All 2010 Fantasy Football Articles | 2010 Position Rankings

The tight end position is often overlooked in fantasy football, but in leagues that award a point per reception, a stud TE can be quite valuable indeed. Over the past decade or so, NFL offensive coordinators have increasingly built game plans around their talented tight ends. It used to be that the position was meant to block in the running game and catch the occasional pass or two. But, more and more, the tight end has become a spot for a big playmaker with soft hands who can block a little.

The position isn’t nearly as deep as QB, but since many fantasy owners don’t consider taking a tight end until the fourth or fifth round, value is often found in the middle rounds. A vast majority of championship teams will get at least average production from the position, so no matter your strategy, you have to find a decent TE somewhere in your draft if you hope to be hoisting the trophy at the end of the season.

Here are a few TEs I’ll be targeting this season along with the round in which each player becomes a good value.

Antonio Gates in the 4th
With Vincent Jackson prepared for a long holdout, Gates will get a ton of targets from Phillip Rivers. It appears that his foot injury is behind him, so he’s in line for another Top 4 year. Gates is as consistent as they come.

Dallas Clark in the 5th
Clark was a stud last season, but with Anthony Gonzalez back and the continued development of Pierre Garcon and Austin Collie, one wonders if he can post 100 catches again. His previous high was 77, so the gut says ‘no.’ Still, even if he takes a 20% cut in production, that still would have been good enough to be TE3 in ’09.

Jason Witten, Vernon Davis or Jermichael Finley in the 5th/6th
All three of these guys are capable of putting up big numbers this season. Witten is Mr. Steady, Davis has one great year under his belt and Finley is Mr. Upside. Witten has averaged 90-1042-4.3 over the last three seasons and the Cowboys have said that they want to get him more involved in the red zone. Davis finished just behind Gates as last season’s TE3, and should have another fine year as everything has stayed pretty much the same in San Francisco. Finley showed his worth in Week 4 against the Vikings when he posted 6-128-1 and finished the year on an eight-game tear in which he averaged 5.5-72-0.5, which are TE2-type numbers. The Packers lack a big body at WR around the goal line, so look for Finley to get his fair share of jump balls inside the 5-yard line.

Tony Gonzalez or Brent Celek in the 6th/7th
Gonzo is the consummate pro and has finished in the Top 5 in 10 of the last 11 seasons. He’s 34, but he’s still doing all (or at least most) of the things he was doing at 28. Even though the projections have him finishing TE6 or TE7, it’s more likely that someone projected to finish ahead of him has a disappointing year and Gonzo sneaks into the Top 5 yet again.

As for Celek, some might downgrade him because Donovan McNabb is gone, but in the two weeks where Kevin Kolb got a lot of work (Weeks 2 & 3), Celek caught 16 passes for 208 yards and a TD. Granted, in Week 2 the Eagles were throwing from behind against the Saints, and Week 3 was against a very suspect Chiefs defense, but still — Kolb feels comfortable with Celek. How you feel about the QB is how you feel about the TE. If Kolb has a good or great season, Celek will likely finish in the Top 6 or 7 again.

Kellen Winslow or Visanthe Shiancoe in the 9th
The bottom line is that if Winslow stays healthy, he’s going to finish in the Top 10. Unfortunately, that’s a big IF, and Winslow is already being held out of practice because of soreness in his knee after his sixth — yes, his sixth — knee surgery. Still, in the 9th, Winslow is a good value. Just be sure to draft his backup relatively quickly.

Shiancoe’s value depends heavily on the pending return of Mr. Brett Favre. He posted Top 5 numbers over the second half of the season and Favre loves to look for his TE in the red zone.

Zach Miller in the 9th/10th
Jason Campbell is in as the starter in Oakland, which means that for the first time, Miller will have a capable QB throwing the ball. Campbell loved throwing it to Chris Cooley in Washington, so Miller projects to have a nice year. He caught 37 passes over his final six games and with a solid QB under center, he should be able to build off of that success.

Kevin Boss in the 12th
From Weeks 8-16, Boss averaged 3.5-46-0.6, which are TE7-type numbers. He’s not terribly consistent, but he’s entering his fourth season and has become one of Eli Manning’s favorite targets around the goal line. Boss is better suited to be a backup, but a Top 10 finish is not out of the question if he gets consistent targets week to week.

Steering clear of… Chris Cooley. I like him, but with Fred Davis battling for snaps and a new QB in town, there’s not enough stability to justify his 7th round ADP… Owen Daniels. He just had a setback with his knee, so if he’s not back and looking good in the next couple of the weeks, I’ll let someone else take the risk… Heath Miller. I like him in a backup role, maybe in the 12th round, but with Ben Roethlisberger suspended for the first six games, I wonder how effective the Steeler passing game will be with Byron Leftwich, who is not known for passing to his TE… Greg Olsen. He has great upside, and who knows, maybe Mike Martz will finally take advantage of his tight end. But there are too many other options in more stable situations.

Here are our official TE rankings, by tier:

1. Antonio Gates
2. Dallas Clark

3. Jason Witten
4. Vernon Davis
5. Jermichael Finley
6. Tony Gonzalez
7. Brent Celek

8. Kellen Winslow
9. Visanthe Shiancoe
10. Zach Miller
11. Chris Cooley
12. John Carlson

13. Greg Olsen
14. Heath Miller
15. Owen Daniels
16. Jeremy Shockey

17. Kevin Boss
18. Dustin Keller
19. Todd Heap
20. Tony Scheffler

All 2009 Fantasy Articles | 2009 Position Rankings

As more and more leagues have moved to a point per reception (PPR) format, the tight end position has become increasingly important in fantasy circles. This is compounded by the NFL’s movement towards the utilization of pass-catching tight ends (i.e. players who can block a little, but are primarily on the field for their pass-catching ability).

Sometimes people scoff when we recommend drafting the top TE in the third round, but savvy fantasy owners who follow the principles of Value Based Drafting know that the top TE often carries 2nd round value at a 3rd round (or even a 4th round) price. This is the definition of value, and if that player performs to expectations, his fantasy owner is going to have a significant weekly advantage at the TE position. This translates to wins.

One nice thing about drafting a TE in the early to middle rounds is that it’s not too hard to pick out the good ones. Tony Gonzalez and Antonio Gates have both finished in the top 4 in each of the last three seasons. Jason Witten finished as TE1 in ’07 and TE2 in ’08, and with Terrell Owens gone, Tony Romo should be looking his way even more this season. Barring injury, Witten, Gates and Gonzo are a good bet to finish in the top 5 in 2009.

But don’t fret if you miss out on one of the premier guys. There are several players who have emerged in recent years as very dependable options. Chris Cooley was TE5 in each of the last two seasons (and TE7 the year before), Owen Daniels is just 26 and has two top 7 finishes in the last two years, Dallas Clark finished as the TE6 in ’07 and TE3 in ’08, and should have a solid ’09 with the departure of Marvin Harrison. And, of course, you could always roll the dice on Kellen Winslow, who had a disappointing ’08 (TE17) after finishing in the top 4 the previous two seasons.

And then there are the young, upside guys – Greg Olsen, John Carlson, Zach Miller, Dustin Keller and Kevin Boss – who have shown flashes of fantasy stardom and are all in their early- to mid-twenties.

Since most tight ends hold more value than their respective average draft positions, it’s tough to say which players are a good value and which ones aren’t. Instead, we’re going to list a few TEs and discuss when each player becomes a nice value. This assumes a 12-team PPR league where a starting TE is required. If your league doesn’t award a point per reception or doesn’t require a TE, then the position is tremendously devalued. (In other words, wait a while before burning a pick on a tight end.)

Jason Witten in the late-3rd/4th
Witten was a little dinged up in the middle of last season, but he got off to a great start and finished strong for his owners. We like him ahead of Gates and Gonzo because injuries aren’t really a concern and he’s still playing in a great situation with Tony Romo (and without Terrell Owens).

Antonio Gates or Tony Gonzalez in the late-4th/5th
Gonzo is out of Kansas City and he joins the Falcons’ offense, which focuses on a great running game and controlling the ball. However, Atlanta doesn’t really have a great second option to Roddy White in the passing game and the Falcons may open up the playbook a bit more now that Matt Ryan has a year of experience under his belt. Meanwhile, Gates has added some muscle to his frame and reportedly looks more chiseled heading into 2009. He struggled with injuries last season, but hopefully those are behind him. Gates isn’t quite as consistent as Witten or Gonzo, but he has a shot to reclaim TE1 this season. We prefer Gates to Gonzo since he’s not joining a new offense.

Dallas Clark in the 6th
The 30-year-old Clark has a reputation for being injury prone, but he has played in 15 games in four of the last five seasons. He was TE3 last season, and with the departure of Marvin Harrison, he figures to get his share of the targets in 2009.

Chris Cooley or Owen Daniels in the 7th/8th
These two probably represent the last of the really solid picks at tight end. Cooley, while fairly unspectacular, has been as steady as they come, finishing TE7, TE5 and TE5 over the last three years. He may not outscore other TEs on a week-to-week basis, but you aren’t going to lose much ground either. The same goes for the 26-year-old Owen Daniels, who is part of an up-and-coming offense in Houston. He has improved his ranking in each of the last three years, and was a great value pick in 2008. The Texans always seem to be trailing, which gives Daniels’ numbers a boost as they try to play catch up.

Greg Olsen or Kellen Winslow in the 8th
Olsen scored 13.9 ppg over the last four weeks, and that’s a sign of things to come. He has the best hands of any of the Bears’ receivers and QB Jay Cutler wasn’t afraid to throw to his tight end when he was in Denver. Winslow is a little risky because of his injury history, but the Bucs don’t have a good WR2 to take the pressure off of Antonio Bryant, so Winslow will have to take over that role.

John Carlson or Zach Miller in the 9th or 10th
If you’re going with one of these two after loading up at RB, WR and QB, you’re rolling the dice that these youngsters can continue on their upward career path. If they do, they should crack the top 10. Both scored better than 10.0 ppg over the last eight games (a good sign), Carlson plays with a good QB, and Miller plays for the Raiders who have to throw a lot late in games.

Brent Celek, Vishante Shiancoe, Heath Miller or Kevin Boss in the 13th
With L.J. Smith long gone, the job is Celek’s and if he can build on his 5.5-catch, 45-yard and 1.0-TD average over the last four games, he should be in for a nice year. Shiancoe was TE8 last year, mostly due to a 7-catch, 136-yard, 2-TD performance against the Falcons in Week 16. He had some clunkers, but he should be solid in ’09. Miller isn’t going to set the world on fire, but he has averaged 48-540-5 over the last two years and that looks like a reasonable expectation for this season. Boss is the upside guy in this group. With Plaxico Burress gone and the Giants’ WRs in flux, Boss has a chance to see a big increase in targets.

Bo Scaife in the 14th
Why is last year’s TE11 going in the 15th round? We’re not sure, though Jared Cook is a threat and Alge Crumpler is still there. But Bo Scaife is like a dive bar with some seriously sketchy clientele. It’s not a place you plan on going when you begin your evening; it’s where you end up at midnight. Scaife makes a solid backup or possibly spot-starter waiver wire fodder when a bigger name TD goes down.

Here are our official TE rankings, broken into tiers:

1. Jason Witten
2. Antonio Gates
3. Tony Gonzalez

4. Dallas Clark
5. Chris Cooley
6. Owen Daniels

7. Greg Olsen
8. Kellen Winslow

9. Zach Miller
10. John Carlson

11. Kevin Boss
12. Dustin Keller
13. Brent Celek
14. Visanthe Shiancoe
15. Heath Miller
16. Jeremy Shockey

17. Vernon Davis
18. Bo Scaife
19. Tony Scheffler
20. Todd Heap

21. Martellus Bennett
22. Marcedes Lewis
23. Brandon Pettigrew
24. Jermichael Finley
25. Robert Royal
26. Anthony Fasano

All 2009 Fantasy Articles | 2009 Position Rankings

QUARTERBACKS

Trent Edwards threw two picks and fumbled, but he threw for more than 197+ yards and a TD for the sixth time in eight games…Kyle Orton suffered an ugly ankle injury and it looks like he could be out for a month. Rex Grossman will fill in for him…Gus Frerotte (182 yards, 3 TD, INT) continues to play solid ball for Minnesota. Since he took over six games ago, he is averaging 245 yards and 1.3 pass TD per game.

RUNNING BACKS

Kevin Smith got 16 touches to Rudi Johnson’s 10, and Smith also scored a TD, so it looks like he is the lead back in Detroit…Cedric Benson (25 touches, 109 yards, TD) seems to be settling into the RB1 role in Cincy…All that pregame talk about Michael Bennett getting most of the work for Tampa Bay turned out to be erroneous. Earnest Graham is a solid start as long as Warrick Dunn is out. He fumbled twice, but threw a TD to Alex Smith to make up for it…There were rumors that the Cardinals were going to cut Edgerrin James’ touches and give Tim Hightower more of the workload, but I wasn’t expecting Hightower to register 23 touches (108 yards, TD) and James to register zero. It looks like Hiightower is officially RB1 in Arizona…Ryan Grant (20 carries, 86 yards) ran pretty well against a good Titans defense, which is encouraging for his owners. He failed to score a TD, however…The Denver running game was awful against the Dolphins. Three RBs (Michael Pittman, Andre Hall and Ryan Torain) combined for 12 yards on 11 carries…Michael Turner (31 carries, 139 yards) once again tore up a bad rush defense. He has four 104+ yard games (OAK, GB, KC, DET) against mediocre-to-bad defenses and four sub 58-yard games (PHI, CHI, CAR, TB) against four good defenses. He doesn’t get any action in the passing game (3 receptions all year), so he can’t make up for a bad rushing day in PPR leagues…Maurice Morris (8 touches, 43 yards) and Julius Jones (11 touches, 45 yards) split the RB work almost evenly…BenJarvus Green-Ellis (16 touches, 65 yards, TD) and Kevin Faulk (15 touches, 98 yards) split the work with Sammy Morris and LaMont Jordan out. Faulk has more value in PPR leagues while Green-Ellis is the better play in standard and TD-heavy leagues.

WIDE RECEIVERS

Shaun McDonald has gone for 11-133-1 over the last two weeks and is the clear WR2 in Detroit. He’s worth a pickup, especially in PPR leagues…Rashied Davis (5-64-1) led the Bears in receiving this week, but Devin Hester (4-42) was a factor as well. Brandon Lloyd wasn’t active despite partially participating in practice this week…Both T.J. Houshmandzadeh (7-65) and Chad Johnson (5-37-2) have played pretty well the last couple of games, even with Ryan Fitzpatrick under center…After a dreadful week against the Raiders (1-3), Derrick Mason exploded with a 9-136-1 day. He has caught at least four passes in seven of eight games this season and is a solid start in PPR leagues…Antonio Bryant (8-115-1) continues to thrive even with Joey Galloway (1-22) back. We might be seeing a changing of the guard in Tampa…Torry Holt (6-58-1) showed some life after complaining about his role in the St. Louis offense…Donald Driver (7-136-1) has caught 17 passes over the last three games, and is still a good WR2 in most PPR leagues…Greg Camarillo (11-111) continues to post solid numbers in PPR leagues. He has caught at least four passes in the last seven games…DeSean Jackson (2-20) had an unusually quiet game, and it might have something to do with the return of Kevin Curtis (6-83).

TIGHT ENDS

Owen Daniels had a huge (11-133) game for the Texans, outgaining Andre Johnson and Kevin Walter combined…Visanthe Shiancoe (1-25-1) found the endzone for the fourth time in six games…Jason Witten (0-0) was active, but failed to catch a pass. He was targeted four times and two resulted in interceptions. Hopefully, he can heal with the week off…Kevin Boss (3-30-1) continues his up and down play. Until he can show more consistency, he’s nothing but a spot starter.

FREE AGENTS

Now here are my thoughts on a few guys that might be on your league’s waiver wire…

Willis McGahee owners are cursing the Ravens right now. He was active for the game, but didn’t register a touch as Ray Rice (24 touches, 176 yards) and LeRon McClain (15 touches, 37 yards, TD) handled the rushing duties. It looks like Rice has passed McClain on the depth chart and is the guy to own in PPR leagues… Joe Flacco has put up pretty decent numbers over the last three weeks. Against the Browns, he posted 248 yards and two TD…Kolby Smith got off to a good start, but left the game with an injury. Now it looks like Jamaal Charles (18 rushes, 106 yards) is the Chiefs’ RB1…Tyler Thigpen (164 yards passing, TD, 22 yards rushing) put up decent QB numbers for the second straight week. Last week, it was against the Jets, but this week it was against a good Bucs’ defense…Mark Bradley’s 4-65 day followed up last week’s 5-42-1 day against the Jets. With defenses focused on Dwayne Bowe and Tony Gonzalez, Bradley is a sleeper at WR, especially if Tyler Thigpen continues to play good ball…Sage Rosenfels (224 yards, 2 TD, INT) was back under center in the second half against the Vikings after a shot to the knee knocked Matt Schaub out of the game…Michael Jenkins (2-64-2) scored on two long pass plays. This came on the heels of four straight games with 3+ catches. He should see his value rise as Matt Ryan gains experience…JaMarcus Russell (6/19, 31 yards, INT) was absolutely brutal against a shaky Falcons pass defense…Brent Celek (6-131) started in place of the concussed L.J. Smith and had a great game…Koren Robinson (4-105-1) has caught four passes in each of the last two weeks and right now it looks like he is the Seahawks’ WR1. Bobby Engram (3-20) was pretty quiet. Don’t look for Engram to really get it going until (or is it if?) Matt Hasselbeck comes back.