The Ultimate (early) 2026 Fantasy Football TE Rankings
STACKED extracted the fantasy-relevant player signal from this podcast and kept the full transcript here for context.
58 min
Duration
Estimated from transcript
May 19, 2026
Published
Tue, May 19, 2026
17
Player insights
10
Players mentioned
Topics
Kyle PittsBrock BowersColston LovelandSam LaPortaTrey McBrideTucker KraftDalton KincaidGeorge KittleJake FergusonTyler Warren
Player analysis
Player insights
Brock Bowers
PositiveBreakout0:03
Brock Bowers is projected to threaten the tight end target record this year, averaging 64 yards per game despite battling a knee injury last season. With a new play caller in Clint Kubiak, he is expected to be a target hog in a mediocre offense.
Insight pagePositiveProjection0:21
Bowers is currently projected for 899 receiving yards and 5.5 touchdowns, but he has the potential to exceed these numbers significantly.
Insight pageColston Loveland
PositiveBreakout0:03
Colson Loveland was the tight end six in points per game from week seven to 17 last season and has the potential to lead the Bears in receiving this year after the team traded away DJ Moore.
Insight pagePositiveProjection0:40
Loveland is projected for 875 receiving yards and 6.5 touchdowns, and could be a breakout player similar to Trey McBride last season.
Insight pageDalton Kincaid
PositiveProjection1:45
Dalton Kincaid finished last season as the tight end 12 in points per game, but he has yet to play over 55% of snaps in a game, limiting his upside.
Insight pageGeorge Kittle
NegativeInjury0:27
George Kittle's age and recent Achilles injury raise concerns about his ability to perform at a high level, making him a risky pick as tight end nine.
Insight pageJake Ferguson
NegativeBust0:58
Jake Ferguson's production is heavily dependent on CD Lamb's presence, and he has struggled to maintain relevance when Lamb is healthy, limiting his fantasy upside.
Insight pageKyle Pitts
PositiveBreakout0:03
Kyle Pitts is healthy and showed flashes of his potential last season, averaging 84 yards in games without Drake London. He could have a breakout year under a new coaching staff.
Insight pagePositiveBreakout0:18
Kyle Pitts has the potential to break out this season, possibly achieving around 1100 yards, especially under a new coaching staff that may utilize him more effectively.
Insight pagePositiveUsage0:50
Last season, Kyle Pitts averaged 4.7 catches for 43 yards with just one touchdown in the opening 10 games, indicating a need for increased volume.
Insight pageSam LaPorta
PositiveValue0:22
Sam Laporta is being selected as the tight end six at pick 98 overall, showing promise as he was a top six tight end in four of the nine games he played last season.
Insight pagePositiveBreakout0:31
If Amon-Ra St. Brown gets injured, Sam Laporta could see a significant increase in targets and production, potentially leading to a breakout season.
Insight pageTrey McBride
PositiveBreakout0:17
Trey McBride was the tight end one overall last year, averaging 14.9 points per game and 73 yards per game, and is now being drafted as the tight end two. His connection with Jacoby Brissett could be key for his success this season.
Insight pagePositiveRole0:26
McBride's performance may be impacted by the new head coach's approach to running a balanced offense, especially with the addition of Jeremiah Love.
Insight pageTucker Kraft
PositiveInjury0:42
Tucker Craft is recovering from an ACL tear but is expected to be available for week one, although he may not be at full strength until later in the season.
Insight pagePositiveProjection0:58
When healthy, Tucker Craft averaged 14 half PPR points per game last season, which would have placed him just behind the tight end two overall.
Insight pageTyler Warren
PositiveBreakout0:14
Tyler Warren had the sixth most half PPR fantasy points ever by a rookie tight end and is expected to see increased target concentration this season after the departure of Michael Pittman.
Insight pageFull transcript
Episode Transcript
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0:39Let's rank a whole bunch of tight ends. I mean, it feels like every single year we can have a massive discussion
0:46about this position, not just in fantasy, but real football.
0:49I mean, it's a massive impact across the league right now.
0:52You saw that for agency, the draft really bore that out.
0:55I mean, we might be talking about Hayden about eight teams last season being very comfortable using two and three tight end
1:01sets to what half the league 20 teams at this point after all these teams added new players to the roster.
1:07So just big picture question here. Does that alter your approach to drafting this position this year?
1:12It does. We have some rookies that are going to get involved here, which is going to increase just like the personnel stuff.
1:18I think what ends up happening is just like the wide receivers and like the middle part of the fantasy drafts just
1:25project worse than all of a sudden. If you're looking at a tight end projection and a wide receiver projection in round
1:3110 and it's like, oh, like the Titans like going to have more yards this year.
1:35So I think that's where it comes. It's like at the expense, not that a bunch of tight ends are like scoring more points by themselves.
1:43It's more just that the other positions are now hurt because the tight end two on a team is scoring at the
1:49expense of the wide receiver three on a team.
1:52So I think that those are kind of minor adjustments I felt.
1:55And I think also for this year, a lot of really, really good promising young tight ends about to break out.
2:01So we've kind of gone away from the Kelsey and Kittles finally after like what a full decade of those guys.
2:07Now we got the next year Bowers McBride Loveland, some others.
2:10And I've been pretty excited about those guys. Yeah, but the kiddo Kelsey's they're holding on is the word there's holding on
2:16definitely around, you know, tight in nine to tight in 12 territory.
2:20We'll talk about them today. Yeah. Just from a strategy perspective, I look back at how I drafted this position last year.
2:26And if I didn't get, you know, Trey McBride and George Kittle in like that round two through four territory, then I
2:32was willing to wait on, you know, Tyler Warren, who's being drafted as tight in seven or Tucker craft being drafted as tight in 11.
2:39And I missed out on all of those. Then you and I, especially from a best ball perspective, really love to Dr.
2:46Franken sign the position anywhere from, you know, round 14 through round 18, drafting three of those guys and just hoping for touchdowns.
2:52Cause that matters so much for the spot. I've been doing that kind of more and more this year.
2:57I don't love all these late round tight ends like I did last off season.
3:02So we're definitely talking about that throughout the summer and obviously this episode too.
3:06Yeah. On that, I'm doing something I've never really done before.
3:09I like two tight ends, not all the way early, but this late round tight end strategy that I've adopted for literally
3:15the last five years of doing the show with you.
3:18Right. This is the first year where I feel really good about the top nine tight ends.
3:23And I'm just kind of getting two of those guys and then kind of stopping there sometimes adding on a third tight
3:29end, but just all these young guys like Kyle pits, like all these guys in the top 10 that we'll talk about today.
3:35They have tons of upside. And right now the price tag isn't, isn't too crazy.
3:40This is going to be a conversation all summer, you know, heavy personnel looks and it's not just tight ends.
3:45It's full backs on the field too. So buckle in.
3:48We'll talk about it again all summer long. Okay.
3:51Let's rank these guys. Your tight end one this year is Brock Bowers with Clint Kubiak being his new play caller with the Las Vegas Raiders.
3:58Just how high is his ceiling this year? I think that he can threaten for the tight ends target record.
4:04I feel like we're having like these crazy upside cases with him.
4:07Like we just saw this with obviously Jackson Smith and Jigba with this OC.
4:11It's not going to be just as clean as that was for JSN last year, but Brock Bowers, we know he's amazing.
4:18He was one of the best tight end prospects ever.
4:20And then through the first two seasons here, he's averaging 64 yards per game, despite having an entire season where he's battling that crazy knee injury.
4:28That's the most yards per game of any tight end.
4:31The first two seasons since at least 2000, the five closest comps for him are Kittle, Shockey, Gronk, Jimmy Graham, Aaron Hernandez,
4:37all five of those guys had a better third season than their first two seasons.
4:41And then if you go all the way down to the 13th closest comparisons, you're adding like seven yards per game that third season.
4:48So Brock Bowers in baseline assumption here is like 70, 80 yards per game here.
4:52He's going to be a target hog. They got worse at wide receiver.
4:56The defense is still mediocre. And then the quarterback plays obviously way better.
5:00Clint Kubiak is going to be way better than Chip Kelly.
5:03So I have no bad things to say about Brock Bowers right now.
5:06Yeah. Typically we quickly go through these top names.
5:09I feel like it's really important to go in depth on these top names that tied in because you're selecting them around wide receivers and running backs.
5:17And Brock Bowers is going later than he did this time last year.
5:20I mean, he was what the around 18th, 17th overall pick this time, even 15th in some drafts right now on underdog.
5:26He's the 21st overall player. And that's after, you know, the second best tight end fantasy rookie season of all time.
5:32We know last season early on, he just got injured.
5:35He got banged up and that carried with them all season long on a miserable offense.
5:40That didn't know who they were and fired their offensive coordinator.
5:43And now we're coming from a play caller and Clint Kubiak that just jettisoned JS into one of the elite receiving options across the league.
5:50You look at the wide receiver room in Las Vegas, and I can't tell you if one of those guys is going to make that significant jump.
5:58And you ask yourself who the best pass catcher is in this offense, and it is Brock Bowers.
6:03And that's associated to Kirk Cousins, who again, launched Kyle Pitts into top tight end status in multiple games last year.
6:09And then Fernando Mendoza, just the number one overall pick.
6:12So Brock Bowers, I am perfectly happy to actually take him a couple spots ahead of ADP this year, if I feel like.
6:18Yeah, we're on the same page here right now.
6:21I feel like the underdog projections, they have season long projections right now feel a little light.
6:26He's at 899 receiving yards, five and a half touchdowns.
6:28Obviously, when you're dealing with the Raiders, they're projected for no points this year, like bottom five as expected.
6:34But I think Brock Bowers is going to rack up these receptions like the entire season long.
6:39It's going to get crazy here. So I think anywhere in the second round is totally fine with me.
6:44As with all of these guys in full PPR redraft, where you're forced to pick the tight ends, they're even more valuable
6:50than in best ball where tight ends are going up and down just based off of touchdown.
6:55Where you just want to ride the wave of best ball and season long redraft.
6:59I mean, Brock Bowers can be the 12th overall pick.
7:02I wouldn't blink an eye at it. I think he also has the best potential to reach a 20 or 30 point
7:08week than almost any other tight end that we're about to talk about here.
7:12Okay, let's get to your tight end too. And that is Trey McBride with the Arizona Cardinals.
7:17Ran 121 more routes in the next closest tight end last year.
7:21We know when Kyler Murray exited the starting lineup, the red zone, the end zone really opened up.
7:26I think there's a conversation to be had about Trey McBride because he was the tight end one overall last year and
7:32now being drafted as the tight end two around 24th or 25th overall.
7:36I mean, he smashed last year. It was like nobody was even close.
7:39Even Brock Bowers was in a different tier than Trey McBride.
7:42That's 14.9 points per game, 73 yards per game, which is pretty much the same thing that I'm kind of expecting Brock Bowers to have this season.
7:50He was 19th overall in fantasy points over replacement per game and half PPR and full PPR.
7:55He was worth a first round pick this last season.
7:58Now, I understand the splits with Jacoby Brissett and Kyler Murray.
8:01That's 81 yards per game with Jacoby, 55 yards per game with Kyler Murray.
8:05By the way, I have an awesome on-off splits on the upcoming website.
8:09You guys are going to love it. That's where I pulled that information from.
8:13But I don't think that the split from Kyler to Jacoby is immediately just going to copy-paste into this next season.
8:19We have a new head coach who I think is going to be even more disciplined running the ball, trying to keep a balanced offense.
8:26That's even more so when you have Jeremiah Love, the running back, being selected third overall.
8:30Also, Marvin Harrison was missing time when Trey McBride was really popping off, and he's going into his third season.
8:36So I would not be surprised if last year was the Trey McBride peak season, and then he's going to be 10%, 20% worse from that.
8:43Even if he is that, which is my baseline assumption, 2-3 turn is totally fine for Trey McBride.
8:48So I think there's maybe one tier above that Brock Bowers can reach that Trey McBride can't reach just based off of the team environment around him.
8:56But I have no bad notes to say about Trey McBride.
8:59He's probably my favorite tight end to watch just on Sundays.
9:02Sound ridiculous to people. I wish we knew that Jacoby Brissett was going to be Trey McBride's quarterback for 17 weeks because
9:09I know what that connection is like. I would feel actually a little bit less confident if it's Gardner Minshew, Carson Beck.
9:15And I know people don't picture and assume that Jacoby Brissett is a great starting quarterback, and they would be correct.
9:21But from a fantasy lens, he rifles it in there in tight coverage, and he's willing to make big time throws down the field.
9:28Now, there's also this conversation last year that it was all garbage time, and they were trailing a lot of games.
9:33Sure, part of it, I mean, Jacoby threw 2,300 yards, 13 touchdowns when they were trailing on the scoreboard.
9:39But you look at it, when they were leading, he also threw 10 touchdowns.
9:43So this connection, I think, is fantastic. When we are recording this, Jacoby Brissett is holding out, which is kind of a
9:49slap to the face of Arizona Cardinals when that's your starting quarterback.
9:53And he's holding out there for more money. But Jacoby, get your bags, man.
9:56And we need you to throw many, many more touchdowns here for Trey McBride.
10:00Yeah, I think it's a good point talking about the other quarterbacks.
10:04Right now, underdog, the Pick'em Lobby, Carson Beck has 4.5 for his higher lower on regular season games started.
10:09I was not a big fan of the Beck tape.
10:12Watching it reminded me of the broken down Carson Wentz film.
10:15So that's where I think the quarterback play can take a huge step back this year versus what we had with Trey McBride.
10:22While his environment around him, there's even more target competition.
10:25So I think that's why I'm Bowers ahead of Trey McBride this year.
10:28These two players are about four or five picks difference.
10:31Do you think that gap is correct? I mean, yeah.
10:34Bowers is the one that's in front of McBride.
10:37That's just like not usually the case. They're very close.
10:39Like you can make a very strong case either way here.
10:42I'm just on team Bowers this year. Okay. I bring that up because we're going to keep him in this top tier.
10:49Colson Loveland, though, is your tight end three. And in drafts right now over an underdog, which, by the way, you can
10:55do all summer long, even at this moment. Click the link in the description and start drafting right now.
11:00That's a 20 pick gap. He's being selected around the 46th overall pick.
11:04So you and I were big Colson Loveland guys heading into the NFL.
11:08We know that he was eased in coming off a labrum surgery until about week seven.
11:12But man, from week seven to 17, he was the tight end six in points per game.
11:17He was just so dang good. It was from week eight.
11:20He played 75% snaps for the first time from that point all the way through the NFL playoffs.
11:25And I like to count NFL playoff stats because, you know, these teams are trying to win football games.
11:31They're accruing fantasy points. We just don't see them in our fantasy lineups.
11:34He averaged 64 yards per game. He was a tight end four per game on tight end three expected fantasy points.
11:40His best games were in the playoffs as well.
11:43The last four games of the season for him, 97 yards per game.
11:47Remember, he did that. He was 21 years old.
11:4921. I mean, we're talking about a total freakazoid here.
11:52He moved like a wide receiver at Michigan and they would like keep him like as a legit boundary wide receiver.
11:58And they would do that at times on the Chicago Bears.
12:01And he just ran away with it. And then since he had these crazy numbers at the end of the season, you
12:07can see that on the chart up there on the top right.
12:11You know, the Bears traded away DJ Moore. They replaced him with Kalief Raymond.
12:15So Caleb's going to get better. Ben Johnson's going to the second year in this scheme as well.
12:20They drafted Colson Loveland inside the top 10. I want Colson Loveland to lead the Bears in receiving in all categories, just like he did this past season.
12:28I think that he has a chance to be an all pro caliber player as soon as the season.
12:33I'm not mistaken. I believe the team that led the NFL in percent of their snaps in 12 personnel was around 44%.
12:39I mean, the drop down from DJ Moore to now Kalief Raymond or Scotty Miller or Xavier and Thomas as his team's third wide receiver is gigantic.
12:47Right. So with how Colson Loveland moves, we talk about, you know, the slot receiver test all the time, the wide receiver
12:53test all the time here with tight ends. He passes that with flying colors.
12:57And then you add on the fact that they also drafted a tight end on day three for my buddy Ryan Heath,
13:04who we'll have on the program this summer. When the Bears had three tight ends on the field last year, Colson Loveland
13:10averaged an absurd 4.66 yards per route run and 53% receiving yards market share.
13:14Because he's a wide receiver. He's a tight end.
13:16He's actually, he's a wide receiver. He would pass the boundary wide receiver test.
13:20We don't talk about that one. That's how good he is.
13:23So I guess my question is, if people are waiting to draft him until the 46th overall pick, where would you be
13:30willing to draft Colson Loveland right now? Yeah, I think like late round three, early round four is kind of where I have him ranked overall.
13:37I just wanted to point this out. Underdog projections.
13:40He's at 875 yards, six and a half touchdowns.
13:42By the way, Brock Bowers, we just like glowed about forever.
13:45899, five and a half. Almost the exact same projections right now between Bowers, McBride, and Colson Loveland.
13:50So we have this right that this is a big three.
13:54You have to rank Colson Loveland the lowest because he's done it the fewest amount of games.
13:58But it would not be surprised if this year's Trey McBride is a Colson Loveland.
14:03Okay, I might pitch you as the summer goes along to make it a big four tight ends because I think Tyler
14:09Warren is in store for an outstanding season. If Daniel Jones makes it to week one through week 18.
14:14All right. I mean, he has the sixth most half PPR fantasy points ever by a rookie tight end.
14:20He was the tight end three in route participation last year, just around 84%.
14:24The final five games, it's also remember or with Riley Leonard and Philip Rivers throwing passes when like Colson Loveland was going off.
14:30That's who Tyler Warren was catching passes from. So we didn't have that same chance of, you know, really ascending.
14:36And then they got rid of Michael Pittman and didn't replace him basically at all.
14:40So I think talking about target concentration, Tyler Warren should only take a step up there in year two.
14:46Yeah, he looks really good on paper right here.
14:48And the splits you talked about are just so drastic.
14:51So in the first 13 games when Daniel Jones was healthy, he was a tight end six on tight end three usage.
14:57They're averaging 54 yards per game. After that, it was just 30 yards per game.
15:01And then even like the, the Daniel, the end of the Daniel Jones starts when he was dealing with that fractured leg, it fell off there.
15:09So if you only looking at like the top, like the first, what, eight games of the season, he was like one
15:15of the guys that you absolutely needed. And that's kind of where I have them ranked as like more of like the Daniel Jones stuff.
15:22Now with Jones's injury, it's not just the torn Achilles late into their halfway through the season.
15:27It's also due to his back foot. And if you listen to like just player or people associated with the NFL covering injuries, that's the plant foot.
15:35And like, if your leg doesn't have, has some, uh, some atrophy and it's not as strong, it's gonna be a little
15:41bit harder to push the ball down the football field.
15:44I would expect the Colts to look a lot worse this year.
15:47So last year, what they were the best offense through the first eight weeks in like NFL history.
15:52And then this year, according to the betting markets, they're 15th in points per game projected, uh, 23.
15:57So I like him. He's got a really high floor.
16:00He's got a really high ceiling. I like him a tier below those other guys.
16:04I think he, he doesn't quite move just at the same levels of these top three guys.
16:09Um, he's more of a battering ram, like a bowl in a China shop.
16:13Like, and they get, would give him screens and you know, he would rumble after the catch with all that stuff.
16:19We still getting, didn't get his ability as a wildcat quarterback as often as you might have with other teams that, you
16:25know, don't have Daniel Jones and don't have Jonathan Taylor inside the five yard line.
16:30Yeah. Um, look, I had questions about Tyler Warren translating from Penn state to the NFL, but as soon as we got
16:36to like preseason action and definitely early on in the season, I was like, okay, I am almost all the way in
16:42on him being like a real focal point of this passing game.
16:46And while they're not going to be the highest scoring offense in the league, and it might be close to the, you
16:52know, 15th high scoring, uh, just getting rid of Michael Pittman in like the same area of where targets are going for
16:58the tight end and wide receivers, I think is a massive difference.
17:01And they didn't replace him at all. Not at all.
17:04The defense lost a lot of players. They didn't add anybody on defense really this, this off season as well.
17:10And then, uh, last note, Alec Pierce, uh, was playing through an ankle injury, decided to not have surgery.
17:15And then like a couple months into the off season decided to have ankle surgery, which is like a three month recovery.
17:22It's all within the window of like, just it's all off season stuff, but you don't like three month recoveries from like
17:28the, like go to number one wide receiver in the offense right there.
17:32So like if Pierce isn't the same player and Pittman's gone and all of a sudden like Warren could be one of
17:38these like top three, top four guys. Okay. He's going 20 picks after Colson Loveland.
17:42And then he's going about 14 picks ahead of the next tight end.
17:46So this is really an interesting position where you might only have one tight end and a single round or every two rounds, for example.
17:53Um, but we have to skip down because being drafted as a tight end eight, but for you, the tight end five is Kyle pits.
18:00Still of the Atlanta Falcons playing on the franchise tag.
18:03Sell me on this one. Cause I'm still a little bit skeptical here.
18:07He's just healthy. You know, you're not reading about any, uh, Kyle pits blurbs right now in the off season.
18:12Like, is he limping around and stuff? Because we just watch him in the back half of the season go absolutely nuts.
18:18Just want to remind people, this was probably the freakiest tight end prospect of all time.
18:23Uh, you go top five ahead of Jamar chase like that.
18:26There's some untapped ceiling here. And we saw it at the end of the season when Drake London missed, he went crazy.
18:32He averaged 84 yards, uh, in the five games without Drake London.
18:36Um, and they just didn't really add anybody to the wide receiver group behind Drake London.
18:40So it's B. John pits and London. That's it.
18:43If something happens to be John or to London, Kyle pits is going to go crazy.
18:47I think to, uh, getting in there for Kirk cousins, I'm like largely calling the quarterback play a wash.
18:53I like Kevin Stefanski, especially for tight ends. Just looking at the history with, um, fan in and David and Joku.
18:59And he's just, he's 25 years old and healthy.
19:01And like, would it be the craziest thing ever?
19:04If Kyle pits had like 1100 yards or something crazy like that.
19:07I don't think it would be that, uh, uh, out of balance.
19:11Just like you want to take the zoomed out view of like, this guy was supposed to be an all pro caliber player.
19:17We saw it in flashes this, this last season.
19:20What if he puts it all together? And like, this could be the year, uh, under a new coaching staff to do it.
19:26I guess my hesitation is when he really broke out last year, it was in an offense that they don't want to be in 2026.
19:33You know, it was without Drake. I mean, he missed three in three of the four games that Drake London missed.
19:39Kyle pits was the tight end six, seven and one overall.
19:42That was also with Kirk cousins who played better.
19:45I think than Michael Pennix did last year. I think he played better than Tua did last year.
19:50Yeah. For example, um, like opening 10 games, cow pits averaging 4.7 catches for 43 yards, just one touchdown on top of that.
19:57Totally with you. Kevin's a fancy. We also used to talk about with, you know, drew petsing and Trey McBride that he
20:03builds his offenses around tight ends and actually gives them a lot of gimmies.
20:07Like we're going to talk about Harold fan here in a moment.
20:10And he got a ton of gimmies last year.
20:13And that's what you want the zero to nine yard range.
20:16And that has been kind of the issue for cow pits in the past that everything was more intermediate and downfield.
20:22So if that changes yet, the volume certainly will change on top of it.
20:26Uh, it's also in the back of my head that apparently they were willing to move him during the off season.
20:32Two after, you know, placing the franchise tag on.
20:34Yeah. There's a lot to hit on that. You just, you talked about it.
20:38I think that the exciting part is the underneath stuff because he's kind of been operating almost like as like a deep
20:45target, like almost like a wide receiver. And I thought last year his agility came back.
20:49There was times from like the last two, two or three seasons.
20:53He like couldn't turn left because he had that big brace on.
20:56It just looks so awkward. I thought last year he actually showed some nimbleness and some more explosiveness.
21:01And if we get a full off season where he's not rehabbing as much and he's like back to like full speed,
21:07we're talking about like a six foot six guy.
21:10That's as fast as anybody on the football field.
21:12And if he's got the agility back, then I think that you can do some choice routes, some leak routes.
21:18Uh, you just hit him in the flat, some screens and stuff.
21:22And he, we've never seen that from Kyle pits and nothing about this last season was outlier base.
21:27Like all the efficiency stats, like yards after the catch touchdown rate, all normal.
21:31The only thing that changed is he just got more targets.
21:34I think that's a good sign. You must be ending up with a lot of Kyle pits in your drafts right now.
21:40Cause again, he's being selected as the Titan eight and you haven't the Titan five, by the way, you can draft right now.
21:47Also, you can subscribe to the channel right now.
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22:04Okay. Next up is Sam Laporta as your Titan six.
22:07Um, he's being selected 98 overall. So inside of the top 100, uh, he was, I believe in krypton for wrong, the
22:13Titan one in drafts last year after being the Titan one during his rookie season.
22:17Uh, he hurt. What was that? Did I, that was two years ago.
22:21Time flies. That was two years ago. That was, that was a tough year for early round tight end.
22:27We're like really trying to get some guys going last year.
22:30We had McBride versus Bowers. It was legit. We did.
22:33We did. Yeah. It was two years ago. Wow.
22:35Okay. Anyways, herniated disc last year. Um, upside though was still there when he was on the field.
22:40I mean, he was a top six Titan and four of the nine games that he played.
22:45And he does get a, let's say Titan whisperer coming from that Stefanski tree now with drew pets against his offensive coordinator.
22:51Yeah, that's, that's a great note. I didn't even have that written down there, but that's, that just makes me even more bullish.
22:58I like Sam Laporta at cost. I really do.
23:00He's, uh, in the prime of his career. We know that he's really good.
23:04Uh, he was second in success rate on his targets last year, fourth and EPA per target, fifth and yards per target.
23:11Um, he's really good after the catch and he gets open and he's a consistent player.
23:15Uh, the only issue is he doesn't get targets like the other guys because of the offense.
23:20Now you kind of look at that too. Yeah, exactly.
23:23Uh, the, the, the only difference here though, is if a Monro St.
23:26Brown gets injured at any point, Laporte is going to go to the absolute moon.
23:31We have not seen that before. Like this is like when Kyle pits goes crazy, it's because they're so locked in on
23:37one wide receiver that the, the tight end, if that receiver misses time is going to go absolutely crazy.
23:42So I think that the, the lions still project really, really well.
23:46I think that their, uh, second and third earth, their third and projected points looking at the betting lines, uh, right now.
23:52And I know Laporte is a good football player and he's kind of being priced at where he was, uh, a season
23:58ago when he was dealing with Jamo Gibbs and a Monro all those guys were healthy.
24:03Um, the first 10 weeks of the season, like what happens if you like take one of those guys out of the offense?
24:09So like I'll take him where his baseline projection is.
24:12He's not going to go lower than that in the prime of this career.
24:16He's only going to go up from there. So I think there's an arbitrage opportunity here.
24:21Yeah. I'm sure we'll talk about this at some point this summer, but there are some on off splits with him and
24:27Jamison Williams where they rarely both have a really good game.
24:30It's one or the other. Uh, so we'll see.
24:33I mean, again, Drew Petsing loves these types of guys.
24:35Yes, he does. So I'm in on Sam Laporte this year.
24:39If healthy. Next is Tucker craft as your tight end seven.
24:42Is he the best yards after catch tight in the NFL?
24:45I mean, if you're looking at the charts, I was posting onto, uh, Twitter.
24:49There's no question about it. Now he, he gets blessed with LaFleur leaking them out where there's nobody by him.
24:54And to his credit for somebody that's what? Six foot five, two 59 just runs past every single one.
25:00He's a pain in the ass to tackle. So he's one of my favorite tight ends to watch.
25:05He's excellent blocker, uh, as well. So it just comes down to when is he going to be healthy?
25:10So he tore his ACL in week nine last year.
25:13It was just an ACL tear, no MCL meniscus, nothing like that.
25:17He's right on schedule according to LaFleur. And if you do the math of like, what's a little bit over nine, uh,
25:23months from his, uh, his ACL tear, it's right around late August week one.
25:27I think the baseline assumption here is he's going to be available for week one.
25:31He's not going to be the same player in week one.
25:34He probably won't be the same player until Halloween or later, but this guy rules the Packers rule.
25:39Uh, and I have a lot of faith that LaFleur wants to get craft involved in it.
25:44Kind of helpful that Wix has gone. Dobbs has gone.
25:47They're only focused on the guys they want to get the football too.
25:51So I think it's going to take some time here.
25:54And I want to keep every single week where there's no news negatively on his return.
25:58I'm going to move them up two spots overall in my rankings until we get to August.
26:03He does rule. That's just a great descriptor for him because like you get this downfield push with this passing game with
26:09the ambitious passer that Jordan love is to Christian Watson and Matthew Golden.
26:13And that just gives Tucker craft to like chip and release and gets room to rumble after the catch underneath.
26:19And I mean, he just, no matter if you're small or big, he either runs around you or runs through you.
26:24Um, and yeah, if you think the ACL was going to heal near 100%, the season's very long.
26:30And this is an incredible discount. I mean, weeks one through eight, when he was healthy, that was 14 half PBR points per game.
26:36That would have been just behind training pride and good enough for the Titan to overall last season.
26:42So I'm really hoping we get the same Tucker craft as we previously did.
26:45I will say he is like the most obvious negative, uh, like regression candidate on some of these stats.
26:51Uh, but that's because he's, he's so dang good.
26:53He did lead the position with plus 0.91 EPA per target.
26:57And the craziest thing is his average depth of target was four and a half yards down the football field.
27:02His average yards per target was 11. How do you average over 11 when your a dot is four?
27:08Like that, that means you are doing crazy things down the football field after the catch, which is usually not sustainable.
27:14So I think if you start regressing some of that, this is where he belongs.
27:18But like, this is why I like this tier.
27:20Like we haven't said pretty much any negative notes, like on any of these guys, all these guys, what?
27:26Like 22 to 27 years old. Like I want to double down on this tier.
27:30There's another one even younger than that. Harold Fannin is your Titan eight.
27:34Unfortunately, Hayden, he's being selected as Titan six. So do you hate when this happens where you love a player?
27:39You love a prospect. And yet the public in your eyes overdrafts him.
27:43So you have to be lower on him than consensus.
27:46I'll still mix him in. Uh, he's not my favorite click on the board.
27:50I don't think he's a bad click either though.
27:52Like I have him ranked overall, like kind of where his ADP is in general.
27:57Um, you're right though. I loved him as a prospect.
28:00I went back to my scouting report and the first line I wrote is this profile feels too good to be true.
28:06And then like everything translated after the catch was fantastic.
28:09You can scheme them up. Uh, the problem is he was fourth in targets per game last year.
28:14Uh, but it was a 42% success rate because of Shador Sanders and Dylan Gabriel.
28:18Is Deshaun Watson going to be the savior here?
28:21I'm not sure about this. It's going to be the same quarterback problems.
28:24Uh, as we had last year, it's going to be the same offensive line problems.
28:29They have five new starters. Are any of them actually really good?
28:32Uh, we'll have to find out. I have my doubts about that.
28:35And then on top of that, Todd Monken, I like appreciate what he's doing, but he is pretty dang run focused here.
28:42And like a hard O in ways that I get a little bit nervous if they're actually going to let a 240
28:48pounds, uh, tight end, like Harold Fandenbeen every down player in the Todd Monken offense.
28:52I think, I think that's what's going to happen.
28:55Yeah. This is the first player. I have my doubts.
28:58We're like, uh, maybe we can start like regressing some of these things down.
29:01Uh, but at the same time, you just look at their depth chart.
29:05I feel like he has to be an every down player.
29:08I mean, it's like White Hart. It's Joe Royer.
29:11It's Jack stole. It's Carson Ryan. I mean, he has to be an every down tight end here.
29:16And Todd Monken loves his multiple personnel groupings. What kind of multiple personnel groupings can you have here?
29:21Like Michael Burton might play some fullbacks. So you might have some 21 personnel, but I think it's going to be less,
29:27you know, 12 and 13 stuff out here. Fanden's an interesting one because he had the third most short targets of all tight ends last year.
29:35Zero to nine yards, 79 targets, nine yards and shorter.
29:38Versus 24, 10 plus yards. I think that his a dot is going to increase here with Todd Monken.
29:43Um, it was at six yards last year. If you look at Isaiah likely and Mark Andrews and granted Lamar Jackson, but
29:49even like Tyler Huntley and other guys were throwing passes.
29:52Those guys were at eight yards. So like a plus two yard, a dot difference does translate into maybe less efficiency in
29:58terms of, Hey, catch rate, but maybe more intermediate targets on the field.
30:02I hope so. I mean, and there's always a chance.
30:05It's a low chance that like Deshaun Watson is just a much better quarterback than what they had last year.
30:10I'm not saying a whole lot. Like he's not gonna go back to the MVP stuff, but can he be a better
30:17quarterback than what the Browns collectively had last year?
30:19I think that's like still like somewhat likely here.
30:22Yeah. I think Fannin's an exceptional football player. It's just, you know, it's the same time.
30:26It's, it's the Cleveland Browns here. Uh, I did find it interesting.
30:30He had 731 yards as a 21 year old rookie last year, right now in the pick them lobby on underdog.
30:36He projects for 724 yards. I think that we're not expecting a huge jump from him because he was already so good.
30:42And then on top of that, we both love Casey Concepcion, the first round wide receiver.
30:47They go get another wide receiver Denzel Boston in the second round.
30:50That probably cancels out the David and joke who lost here.
30:53So I'm okay. Like just copy pasting what happened last year for Harold Fannin.
30:57And then in half PPR, he kind of checks out right here.
31:00I have, I have no issues with that. You have officially been Don Kincaid pilled.
31:05He finished last year as around like the tight end 12 and points per game.
31:09It depends on if you count certain guys, eight game samples, six game samples, all this type of stuff.
31:14The knee injury really slowed him down. But again, he's being drafted right now as the tight end 13.
31:20However, he is your tight end nine. We talk about Titans needing to stay on the field.
31:25He has still failed to do that. Not one game over 55% of snaps last year.
31:29So why is your tight end nine? Well, he plays on the Buffalo bills and he is really good when he gets the ball thrown his way.
31:37And then whenever he's on the football field, they tend to throw him the ball immediately.
31:41Like on a per route basis, like Kincaid is like almost in his own tier from everybody else in the league.
31:47Obviously we should expect that because his routes are down.
31:50But I feel pretty good that Donald Kincaid is a good receiver.
31:54He's was probably shouldn't have been the what the 25th overall pick in the draft, but he's a good wide receiver attached to Josh Allen here.
32:01And then if you do include the postseason games there, he was the tight end nine on a per game basis last year, despite dealing with the injury.
32:09So I think he goes into the next season of his career when I were like fully in his prime.
32:15Obviously, DJ Moore being involved is bad news for Dalton Kincaid.
32:18So I'm not expecting some breakout here. Like he has to be really efficient to be kind of a low end tight end one.
32:24I feel pretty comfortable that just like, you know, really good receiving tight end attached to Josh Allen's going to usually just be pretty efficient.
32:32I find it hard for him to like go much higher than this, though.
32:36So I do think we have this right where it is.
32:39This was the tier break. If Dawson Knox and Jackson Hall stay healthy, he's going to be stuck around that 60 percent
32:45mark at best in terms of snaps overall. Yep.
32:47But who knows? Maybe things change. Like it does take these tight ends a little bit of time and maybe he is
32:54among those if ever he can graduate. But I kind of feel like the Buffalo Bills when keeping Joe Brady want to utilize him in this specific way.
33:02It does. All right. Travis Kelsey is next. Formerly of the first round draft picks.
33:06Now you can draft tidying Travis Kelsey at 124 overall.
33:09So what are you expecting here when we mention that oftentimes when you already can kind of start seeing the cliff, it is right around the corner.
33:16The decline has been on like a per route basis and efficiency numbers.
33:20Yes, it has been happening in real life for Kelsey over the last two seasons.
33:24It has. And then I go back and hit the refresh.
33:28There's 14 games with Patrick Mahomes. Kelsey was a tight end six and full PPR tied in five and receptions tied in
33:34three and receiving yards on a per game basis.
33:36He was second in success rate on his target.
33:39So like I kind of the same Kelsey is what happens though.
33:42Hey, I kind of think like Rashi Rice not being on the field and these guys kind of eat from each other
33:49because it's in the same section of where target is going to go.
33:52Well, I mean, let's talk about Rashi Rice for a second just before we press record here.
33:57Like this guy's going to be spending a month behind bars here.
34:00Guy can't stay out of trouble. It's just like one of these things where as we get closer to the season, I feel more and more.
34:08I'm sure that Patrick Mahomes is going to be out there for week one to the fact after the schedule release.
34:14One of my biggest notes from the schedule release is week one Chiefs Monday night football week to Chiefs Sunday night football.
34:20Like somebody's telling the NFL that Patrick Mahomes is going to be out there.
34:24Watch Patrick Mahomes swing a golf club. It looks clean out there, too.
34:28So I'm expecting these guys to get back to where it was this last season where in full PPR is going to catch a bunch of passes.
34:35They really didn't add anybody to the wide receiver tight end room.
34:39So like he doesn't have to match last season like he can take another step down and pay this price tag off.
34:45So I think early on, I feel comfortable with him.
34:48OK, Dallas Goddard is your tight end 11. The fewest receptions per game for him since 2021.
34:53Fewest yards per game since 2019. But then you score 11 touchdowns and that's just incredible deodorant for any type of, you
34:59know, counting stat that you want on there. I mean on 15 targets inside the red zone.
35:04He scored 10 touchdowns. I don't think you can keep that up.
35:07But when you trade away AJ Brown, which in a month they might probably will.
35:11Those receiving yards and receptions could certainly jump up without AJ Brown out there on the field.
35:16Yeah, he's just been so consistent on these his receiving yards and receptions per game.
35:21So it's seven straight seasons where he's been between 3.7 and 4.6 receptions per game.
35:25He hit that obviously last year as well. Do you remember how he got those tight those touchdowns though?
35:30They were doing like like variants of like the tush push where like Jalen Hurts would get under center and they would
35:36just like toss the ball out to Goddard and then he'd score.
35:40That's where it's like that's just not going to repeat.
35:43Like that was fancy boy. Cool stuff. Catch him off guard.
35:46Score touchdowns this last season. And then every team is going to be prepared for that this offseason.
35:51So like it was easily his most touchdowns ever.
35:53That's going to come back. If you do just regret it, he was like baseline touchdown rate.
35:58He was like the tight end 10 tight end 12 this last season.
36:02I expect largely to be the same. I will say with Goddard.
36:05I did also notice that his game was just like not quite as clean on tape, especially as a run blocker.
36:11He was terrible as a run blocker this last season.
36:14So sometimes like that's a sign that he wasn't.
36:17He was dealing with some like undisclosed injuries or just that like damn like my back is starting to hurt.
36:22I've been blocking guys for 10 years now. So I wouldn't be surprised if he's just like even with AJ Brown out
36:29of the way that incomes Makai Lemon incomes Eli Stowers.
36:31And it's just like more or less the same for Dallas Goddard.
36:35Yeah. And while Stowers has a long way to go as an every down run blocker, this is probably the most, you
36:41know, receiving competition from a quote unquote tight end position that Dallas Goddard has ever had here with the Eagles.
36:47Yeah, but we'll talk about Jalen Hurts in the new offense with Sean Mannion later on this week, but it should largely
36:53kind of be the same to me. Jake Ferguson of the Dallas Cowboys is your tight end 12.
36:58There's some major on off splits with he and CD lamb.
37:01It's always in my mind that, hey, when CD lamb's in the field, you get those same passes from the slot from Dak Prescott.
37:08When he's out of the lineup, then you get Jake Ferguson on the same same passes down the middle of the field.
37:14So he's such a fascinating player because he always winds up in fancy relevance for like a long stretch of the season.
37:21And it feels like other portions. He is just totally quiet.
37:24You don't want him at all. Yeah, he was only averaging 4.3 receptions and 33 yards when CD lamb was healthy next to George Pickens.
37:31And what you noticed was where he's being targeted on the football field has changed.
37:35Now you have two alpha wide receivers, especially with George Pickens.
37:38Like when Dak Prescott wants to throw the ball down the field, he's got two wide receivers to do it.
37:44And that means that Jake Ferguson's now only pretty much a check down option.
37:48And those just little check downs are just like not worth nearly as much.
37:52There's like way less chance of an explosive play on the check down or a little sit route.
37:57And that's where Turd Ferguson was getting targeted this last year.
38:00So his ADOT was 50th out of 58 qualifiers last year.
38:03And like that just makes sense to me schematically that we appreciate Ferguson's just like ability to sit in zone coverage.
38:09But like I think that we have to have an injury for him to like show any pop.
38:14So he's my like he's got the most upside for like a tight end too.
38:19But this is where I think the floor is starting to get pretty wonky.
38:22Okay, you are below market on George Kittle being drafted as a tight end nine.
38:27He's your tight end 13. I'm assuming the postseason Achilles injury is the main thing that's keeping him down for you.
38:33Yeah, just he's older and you have an injury that I think that he's got a chance to be ready.
38:38For week one, the 49ers like always like, hey, we're hopeful he's gonna be out there for week one.
38:44And you're just like you just never know. So he's gonna be 32 torn Achilles.
38:48I just don't like that. They claim that the part of the Achilles that was torn is a better spot.
38:54I mean, it's like, okay, like they're they're very optimistic as they should be.
38:58But, you know, there's there's a lot of, you know, target competition and the age stuff.
39:02So I hope to like have some reports on like, you know, July 30th.
39:06And then I think we'll have a better discussion about this one.
39:10I'm drafting a lot of George Kittle right now.
39:12I don't know if that's fortunately or unfortunately. He's going right around that 11-12 turn.
39:16So to again, Dr. Franken signed the position with late round tight ends getting three from round 12 through round 18.
39:22He's one of those names that I'm loading up on.
39:25I like it. We're not necessarily early in the season, but for later in the season.
39:30Mark Andrews is next for you as tight end 14.
39:33We talked about with Todd Monken and this Ravens offense.
39:35Previously, they've been loaded with tight ends and then they all left in Isaiah likely and Charlie Kolar.
39:41So right now it's Mark Andrews, Durham Smythe, and they drafted two in Matt Hibner in the fourth round than Josh Cuevas in the fifth round.
39:48So the shocking contract extension that he got last year, should that carry over into fantasy production in 2026?
39:53I still can't believe that contract. It came out of nowhere.
39:56And obviously they let likely leave here. Yeah. New coaching staff on top of it.
40:01Minter is going to control the defense. There should be a good defense there.
40:05And then we'll see about the offensive line. There's just like still like just not enough skill talent for Lamar Jackson here.
40:11So I think Mark Andrews, like could he, you know, average 40 yards per game and score 10 touchdowns this year?
40:17Like I can see that being the case. I will say this on film.
40:21It just has not looked the same like the last what two ish years since that injury versus before that did not
40:27have a good ending of the season this last year.
40:30He's 30 years old, but he's played a lot of football dealt with a lot of injuries over those 30 years as well.
40:36So, yeah, he looks pretty similar to Ferguson, Kittle, Andrews, where you're on good offenses.
40:41Same thing with Goddard. Good offenses, decent enough player here, but like he's never going to average six perceptions per game again.
40:47I mean, those 2024 numbers where he scored 11 touchdowns on base, the 11 end zone targets were ridiculous.
40:52And Todd Monken basically built their red zone offense around Mark Andrews.
40:56I mean, he was still fourth among all tight ends and end zone targets last year with 10.
41:01I'm not sure if Declan Doyle is going to do the same thing when they actually throw the ball in that area.
41:07But again, on paper, he has less target competition now that Isaiah likely and just from my personnel grouping stuff like Patrick
41:13Card is also gone and Charlie Kolar is also gone.
41:16Yeah, they need him. They need him bad next for you.
41:19Isaiah likely speaking of New York Giants. How often do you expect him to be on the field?
41:24Because he and Theo Johnson are built different despite being at the same position.
41:28Yeah, likely they signed him to a decent contract here to catch the football.
41:32So I think it's almost the exact same role.
41:35Obviously, Harbaugh is familiar with likely so that they brought him in.
41:38I did move him up recently because like the more you read about the Malik neighbor stuff, the more you feel good
41:45about Isaiah likely specifically in like a redraft. Like let's say like I think likely plus Kittle is a good pairing.
41:51You get Isaiah likely for the first month of the season.
41:54Then as Kittle comes back to full health and Malik neighbors comes back to the football field, then you can drop one for the other.
42:01So Malik neighbors, he had a setback or not.
42:03I shouldn't say a setback. He just had to have a second surgery.
42:07Maybe a setback. Kind of sounds like a setback a little bit.
42:10Yeah. Didn't have full range of motion. Had to get in there, scrape some stuff off of his knee so he can get back to the football field.
42:18I think the expectation now is like pretty likely he's missing the first four weeks going to start the season on PUP.
42:25And then it's week five to week eight. It's kind of like the comfort zone when Malik neighbors going to come back at that point.
42:32So, I mean, we're talking about Darnell Mooney and my guy, Darius Slayton, who's no longer my guy after what he did
42:38this last season as the top target getters on the Giants.
42:41By the way, Cam Scadu, who got all the targets and carries, he's come off of a dislocated ankle on top of it.
42:48So like week one projections are going to get here.
42:50And we're going to be talking about Isaiah Likely as like the tight end nine.
42:55Because the tight end room is Likely, Theo Johnson and Chris Manhurts is still there, too, who is one of the best pure blockers.
43:02So they could be one of these 13 personnel teams quite early on.
43:05Obviously, Matt Nagy coming from the Kansas City Chiefs, they would run a decently high rate of 13 personnel when compared across the league.
43:12All right. Next up, Aranda Gadsden. So we're kind of in this territory.
43:16And by the way, he's your tight end 16.
43:18So he closes out this tier where if you look at Kincaid at the front to Gadsden at the end, you just
43:25question how much they're going to be. On the field.
43:27Now, with Gadsden, this offseason could have gone in numerous different directions.
43:31Like if the Chargers didn't add Aranda Gadsden, then Aranda, excuse me, if the Chargers didn't add Charlie Kolar, then Aranda Gadsden
43:37might be like the tight end nine on paper here.
43:40And then they didn't stop there. They also last week added David Njoku.
43:44So the sky is falling in Aranda Gadsden corner right now.
43:47Then they also add Keaton Mitchell. They add Brennan Thompson, a wide receiver that I like.
43:51So there's just like more depth with the Chargers skill group.
43:54That said, the offensive line looks pretty dang impressive.
43:57And that was like the actual root cause of all their problems this last season.
44:01So like the Chargers offense should project better in 2026 than where they finished last year.
44:06I think Gadsden's like he's got the skills that we're looking for.
44:09Like he's he's one of these guys that can just move really well.
44:13He's not doesn't move quite like a wide receiver, but he dang played wide receiver at Syracuse and then had some really
44:19nice moments in the red area, like choice routes, those type of things.
44:23He's just going to get subbed off the football field this year.
44:26Like there's no question about that. And then with the McDaniel offense, it's typically hasn't been very tight end focused just over the years now.
44:33Like that's mostly because like the personnel that they had, but there is some history there.
44:38So I think he just got shoved into a part time role.
44:41That's ultimately not that fun. Like the last four games of the season, he was the tight end 35.
44:47That's when, you know, the entire offense was like back to full health at wide receiver.
44:51And like, he just didn't have the same moment.
44:54So I'm going to die in a silly guy.
44:56I really want him to be just like my saving grace and just like, I don't think it's going to happen right now.
45:03And unfortunately they wouldn't have made these moves unless Mike McDaniel wanted them to, you know, like Mike McDaniel has had Mike a sticky in the past.
45:10Last season he had Darren Waller, but he wants heavier inline guys.
45:14And just, I'm sure he watched the tape and McDaniel loves running the ball.
45:18And when Gadsden was on the field, the chargers only ran the ball 30% of the time.
45:23So I think we're going to see some spike weeks out here.
45:26And again, the off season could have gone a different direction, but the one that we're headed in, it just feels like
45:32Gadsden is going to be stuck in that like 40 to 50% snap range.
45:36I think like just right now, like just going through this, I would move him down to the next tier just to start there.
45:43And we might find some guys that we'd like more just talking through this.
45:47Hunter Henry is next. He is still a New England Patriot.
45:50The New England Patriots, shockingly to me, continue to not overly invest in the tight end position.
45:55They did take Eli Raritan in round three, but they are also coming off a season where they ran a ton of
46:0112 personnel looks with Hunter Henry and Austin Hooper.
46:04So Hunter Henry's role is largely unchanged. Yeah, I think largely unchanged.
46:07Obviously the exception to that is like when you get AJ Brown and Romeo Dobbs in there, like there's just a lot more target competition.
46:14And now he's going to be, he's 31 right now.
46:17So like we're into the, the part of his career rates.
46:20We're going to start noticing his games declining at the same time.
46:24Drake may is awesome. He's probably not going to have the same season that he had this last year where his, I
46:30was looking at his completion percentage over expected for Drake may.
46:33And it was like by far number one in the league.
46:36Like it wasn't even close, like from one to two was a ginormous difference.
46:40So you start regressing the Patriots stuff a little bit there.
46:43And then all these other factors, Hunter Henry is fine in best ball.
46:47He's going to score six touchdowns this year. And we will be able to use those weeks.
46:52It'll be very hard to predict in the season.
46:54So I think that he's going to be a waiver wire guy or the Patriots are projected for 26 points this week.
47:01Hunter Henry's available. Let's throw him in there and pray.
47:03You can't really see a ceiling beyond that. Okay.
47:06I'm going to speed along here because we don't want the show to be an hour.
47:11It will next is kind of this grouping of Brenton strange, Jawan Johnson and AJ Barner of the Jaguars of the saints and of Seattle.
47:18You know me. I love myself some AJ Barner.
47:20We're going to in about a month talk about second year tight ends for me.
47:24He was like the second year tight end breakout that I didn't realize until I watched that show when everyone was getting very excited about Elijah Arroyo.
47:32I was saying, hey, AJ Barner is not coming off the field.
47:36And he's the prime example of if you are a very good blocker with some decent receiving chops, you have a great
47:42chance and a good offense of just simply scoring touchdowns because you're on the field.
47:46And because of that, he was fantasy relevant for a lot of people as an 18th round selection.
47:51Yeah, I'm starting to write my notes for just the draft guide in my first line is as a 23 year old
47:57Barner played 95 in 90% of the Seahawks snaps in the championship.
48:01And then in the Super Bowl, like this is how you draw it up.
48:05You know, he's six foot six, 251 pounds. He's one of the best blockers.
48:09He's got some yak appeal. And then also note, I think the Seahawks are going to pass the ball like in more
48:15attempts this year, just because they're probably not gonna be blowing teams out in the same way that they were last year.
48:21They're probably not gonna score as many points. There's a little give and take there.
48:26There's just like not a proven established target getter beyond JSN.
48:29Like we like Rashid Shaheed, but it was not the smoothest campaign with the Seahawks in terms of volume.
48:34And then same thing with Cooper Cup. And he's another year older.
48:37So like he's one of these guys, something happens to JSN.
48:41I mean, Barner is going to be a stud.
48:43So I would put him at the top of this tier.
48:46I know he's a good football player. I know the Seahawks offense is going to be pretty good.
48:51So I think Barner's like the sleeper of 2026 at this position.
48:55All right. I have something to admit. After a number of drafts that are being completed at this point in the summer,
49:01Chico Cuonco is somehow my highest drafted player. All right.
49:04Really? Maybe I'm an idiot. But like 13th, 14th round Chico Cuonco perfectly fits now as a Washington commander to me in this Dr.
49:11Frankenstein three tight end built. David Blau now is play caller coming from the Lions where, you know, he was in offensive meetings with Ben Johnson through passes.
49:19I'm sure to Sam Laporta during practice. This is what I always talk about.
49:23Second team, second contract, athletic tight end on an offense with very uncertain target competition after Terry McLaurin.
49:28So I think the pathway is there to maybe even being like the second target getter on this offense.
49:33There's also a pathway where John Bates just totally blocks him from being, you know, a 70% snap player.
49:38I think you're just looking at like a, you know, tear down from the Dalton Kincaid and Isaiah likely stuff that we're talking about.
49:45I think there's a chance that Chico Cuonco shows a little bit more here just because he has a much better offense.
49:52To your point, like they just have nobody behind Terry McLaurin at this point.
49:56So, and even if it is Brandon Ayuk on September 1st, where like literally might be September 1st, I don't even know how to like factor that in.
50:03So he's one of these guys where he can just look up and be, Hey, he's tight end two on a team
50:10that's functional or the number two target on a team that's pretty functional.
50:13Like that's, that's what a tight end two looks like, especially for like full PPR waiver wire stuff.
50:18Like we're going to say Chico Cuonco's name probably a lot this summer.
50:22Okay. Kenyon Sadiq is your tight end 22 was just drafted by the New York jets in the first round, but the
50:28community out there is drafting him as the tight end 17 right now.
50:32So what are your reservations? Well, I've had some reservations on Sadiq's profile before the draft.
50:37I thought that he's kind of in development with this like zone feel.
50:40I thought that he didn't catch everything super clean.
50:43I fully acknowledge how explosive he is in a straight line.
50:46Like there's no doubt about that. I think that some of the other athletic traits are like not quite as groundbreaking, just
50:52like his like flexibility sitting in zone cover, like those types of things where he's gonna have to over time kind of develop that.
50:59And it's just a bummer that he not only goes to the jets who I think are projected for like the bottom three points this year.
51:06They also double down get Omar Cooper. We know how good Garrett Wilson is and then we know how volatile Geno Smith could be.
51:13And then on top of that, don't forget about Mason Taylor.
51:16And then like you go back to read the scouting reports and you go back to watch our video about Mason Taylor.
51:23It's just like that's all reliable. It's gonna eat a bunch of snaps like keep it moving.
51:27Like maybe he turns into Hunter Henry, but like we've seen Dalton Schultz be this guy like that guy still exists.
51:33Like this is the second season. So like is Sadiq gonna be a full-time player just because he went in round one?
51:40Like I don't think so. I think there's a chance he's more of a 70% snap player.
51:45Maybe a tier above Kincaid because he's a little bit better of a blocker than Kincaid or certainly a better blocker than Kincaid is.
51:51But like a lot of the same issues exist, but he's on the jets, not the Buffalo Bills.
51:56Yeah, I understand the draft capital is attached to him and Mason Taylor.
52:00And that's from, you know, the same staff and regime.
52:03But I kind of would be surprised if we get to week one and Sadiq is the one that's on the field constantly.
52:10Over Mason Taylor as the tight end one. I like Sadiq a lot.
52:13I'm just maybe it's that Frank Reich nastiness that's in my brain.
52:17We didn't even say Frank Reich. Like we should say Frank Reich.
52:20Every single time we talk about any jet, you have to say Frank Reich first.
52:24We're drafting a lot of New York jets right now.
52:27I'm not. You guys are. Don't we me. I'm not drafting.
52:30The people are drafting a lot of New York jets right now.
52:34And maybe Frank Reich can do it. But I'm a little bit nervous that we won't see like the final form of this group until 2027.
52:41Okay. Just three more in this tier quickly. It's TJ Hawkinson.
52:44It's Dalton Schultz. It's Kate Otten. Kind of sucks to see Hawk all the way down here versus in previous years.
52:50He was kind of drafted as a tight end seven to tight end nine.
52:54Yeah. I think I like him maybe ahead of Sadiq and Chigakwankwo.
52:57Just. Okay. I didn't kind of. He drafted after them as tight end 22 right now.
53:02Yeah. Let's move him ahead. I'll double down on that.
53:05I think that the Vikings are going to look a lot better this year.
53:09Their quarterback play was horrific. And I think that we have a chance where Hawkinson's like, he's never going to be like a superstar receiving tight end.
53:17He's kind of just like hit kind of a limitation coming off that injury.
53:20And it's really hard for him to do that when you have, you know, Justin Jefferson, Jordan Madison, they just added Juwan Jennings on top of it.
53:28So there's a lot of target competition going on there.
53:31I think he's, he's fine as a tight end too, but it's hard to get really excited about him as long as Justin Jefferson's there.
53:38Yeah. And low key, uh, the Houston Texans are one of these teams that can also go in three tight ends.
53:44I mean, they even have four. It's Dalton Schultz.
53:47They brought in Foster Moreau in free agency. They drafted Marlon Klein in the second round.
53:51Big guy. And they also had Cade Stover in the fourth round just a couple years ago.
53:56So they're like four deep at tight end. Yeah.
53:59I just like thinking through this. It's hard to find a bunch of sleeper tight ends.
54:03And I think that was the kind of the difference, uh, this year.
54:07Like I feel okay about a couple of these guys, but like we would kind of have like gushed about like what
54:13the top 10 names for quite a while there.
54:16Okay. Well, I've got one for you. We'll close this out with tight ends 26 through 29.
54:20Uh, that is David and Joku, Terrence Ferguson, Eli Stowers.
54:23And my sleeper tight end this year is Gunnar Helm.
54:26Okay. You're tied in 29. I think being drafted as tight end 25, if I'm not mistaken.
54:31Um, one 81 overall. Uh, look, his athletic profile is non-existent.
54:34If we look at his NFL combine, he blew up his ankle and then.
54:38Yeah. It's an asterisk. It's combine. Yeah. His testing was horrific.
54:41However, this team allowed despite needing pass catching help.
54:44Chigo Kwanko to leave Gunnar Helm kind of became an every down tight end for them.
54:48I think he is smooth enough, has solid enough hands, even going back to his time at Texas to come down with these passes.
54:55And we saw last year, Brian Dayball really utilize his tight ends in the intermediate portion.
55:00My Frankenstein room of tight ends right now often is Kittle, Chig.
55:03And then I close things out with Gunnar Helm.
55:06I can see the vision here. I thought his film in college was like, kind of just like catch the ball and kind of tumble over.
55:13But like he caught the ball routinely and I thought he was like kind of smooth.
55:17Um, and you shouldn't see the explosiveness, but we've seen, I mean, we just mentioned a couple of them in like Schultz
55:24and KDOT and those type of guys, like they could hold the line, especially in like best ball as like a, a, a late round tight end.
55:31And Helm would be one of these guys where I haven't done projections yet, but his raw projection versus the wider C
55:38that's being drafted right next to him is probably better, like just straight up.
55:42So, um, I'm, I'm completely open to the helms of the world.
55:45I would be pretty surprised. He's like a top 12 guy, but like, could he be the tight end eight 18 this year?
55:52Like why not? Yeah, it's, it's Gunnar Helm. Daniel Bellinger followed Brian Dayball, uh, Kylan Granson, who has been with the Colts
55:58and the Philadelphia Eagles in the past is also on the roster.
56:01But, uh, yeah, Gunnar Helm. Look again, last year we talked about like Harold Fannan.
56:05We talked about AJ Barner, a few of these other guys and Theo Johnson for a long time.
56:11Britain strange. They were going later and later and later.
56:13Uh, the last, last round name ish that I'm thinking about a lot is Gunnar Helm, but maybe that backfires.
56:19Mine's Greg Dulcich largely because you got to drag his name up there.
56:23Look at the way this guy looks. This is like Zorro.
56:26This is, it's an unbelievable aesthetic. Uh, he's by himself out there.
56:29I'll, I'll leave it at that. But the funniest part though, I mean, he, he is on the Miami Dolphins for those of you that don't know.
56:37They did bring in Will Kazmeric, purely a blocking threat in the third round.
56:41Uh, and then they do have Sadu Traore as a fifth rounder, but who knows exactly what position he is going to play.
56:47And that's really it. So like if Greg Dulcich can fulfill this receiving target upside on a team that doesn't really have wide receiver.
56:54They're desperate. They are desperate. Yeah. I've seen worse.
56:57He's like my favorite, like what the hell are we doing sleeper this year?
57:01All right. On Thursday, we're going to talk about quarterbacks, rank those, talk about the offenses that they're in right now.
57:07A lot of changes across league. What I think half the teams across the league have a new play caller or offensive coordinator or head coach.
57:14So, uh, that impacts the quarterback more than any other position.
57:17Um, so again, we'll discuss tight ends more and more and more throughout the summer and how that impacts wide receivers.
57:23This is a good foundation episode for it. So appreciate weaves and Mosho behind the scenes for all of you watching in
57:29front of the scenes, uh, hit that subscribe button before we go and we'll see you in the next one up the villa.
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