Fantasy Football Draft Rankings & Tiers | Tight End Must-Have Targets, Busts to Avoid & Sleepers (Ep. 2038)
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37 min
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May 29, 2026
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Fri, May 29, 2026
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Full transcript
Episode Transcript
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0:25This is the Fantasy Football Podcast. I'm Chris Welsh and we are back talking about some tight end ranks, but we're going to go further.
0:33We did ranks last time. We're now going to be talking about tight end tiers.
0:37Plus, who are the must drafts, the bus, the sleepers, an in-depth conversation at Fantasy Pros tiers on the tight end ranks.
0:44And to do it with me, we've got Pat Fitzmaurice and Scott Bogman both here to shed a little bit of light
0:51on what they agree with on their own tiers, who they completely disagree with.
0:56And they're going to be doing the ones, the must targets, the steals, the da-da-da.
1:01And Pat, I know it's going to be kind of intertwined into this conversation, but you have been very pro early tight end.
1:08We talked about it when we did the kind of very first version 1.0 of the rankings episodes we did.
1:14You're very pro early tight end, so these first three tiers are going to be very important kind of to your drafting strategy this year.
1:22Yeah, I do kind of want to get a top tier tight end this year, Welsh.
1:27And part of it is, like, I never want to get a top tier Gucci level quarterback and tight end.
1:34And I don't think this is the year to shop high end quarterback.
1:38So I think tight end is the way to go if you're going to spend up at one of the onesie positions.
1:45Boggs, do you feel the same way? Do you think you're going to be like high end, tight end investment?
1:51You've been a little bit of a tight end whisperer in years past, but I do know you're very comfortable having, you
1:58know, just like a locked stock tight end and not trying to play, you know, streaming or really hopefulness.
2:04So what range do you think you're going to be as far as the tiers as we're going to be talking about these?
2:11What tier do you think you're going to live in?
2:15I prefer early. So I want a high end tight end for sure this season.
2:19You know, the top three guys in the tier I think is a strong one.
2:24And that's where I want to buy from most of the time.
2:28If I don't get that, I'm going to do what I do in the normal years where I wait and I piecemeal
2:35it together because I do think there's a lot of depth.
2:38But I prefer to buy out of that top bin.
2:42Well, you guys can play along with us. If you go to fantasypros.com slash rankings, you can see the ranking and then
2:49you can see the tiers that we're actually talking about here.
2:52You can reference the tiers. Things will change. So I'll just, you know, point out to you.
2:58I mean, even between us recording this and this posting, there could be a slight difference.
3:03Off season, it's probably not necessarily going to have anything dramatic like it is in season when we do our weekly ranks episodes.
3:10But just know one guy or two could float around.
3:13But this is what our early onset looks like.
3:16So let's jump into this fantasypros.com slash rankings. Follow along.
3:19We are going to do this in tiers. And then on the back half of the episode, we are going to get
3:26some of the actual targets or maybe even guys we want to avoid, at least from these two fine gentlemen.
3:32So let's jump in. Our first graphic here is our tier one.
3:36And there's a new name to it comparative to last year.
3:40You've got Trey McBride. You've got Brock Bowers. But joining this tier this year is Colston Loveland.
3:45So McBride, Bowers, Loveland. That is tier one, your top three ranked tight ends.
3:50And then the tier break in when we get into tier two is like five.
3:54So the question is, Pat, do you agree that this belongs as the tight end?
3:59A, does Colston Loveland belong in the same tier of Bowers and McBride?
4:03And I will do this little press on you.
4:06I tend to think tiers, how you can test a tier is do you ever see a scenario where you would take this player over this other player?
4:15Like, and this is where I get granular with tiers.
4:18Because if, let's say Bowers, because I don't think, I think you're Bowers at one.
4:23If you would always take Bowers and only Bowers, to me it almost becomes, and maybe this is like too granular, it's 1A.
4:30Like, he's his own tier. He belongs to his own tier because he's unmatched.
4:35And then if there are scenarios, or I guess if, you know, McBride and Loveland are so close to each other, maybe
4:42they're interchangeable, then it could be the next tier.
4:45I like to test tiers like that. Do you think there's any test where Loveland could jump over certain players?
4:51Let's get your thoughts on tier one. I do think Loveland could jump over McBride this year.
4:56Like, if all three play 17 games, I'm pretty confident Bowers is going to be the tight end one.
5:02And I'm less confident that McBride is going to be the tight end two.
5:07I think Loveland could pass him. And we just saw the usage for Bauer, or the usage for Loveland just increase and
5:14increase as the season wore on last year. From week nine on, Loveland was the tight end two in fantasy scoring behind only McBride.
5:21And over Chicago's last four games, that includes two in the regular season, two in the playoffs, Loveland was just completely unleashed.
5:28He averaged 12 targets, seven catches, 94 and a half receiving yards, and had a pair of TDs in those four games.
5:35At least 10 targets in every one of those games.
5:39So, like, this guy is just such a matchup nightmare with his size and speed.
5:43And now there's no DJ Moore in Chicago, so the targets are sort of further consolidated.
5:48I think Loveland is set up for a big, big season.
5:52Okay, so you agree with that. Before we get to you, Boggs, the thing I do want to follow up with you,
5:59Pat, your disagreement of this tier, though, it's not the tier, it's the placement of the tier, correct?
6:05In that McBride comes in as the number one, he's the top of the tier, but you believe this is Brock Bowers.
6:12I do think it's Bowers. It's just, look, McBride is a really good player.
6:16And, you know, I'm not trying to dump on him.
6:19I just think it's going to be hard for him to top the year he had last season.
6:25I mean, among all pass catchers, not just tight ends.
6:28I mean, McBride was number two behind only Pukeniku in receptions with 126.
6:32Third in targets with 169. Tied for second in touchdown catches with 11.
6:36The Cardinals passed at the highest rate in the league last season, and they just drafted a running back number three overall.
6:43So not only that, but they've sort of stated the intent to try to get Marvin Harrison Jr.
6:49on track after two pretty disappointing seasons. And say what you will about Drew Petsing, I don't think anyone considers him an A-plus play caller.
6:57But in his three seasons in Arizona, like McBride was always heavily involved.
7:01And now we don't know exactly how Michael Fleur is going to deploy Trey McBride.
7:06All right, Boggs. Tier one, McBride, Bowers, Loveland. What do you agree with?
7:10What do you disagree with? It can be in the ranks.
7:13Does someone else need to be above? What's your take on tier one here?
7:18I think it's okay, but I will say that I'm not sure if Loveland belongs in here with McBride and Bowers quite yet.
7:25And look, Pat's right. He was great. Week nine on.
7:28He was tight end two. But McBride still outscored him by 44.3 points in that stretch, which is a giant.
7:35He had the best tight end one season over the last three seasons last year.
7:40I agree with Fitzy. I don't know if those touchdowns are completely repeatable, right?
7:44But we know Brock Bowers is also going to be he's going to get an endless amount of targets in Vegas.
7:51They didn't do anything to add to the wide receiver core outside of Jalen Naylor.
7:55So I think Loveland is really good. I just don't know that he belongs in this tier with McBride at the touchdown
8:02pace that he had last year and Bowers at the reception rate.
8:06He's going to have because there is no target for competition.
8:10It's Jack Besh. It's Trey Tucker and Jalen Naylor.
8:13It's just not a good setup. So I think both these guys have a higher ceiling than Loveland.
8:18So I put Loveland at the top of the next tier instead of having him in this tier.
8:24I think it's fair. You know, there's a lot of upside there with him.
8:28I don't hate it. But for me, it is going to be Bowers and McBride ahead of him.
8:34But you are Bowers above McBride, though? Yes. Okay.
8:37So touchdowns are finicky. And I know Bowers got hurt last year, but they did a lot to fix the own line.
8:44And like I said, they didn't add wide receiver targets.
8:47So it's going to be an endless amount of targets for Bowers every week.
8:52Can I throw in one more quick concern about McBride?
8:55Forgot to mention the inevitability that Carson Beck is going to get an audition this year.
9:00Like that's going to happen. I mean, they have Jacoby Brissett as the, well, at least assuming he gets his, you know, contract dispute resolved.
9:08But they're going to give Carson Beck a look.
9:11They took him at the top of the third round.
9:14And we know rookie quarterbacks generally struggle in their first go rounds against NFL defenses.
9:19While that's even first round quarterbacks. And Carson Beck was picked at the top of the third.
9:24No bueno. Let's take a look at the second tier then.
9:27So tier one locked in three tight ends. Colson Loveland in argument here that he could be the top, at least for Bogman of the next tier.
9:36Tier two, as we bring up the graphic, we've got five players.
9:40And tier two is started by Tyler Warren, followed by Tucker Craft, Harold Fannin, Sam Laporta, and Kyle Pitts.
9:46So top two tiers have represented the top eight tight ends.
9:49That's a pretty big marker, you know, of startable tight ends in fantasy that are represented in the top two tiers.
9:56So, Pat, we go to you. Agreements, disagreements with this tier?
10:00Do you think it should be this big? Do you agree with the names?
10:04Is there somebody that really stands out? What is your overarching thesis for tier two here?
10:09Because this does seem like a pretty—I guess I am just so much more of a stickler to tiers than them not being so broad.
10:17I am more—like, I get really picky on the top end here.
10:21And, like, seeing Tyler Warren versus even Kyle Pitts down there, I almost want to be like, do you really think there's
10:28no gap of, like, I'm always taking these two guys over the bottom?
10:32But, you know, what say you on tier two?
10:35I think this tier is correct, tight end four through tight end eight.
10:39I don't think there's a great deal of separation in this tier.
10:43I mean, I have them ranked exactly the way we have them ranked in this tier.
10:48Warren Craft, Fannin. My only quibble, I have Pitts ranked ahead of Laporta, but I consider that a true coin flip.
10:55And, you know, we talked about the Trey McBride usage under Drew Petsing.
10:59Well, now Petsing is going to Detroit, so maybe that bodes pretty well for Sam Laporta to bounce back a little.
11:05It's just that he hasn't been quite as productive since the Jameson Williams breakout two years ago.
11:11But I do think this tier two is pretty spot on.
11:14Which of those tight ends, real quick, Pat, do you think has the best potential for growth?
11:20If you were to make that pick, is it Tyler Warren, who would have to jump into another tier?
11:26Is it Sam Laporta, as you just mentioned, jumping to the top of the tier?
11:30Is there somebody you think that has the most growth potential of this tier two?
11:35I think it's Tucker Craft who could sort of like for tier one potential.
11:40I think it's Craft if he's healthy because no more Romeo Dobbs in Green Bay.
11:44The things are a little more consolidated with the targets.
11:48No more Dantavian Wick. So basically it's just a wide receiver, Christian Watson, Jaden Reed, Matthew Golden.
11:53And the first two of those guys, Watson and Reed, have had some injury issues in the past.
11:59So like not out of the question that Tucker Craft could be the number two target in this offense.
12:05He's been an absolute monster after the catch. Very George Kittle-like.
12:08So it was the injury last year, no small thing, not only in ACL, but I think he also damaged the PCL and had like a meniscus tear.
12:17So but if he's on pace, comes back in week one, I think there's pretty big upside.
12:22Plus, Jordan Love is a really good quarterback. Maybe less so for fantasy than in real life.
12:28But some of these other guys have quarterback obstacles and Kraft certainly does not.
12:32Boggs, tier two of tight end here. Does somebody stand out as a fall, a riser?
12:37What's your take here? What stands out to you for tier two of tight ends?
12:42I think it's Laporta for me, and he probably belongs at the bottom of this tier, but I have him at the top of the next tier.
12:51Alliance just have so many mouths to feed. It's Sun God, it's Gibbs, it's JMO and Tesla, right?
12:56His overall ECR is 85. He's ahead of BTJ, Lemon, Pollard and Godwin.
13:01I think when we get down to these tight ends, I'm probably just I'm probably going to piecemeal it.
13:07I probably don't want to spend a top 100 pick on Sam Laporta.
13:11I just don't want to do that with his injury history anyway.
13:15So I'm I'm probably going to just I'm waiting if I don't get a top seven tight end playing matchups, I think
13:22is fine unless I'm in tight end premium. And the the guy that I think has the most growth in this tier is probably Tyler Warren.
13:30I mean, we saw Pittman leave. I know everyone's super excited about Josh Downs.
13:34I'm just not. So I think Tyler Warren is going to see a large increase in target.
13:40So for me, I'm kind of out on Laporta here.
13:43I'm big on Tyler Warren to take a nice bump up.
13:46That's interesting that it's it's after tier two is where you start to check out and piecemeal.
13:52So it's like Kyle Pitts. Let's assume he's seven or whatever.
13:55That's where it goes. So top two tiers in here.
13:58Let's look at tier three. But before we do talk to you about draft assistant, when you're on the clock for your
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14:36Tier three. We have got a grouping. We've got seven tight ends here.
14:40We're going to go starting at nine. And this is I always think this is interesting because this goes from like the
14:47back end starters of leagues to guys that are probably on the wire and they're all in the same tier.
14:53Dalton Kincaid comes in at number nine, followed by Travis Kelsey at 10.
14:57George Kittle at 11. Jake Ferguson at 12. 13 through 15 is Aranda Gadsden, Isaiah Likely and Dallas Goddard.
15:03So Pat, let's go to you. I think this makes for really interesting, weird conversations, like I said, because there are starters involved in here.
15:11There are players that are not. There's the whole do I draft a tight?
15:16Do I even bother drafting and investing in a higher tight end of tier three or just go to the bottom?
15:23What stands out to you about tier three, whether it is a strategy thing or a specific player?
15:28So I kind of think Aranda Gadsden should not be in this tier anymore.
15:33Like they're kind of flashing warning signs with him.
15:36He did have that really exciting four game run last year from week six to week nine.
15:4124 catches, 377 yards, two touchdowns. He was tight end one in fantasy scoring over that four game stretch.
15:47But the Chargers have signed David Njoku, who's going to play at tight end quite a bit, I would imagine.
15:53Chargers also brought in fullback Alec Ingold, who was with Mike McDaniel in Miami and averaged 21 offensive snaps a game last season.
16:01So whenever Ingold is on the field, that's probably one last tight end who's playing.
16:05And I can't help but think of what happened to Mike Gesicki from the time that he was in Miami without Mike
16:12McDaniel to when Mike McDaniel gets hired as head coach.
16:16In 2021, Gesicki had 73 catches, 780 yards on 112 targets for the Dolphins.
16:20Then the Dolphins hire Mike McDaniel. I think they might have even extended Gesicki before McDaniel came in.
16:26So figured he was going to continue to earn targets.
16:29His snaps got cut in half almost, well, not quite in half.
16:33He went from a 72% snap share in 2021 to a 45% snap share under McDaniel.
16:38His targets got more than cut in half. He went from, what, 112 to 52 in McDaniel's first year.
16:4432 catches, 362 yards. I just feel like there are some ominous signs here for Arande Gadsden.
16:49And earlier in the offseason, I was excited about him as a potential target if I waited on tight end.
16:56Not anymore. He's not a guy I'm going to be drafting.
16:59Do you think the wrong Chargers tight end is ranked at the top, too?
17:04I know you don't really like Gadsden, but do you think maybe it should be Njoku?
17:09I've still got Gadsden ranked higher. I don't know if that's the right call.
17:13I'm probably going to be avoiding both. Okay, interesting.
17:16Boggs, same thing here. From 9, Dalton Kincaid and 10, Travis Kelsey down to Dallas Goddard at 15.
17:22It's a pretty big group. It's just kind of a glob, if we're being honest, of guys.
17:27I think that most likely is people playing a game of chicken to get the best value tied in at the least cost.
17:34Because everyone, you know, you want your top probably five guys and then avoiding.
17:39But what stands out to you here, positively or negatively, of this tier?
17:43Oh, man. People are going to get tired of hearing me talk about Isaiah Likely this offseason.
17:48Because I am excited to see him on a team without Mark Andrews, finally.
17:53His highest targets in a season is 56, right?
17:56Over his four seasons. In any of those seasons, that's only good enough to be tight end 22.
18:01So Matt Nagy has been traditionally tight end heavy.
18:04In 2018, remember Trey Burton? He was tight end seven.
18:07And then he worked with Cole Komet and Travis Kelsey.
18:11So my other question for the Giants is, who is number two in targets here for the Giants?
18:16Fields is a deep threat. Wandale's gone. So it's Slayton, Mooney, Austin, Tracy, or Likely.
18:21I think it's going to be Likely. I think he's going to be number two in targets for this team.
18:27I'd rather have him at pick 119 than Laporta at 85.
18:31Give me a post-100 tight end, like Isaiah Likely with a lot of upside, over a guy like Sam Laporta who's had
18:38injuries and is kind of at the bottom of his tier.
18:41Did you just reveal that I'm all in on Isaiah Likely?
18:45Did you say it is Likely in tier two for you?
18:48Yes. Okay. So he's a complete tier change above Laporta.
18:52And then I'm trying to think, is there another person he's above that I'm not thinking of?
18:57I don't have my rankings pulled up. So I think that's probably it.
19:01Oh, yeah. I might have him one spot ahead of Pitts.
19:05Okay. All in. All right. So there you go.
19:07I'm all in. Yeah. That's an all in. So you would definitely think he is lower ranked than anything else.
19:14Tier three. Pretty interesting tier. Does anybody have, just as a quick aside, just want to throw this out here.
19:20Pat, any Travis Kelsey thoughts on here? Are you done?
19:23Travis Kelsey versus George Kittle. Done on old man Kelsey Kittle with the injury.
19:28Like, if you had to pick a side, where are you going?
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20:35Healthcare just got less painful. If I had to pick who's going to put up better numbers just because of the Kittle
20:42injury, like I don't expect Kittle to play a full season.
20:45So I currently do have Travis Kelsey ranked higher.
20:48Maybe we get a bit of a bounce back year, especially with the Chiefs not making really any significant pass catching additions.
20:55Their big addition was Kenneth Walker. And Kelsey still seems like if he can drink from the fountain of youth, he's poised
21:02for a lot of targets and catches again. But Kittle, there's something to be said for maybe just drafting Kittle and then
21:09getting yourself a decent backup tight end like a Juwan Johnson type.
21:13Because Kittle is still, when healthy, a guy who can absolutely just win weeks for you.
21:18Like his best games win weeks. And like that's what we're aiming for at tight end.
21:23He's the guy who can do that for you cheaply.
21:26Maybe give you Brock Bowers, Trey McBride type results at a mid-round price.
21:30Well, Bob, I was actually going to say this exact thing.
21:34Boggs, is there something where you could take like, I mean, likely is ranked 14th.
21:39Could you take Kittle and likely and stack them up together?
21:42Is that maybe a strategy to play and you play likely early on?
21:46And then maybe you're even trading off of one of those guys if likely works out how you were talking about?
21:53The deeper your bench is, the more likely I am to do that, right?
21:57Like the more I will take into consideration playing matchups on tight ends.
22:01So if I have a shallow bench, I really want to get one of those high-end tight ends so I don't have
22:08to spend a bench spot on a second tight end.
22:12But if I have multiple bench spots for whatever reason in my league, I'm absolutely playing matchups and taking cheap tight ends.
22:19All right, we're going to talk about a deep play and then the must draft, the bust, and the must have or the sleeper.
22:26A couple specific picks. We can probably guess where Bogman's going to go with one of them here.
22:32We will do all of that in just a second.
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24:40Gentlemen, outside of Tier 3, so we determined that we have 15 tight ends deep for Tier 3.
24:45Going further, this is, you know, two tight end leagues, which are obviously very common, and more, these are guys that might have to get rostered.
24:54A deep league plays, tight ends you might be looking to stash.
24:57Pat, let's start with you. Who's somebody outside the top 15 tight ends that you are going to be targeting this year?
25:04This would have to be a deep league, and I plan a bunch of those, because this is not someone you're going
25:11to draft in a 12-team league with 16 roster spots.
25:14Terrence Ferguson of the Rams. I just think this is one of the candidates from, like, tight end three range who could
25:21potentially take a quantum leap and be a guy we're drafting somewhat early next year.
25:26Athletic freak who ran a 4.63 at the combine, had a 39-inch vertical jump at 6'5", 247 pounds.
25:32Rams took him in the middle of the second round, so, you know, the athletic profile, the draft capital, that, you know, check, check there.
25:40He is in kind of a logjam with the Rams.
25:43The Rams have Colby Parkinson, Tyler Higbee, Davis Allen, Ferguson, and then they drafted Max Clare.
25:48Ferguson averaged the fewest snaps per game of the four veteran tight ends.
25:52Then Clare gets added to the mix. But we've got Sean McVay, who's one of the best play callers in the game,
25:59and sort of at the vanguard of this multiple tight end usage, Rams tight ends combined for 150 targets, 103 catches, 1,128 yards, and 17 touchdowns last year.
26:08Yes, it's chopped up in an annoying number of ways, but, like, if Ferguson could, through his talent, seize a large share
26:15of that portion, he could have a big year.
26:18And, look, Matthew Stafford led the league in yardage and touchdown passes last year.
26:22It's just kind of a good setup if Ferguson can take that next step and have a bigger role.
26:28I know it's kind of messy, and people are going to be worried about all those tight ends on the roster, but,
26:35man, there's some interesting potential here, because this dude just, when you watch him play, he moves differently.
26:41He is not like a lot of the other tight ends in the NFL.
26:46Boggs, outside the top three tiers, what tight end, deeper tight end are you targeting?
26:50A.J. Barner. I was annoyingly positive about A.J. Barner last year.
26:54He scored a lot of touchdowns with Seattle. Sam Darnold looked great, and he really relied on him in the end.
27:01Scored the touchdown in the Super Bowl, had six touchdowns, and I know they drafted a Royal.
27:06People expect him to take the next step, but we see it's a copycat league, right?
27:11We saw, like, what 50 was just mentioning with the 13 personnel with the Rams.
27:16They go from, like, 2% to 30%. They score 30 touchdowns out of that set.
27:21Like, this is a copycat league. I think we're going to see multiple tight end sets from Seattle, and Barner's going to always be a red zone threat.
27:29So it's going to be Barner for me. All right, then that's going to give us our roundup here.
27:35So this is going to kind of encompass everything we've talked about.
27:39Those are the top three tiers. There's more. You can check them out, fantasypros.com slash rankings.
27:44We're going to now go with our must draft, our bust, and our sleeper from each one of you guys.
27:51So this is going to really tell the story.
27:54So let's start with must draft. Pat, the must draft tight end for you for this season is who?
28:00It's Brock Bowers. Back in the day when Travis Kelsey was a, you know, we had the debate, would you draft Travis Kelsey in the first round?
28:08And Kelsey always gave you this big advantage, maybe a bigger advantage over the rest of the pack at tight end than you would get with Bowers now.
28:17But you don't have to take Bowers anywhere near the first round.
28:21Like he's going late second, maybe even early third in some drafts.
28:25And we're talking about a guy who is a rookie, 112 catches for 1194 yards, five touchdowns on 153 targets.
28:31Last year, just a problem with the PCL injury in week one.
28:35Wasn't the same the next few weeks. Got shut down, came back, then had seven touchdowns in his last eight games, before
28:42the Raiders went into tank mode and put him on IR for the last two games of the season.
28:48But man, I mean, this guy, widely regarded as one of the best tight end prospects we've ever seen, come into the
28:55NFL, played that way last year, gets a new head coach in Clint Kubiak, who I think is, there's reason they're trusting
29:02him to repair the Las Vegas offense, because he did a heck of a job in Seattle last year.
29:08And now they bring in the number one pick in the draft, Fernando Mendoza.
29:12And meanwhile, while they possibly sit Mendoza for a few games to let him comprehend everything, they've got Kirk Cousins, who has
29:19always been a pretty tight end friendly, tight quarterback.
29:22It was Cousins last year who was a quarterback for the Falcons when Kyle Pitts had 11 catches for 166 yards, three
29:29touchdowns in that Thursday night game against the Buccaneers in, I think, week 15.
29:34So, I think things are set up really well for Bowers, and I think late second round is a great prize for him.
29:41All I could think about, by the way, is when you were like, you know, remember when we would take Travis Kelsey
29:48in the first, I was like, I don't remember when we were doing something with Jimmy Graham.
29:53Like, that was like, that was, I feel like that was the original one.
29:58Maybe there was one before that, but I feel like Jimmy Graham was the first start of that.
30:03Tony Gonzalez, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, the Tony Gonzalez.
30:06Like, those are the, those are our OG first round conversations of doing it.
30:11But Brock Bauer, so right at the top. All right, Boggs, must draft.
30:15Are you going to do the top tight end as well?
30:18What's your must draft tight end this year? I'll skip the top.
30:22I'll go Tyler Warren. Everyone is excited about Josh Downs, but most, most of Pittman's targets were going to go to Pierce,
30:29I think, and Warren, in my opinion. So, Warren was already fourth in targets, but I think there's room to grow.
30:36He had more yards with Daniel Jones, of course, but still averaged seven targets and four catches per game with Rivers and Leonard.
30:43So, I think he's going to be fine. I think he takes the next step.
30:48I think they're going to use him in trick plays, too, because they did that at Penn State all the time.
30:55So, give me Tyler Warren. All right, let's go to some busts.
30:58And you two completely agree. So, save some for each other here.
31:02You guys are picking the same player. Aranda Gadsden is both of your busts.
31:07So, you guys are both huge haters. Pat, I think you've already kind of done this.
31:12Anything you want to add? I think you did kind of set the stage already for why he's your bust, but what else?
31:19No, we can go to Boggs. I mean, if I had a secondary pick, it might be Dalton Kincaid, who's actually really
31:26hyper-efficient last year, but he's got this partially torn, I can't remember if it was LCL or PCL, but, like, they're not having, doing surgery on it.
31:35They're going to try to just let it mend.
31:37And Brandon B, in the Bills GM, has already talked about having to have his snaps managed.
31:43Well, he had his snaps managed last year, and even though he was wildly efficient, just wasn't really impactful because the snaps were so limited.
31:51Yeah, okay, that's a good one. There's an addition there.
31:54So, Boggs, now you get to trash Aranda Gadsden because Pat did all the trashing earlier.
31:59What do you have to add to the pile?
32:02Well, how about his game against the Colts, which was nine targets, seven catches, 164 yards on touchdown, being 24.2% of his production for the season.
32:10That's a quarter of his percent was in one game.
32:13So, he had two other games with over 10 points, but only four games with five-plus receptions, and only five games with more than five targets.
32:22Hard pass for Gadsden. All right, out Kincaid and Gadsden.
32:25Those are going to be our bust. And for our final tight end on the roundup here is going to be our tight end, Sleeper.
32:33Maybe it's the same guy. Outside the top 15 does kind of qualify as like a sleeper, but there's lots of different ways to look at it.
32:41Pat, we're going to start with you. Who is your sleeper tight end for the coming season?
32:47Well, Terrence Ferguson is my favorite Welsh, but I'd also throw in Craig Dalsich of the Dolphins, a guy who could conceivably
32:54lead that team in targets since they have so little at wide receiver.
32:58Okay, beautiful. Boggies, who do you got? How about Chigakonkwo?
33:01Just take the same thing that we just said and put it to Washington, right?
33:06Who's the number two target outside Terry McLaurin? Don't know.
33:09Right now it's Trelon Burks, maybe it's Antonio Williams, maybe Luke McCaffrey takes a step up.
33:14I know Chigakonkwo has been pretty solid over the middle and I love Daniel's throwing to him.
33:19So let's go with Chig. All right, perfect. From must drafts, busts, sleepers, to what the tiers look like on Fantasy Pros,
33:26that is the all-encompassing look at tight ends in a nutshell.
33:30Plus there's some strategy built in there to both how these guys want to draft.
33:35You know, I would say the summary of it is drafting from the top five or six is most likely, maybe even more the top four.
33:43You guys both picked your must draft tight ends as a top four guy.
33:47So I think really if we're honing it in, it is taking a top four guy.
33:52It's the Ricky Bobby. Yeah. First, you're last. And then if not, that you're not really playing in the middle.
33:59You guys really weren't playing in the middle with some of your deeper plays anyway.
34:04So what do you guys think? Who is your must draft?
34:07Who's your bust? And who's your sleeper? Put the comments below.
34:11Let us know. You can go and check out all the ranks and tiers over at fantasypros.com slash rankings.
34:17You can set up those tiers. You can see throughout the entire off season, how that's going to build as more and
34:24more rankers join the platform and those guys start to adjust.
34:27And then obviously any of the other crazy things that happens in the off season.
34:32That is going to do it for the episode.
34:35Thank you guys so much for hanging out. For Pat Fitzmorris and Scott Bogman, I'm Chris Welsh.
34:40We'll talk to you next time, right here on Fantasy Pros.
34:44Thanks for listening to the Fantasy Pros Fantasy Football Podcast.
34:47If you love the show, the best free way to support us is by leaving a positive review on Apple Podcasts at fantasypros.com slash review or on Spotify.
34:56Follow us on X, Instagram, and TikTok at Fantasy Pros and subscribe to our YouTube channel at youtube.com slash fantasypros.
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