saw that report he he was down to like 210 pounds which is crazy uh now he's a freak ath I'm sure he put that back on immediately when brand iuk and dvo Sam were both in the lineup last year George KD averaged 6.8 expected half PPR points that would have made him the tight end 16 now we're talking about the most efficient tight end out there pretty much in league history so he can still be uh the tight end 7even somewhere like that but this usage is comically low you know and that's why you said like on a weekly basis he has a couple tight end one tight end two tight end three games but he also has a lot of tight end 18 type of games yeah as well so that's what you're signing up with it's a boom bus tight end one we know he's fantastic there is the opportunity where George K goes absolutely nuts if Debo Samuel goes down CMC goes down then all of a sudden it's Giddy Up time but he's also 31 years old coming off of a little bit of uh injuries this offseason so I I think this is a kind of a year where I feel okay with George K I'm glad that he's priced away from the top end guys so I do mix him in just a little bit but I'm not like super fired up over George KD at this point you basically said this just want to add some stats and this is obviously from the great Rich rear over at sharp football analysis that uh George KD ran 557 pass routes with both Debo and bruk he had 15.7% of the team targets at that point in the 336 he ran with either one of those guys off the field he had 22% of the team's targets yep and we're not talking about a bunch of Targets in general in San Francisco so every one of those shares does matter David Njoku now I mentioned that you and I didn't differ very much from each other in these but we very much differ from the public with this name if you watched the show if you subscribed you know that our tight end8 is David and joku what's a stat that you love to site this summer tight end one from week eight on uh that seems pretty good that's a big old sample there uh that exact same sample week eight on the Browns were third in uh neutral pass rate this team wants to throw the ball if you read the offseason reports and from training camp they want to throw the ball specifically to two players Amar Cooper and then David and joku everybody else is secondary and I think the reason why is because David and joku is very good he's one of these guys that like deserves tight end screens like most guys can't move he can so that's why his a dots low it's because they're force feed him the ball instead of running the ball with these scrub running backs that they have they're going to throw the ball to David njoku who's an absolute Savage out there so even with a slow start uh he was still the 82nd overall player in fantasy points over replacement per game he goes after that most of the Titans we talk about they go earlier than where they finish David and joku it's the other way around for some reason people just don't like David and joku um I think he's really good and his production was really good down the stretch last year I think that he deserves to be ranked with these other like Elite tight ends yeah it's kind of dumbfounding that he's still very young and the fantasy Community doesn't want to believe in him as much as you and I do I part of it might be because he had a slow first three years to his career then he got that second contract and escaped from Austin Hooper attached to him and then it was blastoff and that's it I mean it's exactly what you said I've seen people criticize his a DOT and other things you're telling me it's bad to manufacture screen for a freak athlete at tight end who gallops down the Feld like a robot and is awesome at doing them uh no that's pretty sweet like that's the floor that we're talking about with this position so like we need a couple things to happen like one DeShaun Watson needs to play better and if he does then just like we we talked about with Trey McBride the tight end is a focal point of this offense as you said with the top two Targets and David and joku is the type of tight end that can attack every single blade of grass but then also if DeShaun Watson doesn't play better then the easy button is David and joku I know so it's a win-win he just really good you know like I I hate to make the analysis that that simple but there's a lot of guys where we're still trying to figure out if they're good or not for my money David and joku is is one of the best tight ends in the entire game and he can be used in the Red Zone too he's not like one of these like uh Cho quango tiny schemed up guys he's massive and gets the schemed up stuff even when chig is not going to make the tier list he still catches a stray that's that's aough well in that tight end premium leag you're talking about he's unfortunately my tight end one just full circle moment yeah I mean David and joku is going as the tight end 11 on Underdog that is our platform and we can't even convince the people he is your tight end 10 in redraft leagues but man that is so much later on than a lot of the with these Titans are going okay next for us in the next tier down is Tier 3 - Jake Ferguson Jake Ferguson who had a really nice second season in Dallas after a nice end to his rookie year uh he accounted for 23.5% of Dallas's Red Zone targets which was actually good enough for tight end four in 2023 but because Dallas scored so many points and were in the red zone that was even like more targets than a bunch of the other names that even around him in terms of that Target share but the issue was is that those were always expected points and not actual fantasy points it didn't come into fruition in the regular season but then he scores three touchdowns in One Singular playoff game so the big RW regression certainly hit and showed itself in a game that didn't matter for us in fantasy football yeah in my USC econ classes they're currently teaching regression uh based off of J Jake Ferguson's 2023 numbers yeah like to me this is one where the touchdowns easily can be there for Jake Ferguson he can be a top five tight end and I think he's a little bit overlooked on Bas on like how good he is second in tackles Force last year six in yards after the catch per reception seventh in targets eighth in yards ninth in receptions that's a lot of top 10 numbers right there it was really just the the touchdowns and the crazy Galaxy brain part of the Jake Ferguson conversation that I don't really hear very often what happens if CD lamb misses you know like they gotta throw the ball to somebody Jack Prescott is way too good for this offense to go completely in the tank Jake Ferguson if CD lamb goes down would be high highly highly intriguing I mean he was already second on the team in targets last year with 114 that was 25 more 25 more than Brandon Cooks had who they didn't add anything else in this wide receiver really tight end room we know they've taken some tight end in the last few years but it's Jake Ferguson and everyone else yep that's pretty simple okay next our tight end 10 is Brock Brock Bowers Bowers um this is a range Hayden that for me at this position I want to aim for upside because because if it misses like if this pick doesn't land then you're still living in the same range of tight end variance right it's almost everyone after David and joku for us at that tight end variance right Brock Bowers though could be different like Brock Bowers could I'm not going to say break the position but he can be used in a whole bunch of cool ways he can be used like Evan Ingram was who we're about to talk to with manufactur touches catches near the line of scrimmage rpos all that type of stuff we've seen him line up as fullback out wide in the slot so many cool things the only difference is uh he's on the Las Vegas Raiders the comments keep they keep saying that I'm like a Raider hater and same thing with the Falcons so I don't want to even go down that road I'll let you do that my Brock Bow's optimism is he had 175 Collegiate receptions he averaged 8.5 yards after the catch 8.5 after the catch for refence the only tight ends in the NFL last year above 5.6 were George kiddo jonno Smith and David njoku who's good at football so this is a guy that his yards after the catchability is fantastic by the way he's another low a DOT guy so I've see a lot of the same people mad ad and joku are hyping up Brock Bowers he can go win out on the flats he's the easy button for Gard muu if everything goes to [ __ ] with with the Raiders this year throw the ball to Brock Bowers a million times and see what happens so I think like in full PPR R you can move him up just a little bit he does have that theoretical upside but I also think by the end of the season his floor is going to be just okay because there's a chance Devonte Adams gets moved and I think by the end of the year like the easy butt in this offense is very clearly going to be Brock Bowers this could be a ridiculous take but he's a reason why I'm not really targeting Devonte Adams in round two like I'm not saying that he's going to line up exactly where Michael Pitman lined up last year but Michael pitton was the RPO and easy button for Garner mchu last year I think that can be Brock Bowers m this year let's keep it moving next is Evan Ingram what a weird season from Evan Ingram it's the quietest 114 season Evan Engram catch I can ever remember yeah I mean we are lower than Evan Ingram than everyone he's the tight 8 on all platforms he's actually my tight end 11 you're tight end 10 for that reason Hayden he's a short catch volume sponge that I'm a little bit nervous that there's going to be fewer short catches to sponge for him because now Christian Kirk gets put down a tier after we have the Gabe Davis and Brian Thomas editions and I think that he and Christian Kirk kind of filled the same void in this offense there's actually splits with Christian Kirk in the lineup he had 7.5 targets with that's Evan Ingram with Christian Kirk compared to 9.9 that's a huge gap Evan Ingram should not be getting 9.9 targets per game the reason why Jacksonville was bad is because they kept throwing the ball to Evan Ingram it was like the last resort in the offense that's how he ended up with 143 targets but he averaged 6.7 yards per attempt on them that's not good enough that's not going to happen again there's way too much talent in the offense this year Christian Kirk should play more than he did last year Brian Thomas I'm really high up on him Gabe Davis is better than the wide receiver three they also have a second round tight end from a couple years ago that like is about to start playing more he's more of a blocking type Evan Ingram didn't play all the snaps in the preseason that's like something a little bit on my radar so I don't that Evan Ingram is like some Freakazoid tight end and last year he was all volume and I don't see a reason why Jacksonville would go down that same path during his entire time in New York with the Giants I was excited for wherever Evan Ingram landed next because I always believed in his talent um but I don't want to go overboard on that I mean he also hasn't scored many touchdowns in his career I think his max every single season's at four right and all four of his touchdowns last year were scored when Christian Kirk was off the field do you think that Jake Ferguson and Brock Bower should go up a tier versus Evan Ingram like how confident are you I can't put them well this goes back to I'm sure a July online argument you do not regret about the elite label because can how far can we push the elite label Hayden like either we have to move I think Andrews and conc to their own section and I don't think we can put Ferguson and Mark Andrews in the in the same tier or Brock Bowers and Mark Andrews in the same tier they're going to average like one point difference per game this year it's a super flat tier anybody that does projections could back me up on this that's too much we should just not be calling these guys Elites that's that's our problem that's that this this was the reference with the question mark that I put here you know just trying to get under your skin all right next is Dallas GD for us as our tight end 12 Dallas Goedert this isn't like a great representation of my belief in him to be honest I think we could see an awesome season for Dallas Goddard because we've seen Kell Moore have a really nice season with Jake Ferguson pretty decent season with Gerald ever this past year uh for what Gerald Evert has done so far in the NFL um the issue has Dallas GD has been targeted on 17.6% of his routes the past two seasons with both AJ Brown and Devonte Smith on the field and also with both on the field he has just five Targets in the end zone compared to AJ Brown having 20 six in that same time and Devonte Smith having 14 but again with how much we believe Kell Moore is going to change this offense a huge beneficiary of that could be Dallas GD that's what my notes had uh the Eagles in the preseason tons of RPO tons of play action that's the type of stats we're looking for when it comes to the tight end position and even with AJ Brown and Devon Smith dominating and mostly staying healthy these last couple Seasons Dallas got her this isn't crazy but 120th 123rd overall that's basically where his ADP is with those guys healthy if something ever happens to one of the two of them Dallas CER could get hot also Dallas GD can just get hot by himself like he is a really good tight end and we can see Jaylen Herz bounce back after being Health uh unhealthy last year the blitzes were not going his way we can see a little bit different version of the offense where he just rebounds just because he's a good player in a good offense so he is kind of like the last call to me like if you don't have a tight end by now I think we into like the tough spots in your redraft league um but I'm a fan of Dallas G I've been drafting him more than I I think I would have uh entering the season our TI Pat Freiermuth in 13 is Pat fouth who I also have belief in his individual Talent has his preseason usage scared you at all it has a little bit I did move him down he's not playing full-time snaps and that is a little bit of the Arthur Smith kind of just figuring things out if they want to use Darnell Washington and tight end three in some Personnel sets instead of Pat firemouth I think by the end of the year or maybe after like the first couple drives they're going to be looking for guys to you know catch the football and Pat Frou is one of those guys that is able to do that so I he still is my tight end 13 but I do think there's a little bit of a pro it factor with Pat Pat Frou I do think he can be a top 10 receiving tight end but we haven't like felt really confident in that either I think like he's one of these guys that has more potential than like we can prove it to you guys he could easily be at the top of this tier for me by by the end of the season or he could be at the bottom of it depending on just how weird Arthur Smith wants to get I think that's true and he to go along with the quarterback play like it's it's a two for one special here and Arthur Smith will get weird I can I can promise you that I mean Darna Wash's playing like every single snap right now I don't blame them okay next is Dalton Dalton Schultz Schultz for us who's also in this tier there's some changes in Houston as well like we know Dalton Schultz signed a one-year deal with them after moving on when Ferguson really improved in Dallas and then he goes in and has like a really nice Middlefield connection with CJ strout so they give him a nice deal then the team drafts Kate Stover in the middle rounds then they trade for Stefon Diggs as well so this goes from a team with multiple fullback sets multiple tight end sets to now probably being a vast majority of time three wide receiver set team I've never been in love with like the individual Talent of Dalton Schultz 2 so I'm just nervous might be the odd man out even more so compared to one of these three wide receivers that people are projecting that on yeah I think that's pretty much a layup for me as well last year he was 108th overall player but that was with Tink Dell missing half the year no Steph Diggs so there's still a chance CJ strad throws for 40 Tes this year dalan Schultz catches eight of them and then he's a tight end one again but I'm with you that he's not a replaceable starter but maybe just one tier above that he's not a truly Elite guy and and I don't know why you would like scheme up passes to him when you have so many other options Luke Musgrave is our tight end 15 he has some Bambi to his game where Luke Musgrave he's a newborn Fawn still learning how to use his limbs but when it all clicks and it all connects Luke Musgrave will be in a tier Above This in terms of talent yeah uh he just has to kind of learn how to play football a little bit more and learn the Playbook a little bit more not frustrate his head coach because we know Tucker craft has returned to practice and Tucker craft can do things that Luke Musgrave cannot do as well in terms of inline blocking and so there's a little bit of like breathe down your neck stuff I think here at this tight end position yeah I just in my notes lacks consistency I think still a developmental player now he has freaky traits and this is a high upside offense so I'm leaving the light on for Luke Musgrave but I think that he's gonna be more touchdown or bust I will say this about Coach the FL he was scheming Luke Musgrave The Ball 25 yards down the field on these huge leak wheel routes early didn't work yelled at him benched him gets injured then comes back from all those and then he's now ripping off long touchdowns the best of Luke Musgrave is up a full tier from this like you said am I assuring people that he's going to have the snap counts and consistency to do that often I'm not sure so he's got a higher ceiling than dton schz does and Pat fouth but those guys are going to be on the field and I'm not sure if Luke musra is he's one of the few like real vertical shot play tight ends in the league for a team that loves to run and throw shot plays the other part of like the wide receiver discussion with the Green Bay Packers is lefor is also fantastic at multiple tight end set plays too and so they'll get both Musgrave and craft out there on the field okay there's one more name in this tier and it's going to shock the people he's one of my top three highest and most drafted players this summer it's old man himself Hunter Henry uh Hunter Henry this is all from a quote quote ball knower standpoint because we haven't seen Hunter Henry one single time this preseason in a new offense but this just comes from the stansky tree the pet sing tree and now we get Alex velt who is going to utilize his tight end I think to a high high degree which K brette with Drake May he's the veteran presence among that pass catching group and I know he's like dealt with some injuries here or there but as much as someone can be a consistent piece on this Patriots offense to me it's going to be Hunter Henry this season he was a free agent and they signed him to a two-year $8.5 million deal this offseason because he's such a good fit with Alex Vell and also he's only 29 years old I'm 29 years old he's it's not like we're that old 30 you're 30 30 next two weeks from now uh I I get to live it up for a little bit longer but hunter Henry don't get it twisted here he is the best Patriot skill player period well rre is a good player I think rre is a good player he's he's about middle of the tier for running backs and Hunter Henry is a middle tier tight end so pretty much the same but last year he had five games with at least get ready this is big numbers four receptions 39 yards in a touchdown but he is the red zone option and I haven't seen anything from any of the Patriots receivers the rookies the second third year guys the the veterans on this team I haven't seen anything good from the wide receiver group I think Hunter Henry has a chance like lead this team in targets just because this is that tight end based offense okay we're in the late round tier I'm going to throw in four names and you Late Round Tier talk about one okay for us next is T.J hackinson he's our tight end 17 he's actually being drafted super early tight end 13 in your home manage leagues tight end 15 on Underdog then it's Noah Fant then it's Tyler Conklin and then it is Jawan Johnson see here's the problem is like these are like three of my four top most drafted tight ends here so this this is pretty difficult I will say quickly on TJ Hawkinson because he has the most buzz in redraft leagues do you know when his surgery was the date January 25th yeah like January 29th ACL and MCL multi- ligament in January yeah I know like they're like saying that the reports are positive but if he's backed by Halloween I would consider that a win if he's like back there for Thanksgiving I would call that more realistic so I haven't been drafting him a ton um I don't think I have a single T.J Hawkins and share to be honest yeah maybe I have a just a couple out of like 150 drafts Noah Fant is my most drafted tight end yeah this is the guy that I want people to be drafting if you have completely punted this thing off signs a two-year $21 million contract he's been playing between 42 and 64% of the snaps with the Seahawks but that was with Shane Waldren as the OC now we're going to go to 11 personnel with Ryan grub there is no will dley there is no Colby Parkinson and best of Noah Fant is a Difference Maker I know we really haven't seen it so this could just be a lot of potential that doesn't come through but the dude could really run down the field and he is a big guy and that's kind of where Ryan grub wants to throw the ball like down the seams and on these these big wheel routes so I think there's a path to Noah fan not having consistency there's too many other guys to throw the ball to but a couple big plays 30 yard touchdowns I do think that Noah Fan's going to have a couple of those yeah all the Seahawks tight ends from last year got paid uh we know that Kobi Parkinson who we'll talk about in a moment went to the Rams will dley the inline blocker went to the Chargers and they elected to bring Noah Fant back so that says something to me that they believe there's still some untapped potential there Tyler Conlin has untapped potential mainly with touchdowns because there was a season attached to Aaron Rogers where his tight end had 10 plus touchdowns Robert T Robert tan 10 like 13 touchdowns or something that year oh yeah and then speaking of touchdowns Jan johs son I can't even forget the uh training camp Buzz he had from last offseason we were excited to draft him and then that turned into absolutely nothing so maybe there's something there well Jawan Johnson uh he did have 12 targets eight receptions 90 yards and a touchdown a week 17 for the tight end one overall true uh he's top 10 in percent that's all that matters apparently it is uh percentage of his snaps and the slaughter out wide top 10 there he is a converted wide receiver do you love the Saints depth in general I don't pass catcher no no I think there's a chance that Jawan Johnson bounces back his ADP was up above this tanked because he had offseason foot surgery but he's out there practicing it sounds like he'll be ready for week one if not then very early on afterwards T Hill I've seen to play more real running back this year so I think there's a chance that Jawan Johnson just like lines up and he's like kind of their slot wide receiver so I'm leaving the light on okay next four in this tier Kobe Parkinson jnu Smith B senat and Cole KT pick one I know it's going to be Kobe Parkinson so go ahead big Colby 6'6 Stanford Graduate love that I don't think that Tyler Higg is gonna be playing much this year he also tore his ACL and MCL in the NFL playoffs I don't think his surgery was until February they basically were trying to get rid of Tyler higgy even last year they traded for tight end they drafted another one but they paid Colby Parkinson two years $15 million in Practical guarantees he played in the slot and out wide in that Seahawks offense I do think that he can do a little bit more than just be the flat like checkdown guy in the Rams offense Matthew Stafford could get this guy six touchdowns you know he's six foot six so that that's kind of my simple version of the kobby Parkins and stuff I want to talk about jnu Smith I don't think people realize that the Dolphins in three wide receiver set usage are 30th in the NFL at just 44% now some of that is because they put moster and H on the field together they put their fullback and one the running backs together but it's also some tight end usage um we are uncertain of just their wide receivers in general in general outside of Tyreek Hill and Jaylen W who by the way both seemingly are dealing with some Nicks and issues during training camp as well as we head to the season so what if you get a guy who's obsessed with athleticism and speed one of the most athletic and fast tight ends in the league what cool stuff can he manage and pick out there I think J Smith is gonna have some really fun weeks and this also might be one of those players that after week one we are kind of shocked with what his uses can be because we haven't seen a player with like this type of skill tree attached to someone like Mike McDaniel in the past right and like Mike aiki was not that Mike AI like completely a linear player who just runs from one side of the field to the other yeah we're talking about two two good athletes but jnu is like a more functional NFL type of athlete so I am with you um and I think Ben Ben sinin is like another one of these freak athlete types that you can get him out underneath uh I can see Cliff Kingsbury throwing a lot of screens to him as well so there's some names like I'm not going to say it's as good of a late round tight end tier as no this is where you could drop St La pora last year but I mean it's not nothing like we made some positive cases throughout this entire show you know like I don't think it's a completely dead like other people were say let's do the opposite then because if we're overweight on a lot of these tight ends we have to be massively under on one and that's K met for us he's being drafted as Titan 16 out there by every single person hopefully you've tuned into our preseason shows where on every single one we talk about Shane Waldron's tight end usage back with the Seattle Seahawks and how that's already showing itself here with the Chicago Bears again they were three tight ends that were basically all healthy all last year with the Seattle Seahawks they each played 350 plus snaps last year there were some receiving types there was a pure blocking type and that just led to a cap ceiling for every single one of those you know there's not just that one feature player that's out there for all his snaps and running all the routes with their dudes and with the Chicago Bears we've seen Gerald Everett and Cole KT kind of split things together and that's not even mentioning marcedes Lewis who might eat into those 300 run blocking snaps which is out there on the field just just like well dley did last year because we know that Shane walren loves his freaky tight end usage I I see the same thing and I don't think that Cole K is like some must get on the field type of player either and then even if he was in 11 personnel out there all the time are you throwing the ball to Cole K are you throwing it to romad Dun DJ Mo and Kean Allen I think there's a lot to kind of figure out with Co K well the other part of that is I do believe coat's going to have some weeks you know because Caleb Wills is his quarterback and yep he has enough Talent to do that the consistency of it I I can't get there with where he was being drafted as tight end 16 even earlier than that for a good chunk of this offseason okay last two names and we can just talk about these quickly Isaiah likeley and Kate otton I don't know if there's really anything to say about kton who was is kind of like a seam Merchant there um and especially with Chris Godwin owning that air of the field this year for the Tamp Bay Buccaneers again Isaiah likeley is is one to watch for me I know Mina KES has talked about how much they've loved Isaiah likely's offse season he's on some level a tight end handcuff and you never see those across the league but again the lack of true wide receivers this team has it wouldn't Shock Me it off we see an En larged segment of 12 personnel and like they use both of these guys as kind of more wide receivers than tight ends yeah I I think that he's going to be out there enough for like some really deep League stuff and then the the Handcuff ability he would be like a borderline top 10 guy there is like a weird amount of like Isaiah likely types like Dawson KN is a handcuff Tucker craft you mentioned Michael Mayer these are all like tight end twos that I think that we would have some interest in uh Theo Johnson is also in a committee there as well so there's some guys that are like round 18 drafted based off of like d injury yeah there's an injury to somebody so there's at least some like really really deep uh Taysom Hill Rank??? sleepers okay on Underdog we know that Tamm Hill is not listed as a tight end on a bunch of these red draft manage League platforms like Yahoo and ESPN he has listed as a Titan so let's close out this segment and I'm sure weaves is putting this in the time stamps as well with hypothetically where would we rank Tamm Hill I'm just going to put him in one spot and you tell me if that's too high or too low okay are you trying to guess where I'm gonna have him or or I would put him at the very least and you can talk me into even higher okay okay I like this at the very least I want to put him behind Pat Fruth and ahead of Dalton Schultz I I was going to put him one spot ahead of Pat firemouth but this is the range to me he's he was out there as the goal line back in the preseason there's not a lot of depth behind Alvin chra the first snap of the preseason he was their starting X receiver not in the slot the starting X wide receiver I wish this was a bit but he's goingon to be he potentially could be a receiver SLG goal line back and on top of that we already know that they're going to do some weird stuff where he's like the Wildcat quarterback so in half PPR I think standard leagues this is like a potential cheat now in full PPR some of these guys catch enough passes where it's a little bit harder for him to close the gap and then there's like the 2% outcome where like screw it Tamm Hill you're starting a quarterback for a week everything Spencer Rattler played in the preseason I think that Avenue of the segment of his pitch is gone yeah but it doesn't seem like despite a new play caller at the helm the side of him being an important active player for this team is going away in fact they just keep talking about him all the freaking time I know they want to build the whole plane out of TM Hill I know and honestly he does look really explosive like when I see him as a running back I'm like I I honestly get it so if you want to go with the cheat code route in fact this if he's on your waiver wire yeah pick him up see what happens in week one and then readjust because like there's a chance week one comes he gets eight nine touches and we're like okay well you have a top 10 tight end for the rest of the year so we'll see all right that's going to do it this is a much longer show than I was expecting much more fun than I was expecting to just to be honest with all of you out there um I'm ready for the weekend we have another show this weekend one-on-one just a Hayden episode and then Monday we're going to kick things off most likely with h a little waiver show early pickups with Sam Sherman to debut him on the channel so can't wait for all of that again thank you for making August so awesome for us it doesn't end here though the first one two three four weeks of your fantasy season are everything that's when the pukan Nas and Kiren Williams were pickups for you last year so again stats versus film is back the rankings are back everything is back and we kick all of that off next week so hit that subscribe button be a part of the 39% and most importantly go and play an underdog fantasy you get our rankings for free if you click the link in the description plus a special for week one for Hayden F whis I'm Josh up the Villa against Lester talk to you soon see you [Music] yeah there's you're three sorry 321