Today will be concluding my four piece write-up on fantasy football positional rankings. We have already gone through the QBs, RBs, and WRs, so now it’s time to get to the new, and growing, dynamic position in the league, the Tight End. About 10 or so years ago, some leagues didn’t even mandate you to have a TE because the position was so weak, with less than five good options in the league. In today’s NFL, you can find 10-15 very solid TEs with 7-8 of them producing at least good #2 WR numbers. The positions still isn’t as deep as the other spots, but below are some options for your upcoming drafts. So without further ado, let’s get right into it.
Tier 1 – The Elite
Jimmy Graham
Rob Gronkowski
I arguably could have just Jimmy Graham as the only one in this tier, but I’m giving respect to Gronk because of what he can do when healthy. Graham puts up #1 WR type numbers and that shouldn’t change anytime soon. He’ll continue to rack up penalties as he dunks through goal posts all year long after his TDs. Gronkowski is a big injury risk, but he says he will be ready for week one and the last year he was healthy, he set records for TEs putting up over 1300 yards and 17 TDs.
Tier 2 – The Likely Stars
Julius Thomas
Jordan Cameron
Vernon Davis
Jordan Reed
I was lucky enough to get Julius Thomas in the 15th and 16th round of a lot of drafts last year, that won’t happen this year. He’s a consensus top 4 TE and will be gone somewhere around round 3. Cameron is another one that has made a big boost from my list last year. I knew he had the talent, but I usually like to wait for them to prove it and he did. Davis is an every year top 5 TE, assuming he stays healthy. There are more weapons on that team now, but that can either help or hurt. Reed is a top 3 TE talent, but the concussion issues worry me. He was arguably the 2nd best TE last year before the concussion hit.
Tier 3 – Starting Talent
Jason Witten
Greg Olsen
Dennis Pitta
Kyle Rudolph
Martellus Bennett
Witten and Olsen are both consistent. You can expect both to be between 800-1000 yards and anywhere from 6-10 TDs. Witten is still in a highly productive offense and Olsen is Cam Newton’s favorite target. Pitta is very similar, except he is coming off injury. He’s a bigger risk, but probably has a higher upside than both this year. Rudolph has immense talent. I’ve watched him since he was a freshman at Notre Dame. He was completely out of sync last year, but he has gotten himself in better shape and with a rookie QB. Rookie QBs love their TEs. Bennett will be the benefactor of having great weapons around him. He will never be double covered with Marshall, Jeffery, and Forte out there.
Tier 4 – Bye Week Replacements
Charles Clay
Antonio Gates
Jared Cook
Delanie Walker
Zach Ertz
Tyler Eifert
Dwayne Allen
Clay was a pleasant surprise for everyone last year. Tannehill is improving and Clay may improve with him. Gates is getting older and everyone expects him to take a back seat this year, but he will still put up around 600-700 yards. Cook and Walker have the talent to be every week fantasy starters, but Cook is an underachiever and Walker is more of an old school TE. Ertz, Eifert, and Allen are all young talented TEs that would be much higher if all of them weren’t splitting time with Celek, Gresham, and Fleener respectively.
Tier 5 – Best of the Rest
Heath Miller
Garrett Graham
Eric Ebron
Travis Kelce
John Carlson
Jace Amaro
Miller is a consistent, limited ceiling, but also limited floor option. Expect him to put up similar numbers to last year, around 600 yards. Graham played well when Owen Daniels went down for the Texans last year, now it’s his chance to prove what he can do, unfortunately, he’ll have to do it with Ryan Fitzpatrick as his QB. Ebron and Kelce are 2 high ceiling TEs. Both are essentially rookies since Kelce missed last year with an injury. Both can be this year’s Jordan Cameron. Carlson would be higher is Bruce Arians used his TE more, but he is still in a good offense and has potential. Amaro probably won’t do much more than 300-400 yards this year, but he’s a good sleeper for dynasty leagues.
During the year I will be giving weekly waiver pickups, as well as weekly start and sit articles. Hopefully this will help you dominate your leagues. Fantasy Football has become so popular around the world. Approximately 30 million people play it a year and around one billion is spent. If you already play it, you know what I mean, if you haven’t, maybe it’s time for you to give it a try, and hopefully I’ll be here to help you. If you have any questions, I can be reached on twitter with the handle @Pacman453323, good luck to everyone.
