0:00It is a great day to break down my week one tight end rankings and tiers. Also be breaking down some bigger picture
0:05questions, things like who has the best early season schedule, best waiverwire stashes, injuries to be aware of at the end of every tier. So keep an eye out
0:12for those as well. And otherwise, yeah, let's get after everyone with Mr.
0:16Tighten one Brock Bowers, of course, going up against a Dolphins defense that, yeah, we are not scared of, but yes, nobody else in this tier. After
0:24all, we're talking about one of only two tight ends in the Super Bowl era to average at least 15 PPR points per game
0:31during the first two seasons of their career. Any guesses on the other one?
0:34I'll give you three seconds.
0:37Rob Gronowski, Gronk and Bowers, pretty good company. Friendly reminder that new head coach Clint Kubak called Bowers quote a football robot from heaven.
0:46Yeah, I'd say he wants to get him into football. So, only main question here was again just how high his ceiling is.
0:51But if you guys have been hanging out on the channel, first of all, thank you.
0:53appreciate it. Second of all, yeah, one of my bold predictions for this year is Bowowers actively working as this year's JSN. We got JSN's coach and Clint Kubak
1:02obviously involved. Nobody's doubting the talent of Bowers. And man oh man is this a wideopen passing game for someone of Bowowers talent to take over. I know
1:10the quarterback situation isn't exactly amazing, but you know what? When Kirk Cousins got under center last year, Cal Pitts north of 16 PPR points, tight end
1:18three status from weeks 12 through 18.
1:20So loving all the Brock Bowers I got in fantasy this year. What could go wrong with using an early round pick on a
1:26tight end? H we'll see what happens. I'm feeling good right now before any football started though. Tier two 20 plus PPR point upside is on the table. I
1:35got tight end too Coulson Lovelin going up against the Panthers. It sounds like Roma Dun could be looking at the wrong
1:40side of questionable. I don't know. I'm recording this on Tuesday. We're hearing the Bears saying that they hope he's going to be out there, but so far not so
1:48good because he is not on the practice field. So, if that's going to be the case, could be a little bit similar to
1:52the end of last year when we saw Lovelin rack up 48 targets during the Bears final four games. That was 21 more than
1:59the next closest receiver. So, look, Luther Burden will get his as well. But Lovelin, man, his per route efficiency pretty much better than anyone not named
2:07Bowers, at least in terms of rookies in the mo more recent future. Very much feeling good about him tearing up this
2:13Panther secondary. Tight end three for me is Trey McBride. If you wanted to rank him tight end two, go right ahead.
2:18I know we're starting these guys regardless, even if there's a fire out there. But to put some respect on Trey's on Trey's name, 17.1 PPR points per game
2:27over the past two seasons. That ranks seventh among tight ends and wide receivers. So Trey McBride's been absolutely killing it. My big issue here
2:36is just the same reason why I've been loving over McBride all off seasonason.
2:39It's the offenses, guys. Again, I'm going to be referencing this a lot. Team implied totals. We can get these for every single game throughout the week.
2:46We're taking the Vegas spread and the overunder and using those two numbers to get exactly what Vegas thinks. Every team will be scoring in week one. The
2:54Bears are projected by Vegas. They have an implied team total of 25 points.
2:58That's the seventh highest marker on the week. The Cardinals at 18.75, ranked 30th. They weren't great last season either and Trey McBride managed to do
3:06it. Fully healthy offense around though.
3:08It was enough for me to go love over Mr.
3:10McBride. Titi and four for me, same tier still is going to be Tyler Warren going up against the Ravens. Okay. If the
3:16Colts do have some issues, as I've been wondering, with Daniel Jones being ready to throw downfield, coming off that torn right Achilles, it would make a lot of
3:23sense if Tyler Warren is going to be the biggest beneficiary. Gotta love what he did last season. I mean, we're talking
3:28about one of only six rookie tight ends to average at least 12 PPR, I'm sorry, to post top 12 PPR per game numbers over
3:35the last decade. So, I know it seems like rookie tight ends recently with Bowers and Lovelin and Moore and some of
3:40these other guys just absolutely balling out right out of the gate. It seems like the position as a whole has been a lot
3:46more fantasy relevant. But man, only six of them have actually been top 12 talents during the course of the entire season and Warren is one of them. That
3:53said, guys, it takes me to my key question. I do wonder if the Ravens defense could eventually be a group that
4:00we really want to stay away from at the tight end position. For me, big on paper mismatches one way or another. It's more
4:07of like a tiebreaker than a rule of thumb. That's why I still have Tyler Warren, tight end four. Please still start him in fantasy leagues of all
4:13shapes and sizes. He could see 12 targets. None of us would be surprised.
4:18That said, we got Jesse Mentor who obviously did great things with Duran James in the Chargers. Okay, we're talking about a group that ranked eighth
4:24and fifth in PPR points for game allowance position. Now, Mentor has a guy named Kyle Hamilton who's basically human duct tape in his ability to fill
4:31any freaking hole that this Ravens defense might have leaking. So, we saw this last year. Harold Fannon had 48 yards and 26 scoreless yards in two
4:39games against this Ravens defense.
4:40Coulson Lovely only went for 38 scoreless yards. Travis Kelce also more or less got shut down as well. So again, for right now, still starting Tyler
4:48Warren with confidence and everything, but in future weeks, particularly when we got to start worrying about buys and things of that nature, wouldn't be
4:54surprised at all if we're talking about the Ravens as one of the best tight end stopping defenses in the league. Tier
5:00three, I got locked in tight end ones.
5:01First up, tight end five, Kyle Pittz.
5:03Don't love those splits of him and Drake London. Last season, they were pretty damning, and we did see him get most of
5:09his production with Kirk Cousins as opposed to as opposed to Michael Penn under center. But yeah, we're going along with the two a bit, at least for a
5:16week. He is going to be their week one starting QB. And Cooper Rush is even the backup. So Tua should be good news for
5:22Kyle Pitts. He actually threw 13 pass attempts in the preseason and seven of them went to Pitts. So no Bejan and
5:29Drake London was only out there for four of those routes. But man, we saw with Jonnu in 2024 and we even saw with
5:35Darren Waller and Greg Dol for portions of 2025. Tua at this point in his career very much trying to get the ball out of
5:41his hands. And guess who's usually near the line of scrimmage to receive it?
5:44Kyle Pittz. Tight end six for me, Sam Laaporta. Tight end three, tight end nine, tight end seven finishes on a per
5:50game basis during his first three seasons in an offense we absolutely love and in a game environment we should be excited about as well. Only Bengals
5:57Buccaneers actually has a higher overunder than what we're seeing out of the Lions and Saints here in week one.
6:03Could he be the number four pass game option behind a Monrod Jon Gibbs? Sure, but if we're going to pick an offense to
6:09be a number four pass game option in, really would be Detroit. Keep an eye on the hip, but I don't think it's going to
6:14be an issue. Again, recording on Tuesday, so we'll get the official injury designations out there on Wednesday. Make sure you're following
6:20Rotoire NFL to get all of your updated injury news throughout the week. Tight end 7, I got Browns Titan Harold Fannon
6:25going going up against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Pretty good company for this guy. Okay, the full list of rookie tight ends that catch at least 70 passes for
6:34700 yards and five plus touchdowns since the Super Bowl era, Harold Fannon, Brock Bowers, Sam Laaporta, and three-time AllPro Keith Jackson. Okay, great
6:43company for Fannon. Led the NFL at the position at least and missed tackles avoided last season. Yeah, we got Deshun Watson under center, but if there was
6:51going to be a situation for Watson to enable anyone, I do think it's going to be Fannon and Casey Conception because
6:56they're working closer to line of scrimmage where yeah, there's less room for Watson to mess it all up and Shador and whoever else winds up playing
7:02quarterback for this atrocity of a franchise. At least a quarterback room.
7:06I'm sorry Browns fans. I am an Ohio guy.
7:08I'm not trying to hate. It's just been so damn long. That Tim Couch jersey every single season gets that much longer. Can we please fix this at one
7:14point? Ah, tight end eight Tucker Craft with no concerns of a pitch count. I will be perfectly fine moving Craft in
7:21the top of this, but we did hear from him himself say that this was going to be a situation where the Packers are
7:26probably going to limit his snaps for the first two months of the season potentially. Now, Craft is a dog and he
7:32came out literally 10 days later and said he's done with that rep count stuff. So, we've seen it go both directions. I have Craft in a few
7:39leagues. I'm still ranking him tighten eight and that's a good chance that you're starting him. Okay, like we've talked about Jawan Johnson being someone
7:45where if you have KD or if you have Tucker Craft, we can use him in the early weeks. I'm confident enough in
7:51Craft to start him over Jawan Johnson at least for week one. Not so much KD.
7:55We'll talk about that in a few minutes, but just keep an eye on it. Okay, I'm not trying to be a Terra hater here.
8:00It's just someone coming off a knee injury first week of the year. We've heard him specifically talk about rep management stuff himself. If you happen
8:08to have two top eight options, pretty damn good wide receivers and running backs for your flexes. I can see it. Key
8:14question for this tier, best and worst early season matchups at the position.
8:18Again, looking at 2025 PPR points per game numbers. This will become a better study as the year goes on, but as things
8:24stand right now, I took the first four-week averages of again opponent ranks in these fantasy points per game allowed to tight ends, Browns, Bengals,
8:3249ers, Jaguars, and the Seahawks standing out as the best. So, great news for Harold Fannon. hopefully being able to make the most out of the Deshawn
8:39Watson and eventually Shador Sanders experience. Cincy, we'll see if Eric All ends up rising to the top and I'm kind of dubious for now. Uh 49ers, George KD,
8:47talk about him shortly. Just want him to be on the field, but if and when he is fully healthy again, looking forward to
8:52starting him with confidence. And then Brettton Strange, AJ Barner, maybe guys that hey, if you are in a deeper league or you're playing DFS, maybe even a
8:59showdown here on Wednesday Night Football, Seahawks, Patriots, you can get behind them a little bit more. I will say one day guys we're going to see
9:06a tight end be used as their tush push goal linebacker and AJ Bonner most efficient short yardage rusher in the NFL last season. I'm just saying
9:14toughest schedules Saints Dolphins Titans Bears and Panthers look Dolic is someone where yeah maybe a little bit worried about it. Gunnar Helm is looking
9:23like split stuff with Daniel Bellinger and then Carolina. As much as I do think Darren Waller is an enticing bench stash
9:28in deep leagues, please it's probably not even leagues that most of you are in. forget I said anything but I'm not
9:35going to let me worry about this when it comes to talented high volume tight ends and that obviously includes Coulson Lovelin and Jawan Johnson. So strength
9:42to schedule it's important not the end all be all something to keep in mind.
9:46Titan four guys starters with a question mark. So I'm starting off with titan nine Isaiah likely. Look I think the Yakability and what he can do off script
9:54is going to mesh very well with Jackson Dart and an offense that beyond Malik Neighbors really doesn't have anyone of consequence to be worrying about. Now,
10:02we did see some iffy usage in the preseason. Trying to look at the first team stuff likely was pretty much only
10:07on the field for the pass plays, not so much the run plays. Theo Johnson is also banged up right now. I'm confident given
10:14the money, given some of the comments from Harball. And just what we've heard from Giants camp about all the receptions that Likely's had. I would be
10:20shocked if he has a route rate under 80%. I would feel a lot better if we can see it out there though in week one. So,
10:27Cowboys do have Caleb DS now patrolling that secondary. I do think they're better. Look, it's just a rookie safety, but it's a damn good one. Wouldn't be
10:35shocked if we're sitting here in week two saying, "Man, likely got his usage, but Caleb DS made it tough on him." Just
10:41saying. Iron more in a Buckeye hat. So, keep that in mind. Tight end 10 Dallas going up against the Commanders. 13
10:47touchdowns in 16 games last season. Were a lot of them weird just literally batch crazy goal line jet sweeps and pop
10:55passes and quick screen stuff. Yeah, but they worked and AJ Brown's gone. So, Dallas scotter tight end 10, tight end 11. Here we go. Jawan Johnson, baby. 29
11:05years young. 102 targets last year. Only Tramoth McBride and Kyle Pitts actually made more out of them in terms of total
11:10receiving yards. So, we've seen Jawan for a full season. Gives low-end tight end one numbers. And it was even better than that in weeks 9 through 18,
11:19specifically with Tyler Shuck under center. 11.5 PPR points per game. Good for tight end nine status. So, no Jordan Tyson out there. I know I mentioned his
11:27schedule being tough, but it's not as bad, particularly in week one, when you consider the game environment against the Lions. And when you look at a Lions
11:33secondary that's going to be without Brian Branch and Kirby Joseph, both of their starting safeties. I mean, now that I'm looking at it, you know what?
11:44Jawan Johnson, tight end nine, we're updating on the fly. I'll get my editor to fix it. He'll do it. It's kind of his job, you know. I
11:54love my editors. Just saying. Jawan Johnson, tight end nine, right next to Tucker Craft.
12:02I love it. Tight end 12, Jake Ferguson.
12:06Really damning splits between him with and without CD Lamb on the field. But at the same time, like we're kind of in
12:12this tier at a certain point where it's a bunch of boring dadbod white tight ends and we're just trying to pick the
12:17one that's going to hopefully fall into the end zone. So give me the war on the Cowboys. Next up, I got Travis Kelce,
12:23tight end 13. Again, similar sentiment, but we're going up against the Broncos defense. I'm not sure how much Patrick Mahomes is going to be asked to throw
12:30the football early on this year. Coming back from the ACL injury, I was pleasantly surprised to see how well Kelsey has continued to do against the
12:37Broncos, though, in recent matchups.
12:39Since 2023, Taylor Swift's husband has gone for 124 yards, 58 yards, 64 yards, and a touchdown, and most recently 91 yards, and a touchdown. In games, I did
12:48have Mahomes under center. So, tight end 13 for me. Hey, we'll see what happens.
12:52He did have the Yak moving back in the right direction last year after falling off a bit of a cliff there in the
12:57previous three or four seasons. Tighten 14 last one in the tier. I got Mark Andrews going up against the Colts. Will
13:02be a very good data point to see just how he looks out there because yeah, career low marks in a lot of different
13:08categories last year. But no more Isaiah likely, no more Charlie Kohler. We all agree Lamar Jackson guy is pretty freaking good at football. I just want
13:15to make sure that Andrews isn't washed.
13:17But we have some numbers to make us believe he's not. Okay. He actually hit the second fastest ball carrier speed in
13:22terms of next-gen stats among any tight end was on that wild freaking fake tush push reverse thing out there. And also
13:28when you look at some of these separation metrics, ESPN's open score had him tight end one and fantasy points average separation score assa tight end
13:37six. All right, so we'll see what happens. Mark Andrews though, tight end four team with room to rise if we do see
13:42him looking pretty spry out there and Lamar Jackson looking more healthy, which we have reason to believe that he is. Key question for this tier. I talked
13:51about this a few times before, but was one more gonna hurt everyone guys. Are tight ends typically more immune to bad
13:56offensive environments in other positions? That's the question. The answer is yes, they are. In fact, looking at the number of top 12 fantasy
14:02performers in PPR points per game that are on a bottom 10 scoring offense over the last decade, there's only been four
14:08quarterbacks, 14 running backs, 12 wide receivers, but 24 tight ends. That's 30 quarterbacks, running backs, and wide receivers combined versus 24 tight ends.
14:18And I think it makes sense. Generally, we don't want, you wouldn't think that really good real life offenses are going to be flowing their entire passing game
14:25through the tight end position in the first place. So, when they do, not a bad sign of that probably being a not great
14:30offense. Certainly helps though in Fantasy Land when we can roster these guys. So, very good news for Mr. Isaiah likely. I've said some good things about
14:37Matt Naggie and what he did in the preseason with more pre- snap shift in motion. That said, would it really shock
14:42us if the Lions if the Giants suck this year? It would not. But the good news is that likely might be able to overcome
14:48it. Tier five, we are saying there's a chance. I got tight end 15 Don Concaid going up against the feisty Houston
14:55Texans force Josh Allen into season low marks and passer rating and I believe adjusted yards per attempt might have been the Steelers game. But yeah, he was
15:03quite bad in that. Looking at Concade though, if we knew he was going to be out there running around 80% of Josh
15:09Allen's drop backs, I would rank him tight end four this week. Only JSN and Puka averaged more yards per outrun this
15:15dude last year, but we don't know that just yet. And the potential for him to again be a part-time player with Dawson
15:21Knox also involved and some of these other guys they have behind him. It's just too scary for me to go into him
15:26this year as my starting tight end, especially in this tough matchup. Tight end 15 for me. Tight end 16, it's George
15:33KD. And if you guys want to say, Ian, you don't know jack [ __ ] You're wrong all the time. You're ugly. You know, I
15:40wouldn't be the nicest comment I've ever seen, but I'd say, okay, go for it.
15:43Start George KD in that case. You know, we are talking about fantasy football after all. He's a 32 year old tight end
15:50coming off an Achilles tear that happened this year. And I understand that we've heard that's the not so bad Achilles tear because apparently
15:57multiple Achilles tears that we're dealing with now. But man, and against a defense that could easily be the best in the league this year. I know Aaron
16:06Donald isn't suiting up, but they retoolled the secondary and Miles Garrett is maybe don't have better options. Again, I have him tight in 16, so I'm imagining
16:15a lot of you probably don't. They're not going to be better options available on the waiverwire at this point. If you
16:20have Jawan Johnson, though, definitely would start him over George KD.
16:23Seriously, keep an eye before Thursday if we get worries about a pitch count because if we know for sure he's going
16:29to be playing less than, you know, 80% of snaps or whatever it is, definitely going to be getting lower. If he is
16:34somehow out, Jake Tundas does become more appealing. I think I'd probably rank Tundes around here as well, maybe at the bottom of this tier. Tight
16:45end 17, I got Chigosi Mongwell going up against the Eagles. Very tough defense.
16:49They were actually second in terms of their fantasy points per game against last year. I was more in on Chiggy before they brought in Diggs. It was a
16:55very similar situation and archetype as Isaiah Likely. getting paid, looking like he's going to have a full-time role for one of the first times in his career
17:02in an offense with a young quarterback we like. Again, though, not looking like the best matchup. And with those imply point totals, guys, the Commanders come
17:09in just 27th in week one. So, Chiggy would love to be wrong. I draft a lot of them in baseball this year. Not trying
17:15to find out as early as week one. Tying 18, I got Greg Dol going up against the Raiders. It's a great matchup. Only the
17:22Bengals are worse than the Raiders against the position last year. also saw also Dolric do good things down the stretch of last season with his OC Bobby
17:29Sloic actually also being on that staff but man we've seen this time and time again with Dolchic rarely do we see him
17:35actually get a full-time role it's also an offense where if Malik Willis throws for 120 yards this week all to Chris
17:41Bell I hope but if he does that like it's not going to be the most surprising thing in the world so I got him tight in
17:4718 for now DFS nice later round option deeper leagues where you got 14 teams and three flex spots. Okay, we can sign
17:56me up for that. But yeah, I think there's better options. Still key question. Biggest tight end injuries to monitor this week. Sam Leaporta hip,
18:03Tucker Craft knee, George KD Achilles, Kenyan Sadique abdomen, Terren Ferguson soreness, Davis Allen quad, and Theo Johnson, which is shoulder injury. I'm
18:12tentatively expecting all these guys to play through these ailments. We'll find out if they're even going to be listed on the injury report. In some cases, the
18:19two I would be most concerned with again when it comes to potentially limited playing time would be Craft and KD.
18:26Last tier I believe, yeah, tight end six, Hunter Henry, tight end 19 against the Seahawks. Look, he's a touchdown dependent tight end, too. Maybe he has a
18:33chance to actually find the end zone.
18:34Nick Mori ankle unlikely to suit up.
18:37Most official list as questionable for what it's worth. 10 and 20 Brenton Strange. Hey, 10 and 12 numbers in weeks 12 through 18 last season once he
18:44returned from IR. Still just looking at the fourth pass game option in a group not exactly expecting that to keep their
18:50foot on the gas against the lowly Browns. Tight end 21. I got Dalton Schultz against the Bills. Toughest matchup on the slate. I do think without
18:56Jaden Higgins and Tank Dell Schultz could be a borderline tight end one by the time everything is se everything is said and done. Just not really expecting
19:03that to be this week. Tight end 22 TJ Hawinson. Tight end two back in 2023 guys like that happened. But again we
19:10got Jefferson, we got Addison, we got Jawan Jennings. I would like to see Kyler Murray go out there and play at
19:16least one good football game before literally talking about getting Hawinson in the starting lineups. 10 and 23 AJ Barner again. It would be crazy if with
19:26no Char Walker. We got that report about George Hani being the goal lineback in Seattle. Like would AJ Barner actually being the goal lineback be any more
19:34ridiculous than that? He converted 10 of 11 third and fourth in shorts within three yards into first downs last season. And the only one he didn't was
19:44like Seattle against the Rams didn't actually bring everyone in for the tush push. They tried to get cute with it and
19:48that didn't work. So Barner mostly was a tight end too touchdown dependent.
19:52Elijah Royer could even make it more complicated than that. But just something to keep in mind guys. One of these years we're going to see these
19:58tight end touch pushes get integrated at the goal line and someone's going to be blowing up fantasy. Why not AJ Burner?
20:03Probably won't be. But you can imagine titan 24 Terrence Ferguson. If you want to rank him a little higher than this,
20:10you could. Like would I really start Dalton Schultz over him or Hunter Henry for that matter.
20:18Yeah, that's lame.
20:20We're doing it again. I made it through quarterback, running back, and wide receiver of these tier list. I didn't change one during the show, but tight
20:27ends got me feeling freaking feisty today. Let's move him up the top of this tier. Terence Ferguson, tight end 19.
20:34Rams tight ends as a whole last season scored more PPR points than any group outside of Arizona. So, we have that
20:40going for us. Could Ferguson be the de facto tight end one and wide receiver three on a high-scoring offense that we
20:46love? Maybe. Or maybe the guy that caught 11 passes total last season is once again stuck in this four-way, maybe even fiveway committee depending on what
20:54happens with Max Claire in an offense that runs the ball more often. So that said, if we see like concade anything
21:02close to an 80% route rate for Ferguson, guys, he'll be ranked inside the top 10, if not the top six as early as next
21:08week.
21:10Last and least, because that's kind of what we're doing here, tight end 25, Charlie Kler against the Cardinals.
21:15Number one on the Chargers def chart going into week one for whatever that's worth, but it also matches what we saw
21:19in the preseason.
21:21I just think it's going to be annoying for this whole group. adding Coler here was more so basically like saying, "Hey,
21:26Aronda Gaton's gonna be behind him, but maybe Dave Njoku is pretty involved as well." So, I would say Concade, Ferguson, Gatston, and Waller. Those are
21:35the four like if the route rate is better than expected, we're going to see him rise up the ranks in a hurry. Kind
21:40of like the rich man, middle class man, poor man, homeless man sort of breakdown there. So, Gasson is there and if he is
21:46free and you're in a bigger league, I wouldn't mind just waiting to see if there is a surprise in terms of the week
21:50one utilization. But that really is was the key question here. Who are the best bench stashes in fantasy football at the
21:56tight end position? Again, Terence Ferguson first and foremost, then I would say Aronda Gaston, then Darren Waller, then Michael Mayer as almost
22:04Brock Bowers insurance. Plus, I just think Raiders are going to live in two tight end formations, and then Evan Ingram probably. I don't want to
22:13elaborate on it. Guys, that's going to wrap up this video. I appreciate you tuning in. Week one football is here.
22:18Let's get psyched about it. If you like the video, please like the video.
22:21Hitting that subscribe button helps as well. Updated ranks and articles over at rotoire.com. I will be back doing some live start goodness probably before both
22:30the Wednesday and Thursday night games, usually just before Thursday night. But go ahead and get in the live chat if you
22:34guys are into that kind of thing.
22:36Otherwise, I'll hear from you. You'll hear from me again Friday breaking down injuries and stuff ahead of the weekend.
22:41So, just so happy football is back. Love chopping it up with you guys. And yeah, have a great rest of your day. Take
22:47care.
