For decades, since the early days of the fantasy football era, tight end has been a position dominated by singular talents who have controlled the scoring charts over multiple seasons, frustrating all opponents and extinguishing rebellions.
Travis Kelce is the latest player to rule this place like a medieval king, but he’s certainly not the first. Kelce was preceded by Rob Gronkowski, who was preceded by Jimmy Graham, Antonio Gates, Tony Gonzalez, Shannon Sharpe, Ben Coates, Keith Jackson, Todd Christensen, Kellen Winslow, and so on, all the way to John Mackey and Mike Ditka.
Historically, this is a roster position where the overall fantasy scorer often provides a huge seasonal advantage, occasionally doubling the production of all but three or four of its rivals. There are never 10 or 12 truly useful tight ends for everyone.
If you had Kelce on a roster in 2022 – or Gronk in 2011, or Sharpe in 1996, or Christensen in 1983 (unlikely, but not impossible) – then you already fully understand the benefits associated with a top-tier tight end. This position has a rich history of producing league-defining players. Spending an early pick on the consensus No. 1 tight end has generally been a winning move.
And yet, well… 2024 somehow feels different.
It could simply be the fact that Kelce, entering his age-35 season, is approaching the end of his reign. We are in a transition phase in this position in the squad. Kelce only played in 15 games last year and showed his age in several others, but still managed to finish in the top three – the eighth consecutive season he has done so.
Sam LaPorta was actually the highest-rated fantasy tight end in 2023, and if history is any guide, he’s a fair bet to emerge as the next undisputed alpha TE.
LaPorta is nohowever, the only contender for that crown.
For the first time in several seasons, the tight end doesn’t look like a minefield in the middle layers. This place is suddenly full of interesting possibilities. In fact, you can realistically wait at tight end — maybe take the 10th or 12th player off the board — and not feel like your team is doomed to enter each week with a five- or six-point deficit.
Increasingly, of course, NFL tight ends are functioning purely as oversized slot receivers – every player classified as a draftable tight end for 2024 ran one route on 85-95% of their passing snaps last year. The game itself has evolved to the point where elite fantasy tight ends are nearly indistinguishable from wide receivers in terms of usage. A reasonable argument can be made for simply merging this position with that of the enlarged ones, but that is beyond the scope of today’s discussion.
For now, we still need to fill this fantasy vacancy. Fortunately, it has never been easier to convince yourself of an intermediate option.
Breakout TE to target: Dalton Kincaid has a chance to be one of fantasy’s right answers
It’s possible that a Josh Allen-Dalton Kincaid duo will never again be as attainable as it is in 2024. It seems like a potentially winning combination. Kincaid is in the conversation to finish as fantasy TE1. He is coming off a rookie season in which he caught an impressive 80.2% of his targets and threw for 673 yards. His team context is almost ideal and he has all the characteristics we are looking for:
Kincaid is basically the easy button for Allen in the Bills’ passing attack. He is also not burdened with any of the tight end’s traditional responsibilities other than receiving — he blocked just 1.2% of snap passes last season per PFF — so we need to think of him as a positional eligibility failure.
Let’s also remember that Buffalo has more than 240 vacant targets following the departures of Stefon Diggs and Gabe Davis, so Kincaid has a clear path to triple-digit opportunities. It’s not crazy to believe he has an 80-1,000-10 season within his range of results.
The Sleeper Who Can Destroy Your ADP: Isaiah Probably
Without a doubt, Isaiah probably has a very serious problem with Mark Andrews. We will not try to convince you otherwise. Over the past six seasons, when Andrews was fully operational, he was among the best non-Kelce tight ends. He’s great – a trusted circle tight end for a two-time MVP quarterback; We mean no disrespect to Andrews here.
But if you’re taking a late shot at a tight end, why not take a guy who has already demonstrated all five advantages? We don’t need to speculate on whether Likely is capable of producing elite production because we’ve already seen that. Last season, when Andrews was sidelined with an injury for Baltimore’s final six games, Likely surrendered 322 yards and five scores. Several of his captures were also of the highest quality:
Ideally, the Ravens would find a way for both of their tight ends to find consistent volume, but that may not be the case initially. Still, when we’re flying late in fantasy, we’re really only thinking about best-case scenarios. If Andrews misses time for any reason this year (and he’s missed a dozen games over the last five seasons), he’ll likely be the game’s busiest waiver addition, an obvious must-have tight end.
This is not a position where we would normally advise you to draft a backup, but it is likely the rare tight end that would immediately emerge as the top option in your team’s passing game.
TJ Hockenson is the only brand tight end you should probably disappear
As a longtime Iowa propagandist, I take no pleasure in saying that TJ Hockenson is a classic fantasy trap. Hock is obviously an excellent player when healthy, but he is currently recovering from an ACL/MCL repair and is not expected to return to action until October or November. His fantasy league regular season will be halfway done before Hockenson makes his debut in 2024. When he returns, we also can’t expect him to be the vintage version of himself.
Someone in his league will convince himself that a stock Hockenson will provide his team with a top-tier tight end at a bargain cost, but he will A) burn a roster spot for two months where he won’t help, B) eventually return as one of Sam Darnold’s secondary options and C) require drafting a second quality starting tight end.
In all likelihood, Hockenson will become a slump at the end of September, well before his return to the field. Unless he drops to the final rounds and his league offers a lot of bench and/or IR spots, he’s a big fade.
Top 20 tight end rankings for 2024
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Sam LaPorta, Detroit Lions
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Travis Kelce, Kansas City Chiefs
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Trey McBride, Arizona Cardinals
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Mark Andrews, Baltimore Ravens
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George Kittle, San Francisco 49ers
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Dalton Kincaid, Buffalo Bills
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Kyle Pitts, Atlanta Falcons
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Evan Engram, Jacksonville Jaguars
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Jake Ferguson, Dallas Cowboys
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David Njoku, Cleveland Browns
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Dallas Goedert, Philadelphia Eagles
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Brock Bowers, Las Vegas Raiders
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Dalton Schultz, Houston Texans
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Pat Freiermuth, Pittsburgh Steelers
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Luke Musgrave, Green Bay Packers
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Cole Kmet, Chicago Bears
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TJ Hockenson, Minnesota Vikings
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Noah Fant, Seattle Seahawks
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Hunter Henry, New England Patriots
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Cade Otton, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
