We’ve finally arrived at the Shuffle Up series for the new Fantasy Football draft season. The dollar values you will see below are not scientific in nature, but reflect how I view the talent pools at the tight end positions. Use these layers however you want.
The remaining key positions (quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers) will be shuffled in the coming weeks.
Do you have any disagreements? Well, that’s why we have a game. I welcome your reasoned disagreement on X/Twitter: @scott_pianowski.
Level 1: The Big Tickets
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$23 Sam LaPorta
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$21 Travis Kelce
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$19 Trey McBride
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$19 Mark Andrews
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$18 George Kittle
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$18Kyle Pitts
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$17 Dalton Kincaid
In the last two months of the 2023 season, we wondered what was going on with Kelce. He has just one touchdown in his last nine games and has only been the TE10 in that span. Maybe it was a load management issue or a rope-a-dope strategy by the Chiefs, because Kelce was released in the playoffs, swinging a monster line 32-355-3 on the way to another championship. I suspect the Chiefs could consider a similar strategy for 2024, using Kelce frequently but judiciously during the regular season, and then throwing caution to the wind in the playoffs. Kelce turns 35 in October, and while he’s in the discussion for best tight end of all time, I’m unlikely to shell out his Yahoo ADP of 25.4.
If you like long-distance touchdowns, Kittle is your tight end. In the last three years he scored 11 times outside the red zone, six more than any other tight end. But those big plays aren’t always difficult year after year, and Kittle has to show his points in modest volume — he’s caught 94 targets or fewer in four consecutive seasons. In real life, Kittle is one of my favorite players. He won’t be a destination pick for me as he enters his age-31 season.
We’ve had some discussions about Pitts this offseason, so this will be a review. He’s still just a pup entering his age-24 season, and his fantasy frustration of recent years has been driven largely by spotty training and subpar play at quarterback. The fantasy market is still aggressively targeting Bijan Robinson and Drake London this summer — reasonable, with Kirk Cousins sparking the new offense — but I wonder why that optimism hasn’t reached Pitts. Hold the plausible advantage here.
It took half a season for McBride to earn the starting job for good, but he was a fantasy star the rest of the way. If you cut restricted production in the last 11 weeks, McBride ranked in the top three in receptions, targets and yards. Of course, we need touchdowns too, and McBride only had three of them. But with Kyler Murray set to play a full season and the Cardinals’ offense having just one pass-catching option above McBride in the pecking order – rookie Marvin Harrison Jr. – McBride deservedly ranks among the top 3-5 tight ends on the board. all . It may not be easy to profit from McBride’s current 53.4 ADP, but he has a good chance of justifying the investment.
Tier 2: Legitimate Building Blocks
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$16 Evan Engram
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$15 David Njoku
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$14Jake Ferguson
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$13 Dallas Goedert
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$11Brock Bowers
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$11 Dalton Schultz
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$10 TJ Hockenson
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$10 Pat Freiermuth
Given that Ferguson led position in red zone targets, it was a little disappointing that he only scored five touchdowns. But Ferguson is probably the second-best option in Dallas’ passing game — albeit a significant drop from overlord CeeDee Lamb — and some positive regression could be emerging around goaltending. He is a proactive choice for me.
Freiermuth threw seven touchdowns as a rookie but has scored just four times in 28 games since. Much of the blame falls on the former quarterbacks, but to what extent are Russell Wilson and Justin Fields an upgrade? And remember all the Arthur Smith/Kyle Pitts anxiety we faced in Atlanta? Now Smith is in charge of the play in Pittsburgh. If I draft Freiermuth to any team, I’ll want to pair him with another tight end who offers a bit of upside.
Level 3: Talk to them, talk to them
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$9 Paste Kmet
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$9 Lucas Musgrave
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$9 Hunter Henry
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$8 Cade Otton
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$6 Juwan Johnson
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US$6 Chigoziem Okonkwo
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$5 Tyler Conklin
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$4 Tucker Kraft
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$4 Isaiah probably
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$4 Noah Fant
Musgrave fared well in the first half of the year with a well-organized line of 33-341-1 in his first 10 games, decent production for a rookie. But a kidney injury has held him back the past two months, and fellow rookie Tucker Kraft has been productive in Musgrave’s absence. Huddle appears to be a theme in Green Bay’s offense – in addition to these two talented tight ends, the Packers have exciting young receivers throughout the roster – but these guys are also linked to a good setup working with rising QB Jordan Love and maestro of the playful Matt LaFleur design. When a situation is nebulous, it eliminates the floor of fantasy, I get it. But it also presents potential for profit for ADP.
Mark Andrews’ injury allowed Likely to spread his wings down the stretch — Likely had 25 receptions and six touchdowns in his last seven games despite never seeing more than seven targets in any week. The Ravens are creative enough to use Andrews and Likely together this fall, but there’s also a lot of talent in Baltimore’s receiver room, and the running game will also gobble up a lot of touchdowns (Derrick Henry could fall into an easy situation). 15 touchdowns). It probably has the potential to destroy his ADP, but it’s tied to one necessary condition: an injury to Andrews.
Tier 4: Bargain Box
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$3Ben Sinnott
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$2Mike Gesicki
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$2Michael Mayer
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$2 Taysom Hill
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$2Zach Ertz
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Ja’Tavion Sanders for $1
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$1Dawson Knox
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$1 Jelani Woods
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$1 Gerald Everett
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$1Tyler Higbee
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$1 Jonnu Smith
