Fantasy Football Podcast 2017 - Early TE Rankings

I mean, it seems like out of all these decisions, his ADP being so low makes him the best decision out of a lot of these guys. Not for me. For me, I would rather have Kyle Rudolph than Jordan Reed. Because his ADP is ridiculous. Because his ADP. And I'm talking PPR, right? Where he is very valuable because, I mean, he. Yeah, I believe he led. He was second in the league. Number one in targets. He led in targets. Because he's got Sammy Biscuits. Yeah. Most accurate quarterback of all time. And so you've got Kyle Rudolph here.

who is almost in the ninth round. I would much rather spend a third, fourth, and fifth round draft pick on another running back and another wide receiver that I really love and grab Kyle Rudolph. We talked about, you know, the consistency of even Kelsey, you know, who finished number one. He still had a lot of weeks where he kind of crapped the team. Kyle Rudolph didn't. Kyle Rudolph was tied with Greg Olson for the most amount of helpful games. And when I was thinking about,

you know what okay so sam bradford we have to remember the the truth of what happened last year in minnesota sam bradford got there a minute before the the regular season started he pulled up as the first game was going on ran straight out there to the point where he didn't start week one because he didn't know the offense and so i think it's completely legitimate like obviously there are just massive problems of saying well this guy did good the second half of the year and so you extrapolate that out

But for the case of the Minnesota – That's like my favorite argument, Jason. Right, I know. But for the case of the Minnesota Vikings, I think the second half of the season is just a little bit more indicative of kind of how their offense is wanting to work and will work with Sam Bradford because – I mean, they didn't have a training camp. They didn't have a preseason. They didn't have anything. They had week two as their preseason game won. And the second half of the year, even though Rudolph was still good in the first half, he was unbelievable. We're talking 100 receptions, 1,000 yards.

And we've seen in the past he can get touchdowns. He got red zone opportunity. If he's going by the ninth, I just like that value much more. I didn't realize that he was all the way back there. I'm pulling up the fantasy football calculator ADP again, because this is, is this accurate of 812? But I'm saying 812 and PPR and 712 and standard. What are the PPR people doing?

You're giving him the Jason Whitting Treatment. He turned into a PPR guy with Sam Bradford. Yeah. Yeah, I love him. All the arguments for Kyle Rudolph of that ADP are solid. Only five games under eight targets for Kyle Rudolph. You know, he's going ahead of him. Number eight on our consensus ranks. Or actually, he's not going ahead. He's going just behind.

But in PPR, he's going ahead. And that's Zach Ertz. Zach Ertz. The last two years actually finished the year. Ninth and sixth as a fantasy tight end. Last year, you had the inverse of Sam Bradford. You had him leaving. And you had a rookie coming in and that rapport that we loved. The things we love about Carl Rudolph, those all were manifesting with Sam Bradford at the end of the year. We expected Ertz to come out and be on fire. He got it together back half of the year. That's been the story for Zachert's the last two years. The second half of the season, he's basically the number one tied in. Yeah, he is.

So nice value, 907. Oh, Vopo. Vopo. But didn't Alshan Jeffrey come and didn't Tori Smith come? Yeah, it actually is a downgrade debate. I mean, those two guys showing up. Good job, public opinion. I did it. I've got something right. Maybe not the Tori Smith part of your argument. But Alshon Jeffrey arriving, it does.

It does give me pause on the unlimited upside of Zackertz. I do think he's going to be in that 75 catch and above range. So for him, much like Travis Kelsey, he just doesn't find the end zone very often. And did you happen to look at Zach Ertz's targets inside the 10? I can pull him up for you. I would love to know that just pure curiosity, no agenda other than I want to be right. I can tell you this is what we have in the first nine games. I have the red zone data, but first nine games, three red zone targets.

Last five games when his production went insane, he had 11 Red Zone targets. And he only scored four touchdowns on the year. Yeah. So he's, I mean, he's put him in the, in the fantasy football strategy of second half when you're trading, when you're acquiring Russell Wilson and Doug Baldwin. It's good Zach Gertz in there, too. There are tight ends that I.

Just like running backs, right? You've got Red Zone running backs and you got those between the 20 guys. I love Zach Ertz and Travis Kelsey between the 20s. And then I'd like to like usher in Grankowski and Ifer for that inside the 10-yard line. To answer your question to support your argument, which actually supports my argument, Zach Ertz got five targets inside the 10. He did score two touchdowns on the five targets. A reminder. Kelsey got eight targets, only got one touchdowns. A reminder. In case, you know, you know.

You missed it. All right. 20 minutes ago. Number nine, Delaney Walker, number 10, Eric Ebron on a consensus top, tight end, early 2017 rankings. Delaney Walker went out, put up another great season, always plays 15 games. For some reason, he takes one off every year. He's literally played 15 games less. A man loves to fish. What are you going to do about it? There's one good weekend. Those bass, they're biting in Tennessee. Look, the last four years, 11, 8, 4, 5.

The story here is we expect and keep expecting Tennessee to bring in more help at the wide receiver position hasn't happened yet. We can watch the draft, but I mean, any reason why Delaney Walker isn't going to do what he's been doing? Yeah. Well, he's, I mean, I don't want to, I don't want to draft him in the six, I don't think. In that you're still paying the ADP price for that breakout. Yeah, for that monster year, but that's.

I'm not expecting that. You have that sandwiched between almost two identical years and 14 and 16. He's a mid-60s guy. He's the type of a tight end that you can get and you plop in there, which where I think plop him in your tight end. He's a plopper. Yeah. And I think Delaney Wager is better than streaming. And you just, you put him in, you forget about it. But you're never going to, you're not going to end up with the top.

four guy top I mean I guess he had he was number four in 2015 in his monster season so I will I will say you will not get a top three guy from Delaney Walker so your upside is going to be cap yeah and and while we while we say we keep waiting for them to bring someone in they are going to I mean I will be blown away if they don't draft a wide receiver and or a tight end as well and and we can't ignore the age elephant in the room he's going to be 33 this year which tight ends can play later

And his game, I don't think, requires, you know, crazy, you know, he's not going down the field for 40-yard bombs. Jason Witton. Right, exactly. But he's just uninteresting to me. He's not going to win me a fantasy championship is how I feel. And he's going to cost me in the sixth round. There are good wide receivers there that I want. This guy, surprisingly, probably the most surprising guy on our list being in our top 10. This guy could win you a championship.

If you're drafting him with your last pick, because that's about where he's going into the 13th round. Eric Ebron, the endless optimism surrounding Eric Ebron's potential continues. From Jason Moore. From all of us, I think. Really? I've just always, I feel like maybe it's because I've said too many nice things. I have Eric Ebron at number eight. All right. Okay. I got Eric Ebron at number eight. Last year you only played 13 games. Look, 61 for 711.

Only scored one touchdown. You want to talk about a guy that the math doesn't add up on the touchdown totals. It's Eric Ebron for me. It adds up enough for me on the Kelsey totals just because he's never put up more than five. Eric Ebrun had one touchdown last year. One. Otherwise, he was pretty darn good in 13 games. Yeah, and...

And again, he only played 13, and it's completely fair to say, okay, well, what's the pace of that on 16? That's a 75 reception year. He was very involved. And, you know, there's rumors in the draft that maybe they'll go out and they'll get in Joku or they'll get someone. Then I will bump. Well, if that were to happen, I would bump him down. If they don't want to, you know, keep paying for Eric Ebron. But the dude is, he has gotten so much flack because he was drafted number 10. And he's supposed to be the superstar.

Right now, three days ago was his birthday where he turned 24. Happy birthday. He is a young man. And in his first three years, I mean, Titans take a while. He's never heard that Vanessa Williams song. Yeah, never. And in his life. Saving the best for last time. The thing is, is that Titans always take a while to really come into their own. And we're writing him off after three seasons where he was basically.

I don't know if we're writing them off. We're just kind of like looking out of just... I'm saying the fantasy community. I don't think we are. I mean, he went from 25 receptions to 47 receptions to 61 receptions to 61 recepts. Oh, he drops passes. He got 71% of his passes last year. There's a couple memorable drops. They stick in your head and they write a bad narrative. I think that if they don't draft someone else...

He's going to be involved, and he's fine in where you're drafting him. He was a five touchdown guy the year before on 15 less targets. If you remember, this was the Tyler Eifford story, too, before the breakout year for Tyler Eifford. It was kind of like we're just waiting for something to happen. I think you just have to keep. I for it was much shorter, to be fair. Agreed. Agreed. But Eric Eberrin has the draft pedigree in the age and the quarterback and the consistency in that offense that makes you say, hey, 13th round.

take the guy put him in your lineup and watch for three weeks i like yeah i have him as my number 12 and half point right right now but that the fact that he's going in in the 13th round is i could i can get in on that if you're waiting yeah i mean if he doesn't work out the resistant the resistant where do you have him i'm at 12 so i have him as jason what do you have um i think i've got him right at 10 uh let me look

Yeah, I mean, I just like the upside with the drop position. And I'll say I think that the 13th round nine is very correlated with when people bought into Eric Ebron. If you remember last year, he had this stretch of games where he was was, was, was, looked like this. It was happening. It's happening for Eric Ebron. 79 yards. 92 yards. I'm picking them up 70 yards. And then. And then that was the week. And then nothing.

Literally. You get nothing. You get no reception. That was probably the week that he was the most started in the entire year. Like his starting percentage. I agree. That's the kind of thing that pushes an ADP down three rounds. I mean, that's from where it probably belongs because everybody's looking at him disappointingly. Pleasantly disappointed. Pleasantly disappointed. All right. Hey, 11, 12. 11 and 12 on our consensus top tight-in rankings. Cameron Bray, Jack Doyle.

The story with Cameron Brayette last year was, you know, Major Ascension, Austin Savarian Jenkins gone after two games. A lot of targets. You have Deshawn Jackson coming in there this season. You didn't really have a productive running game in Tampa Bay last year. We have him at number 11. He finished seven last year. I think 11 is the right spot for Cameron Brayette. I really do. Yeah. Or as my ranking say, 15 is the right spot. But 11 is the right spot for all of us.

I would be surprised, I mean, if he doesn't regress touchdown-wise. His touchdown number was extremely efficient. Now you add to Sean Jackson in there. So Cameron Brate's a guy I'm not super excited about, even though he finished well last year, loved him last year. I just think that there are, there's enough reasons where he can be the starting tight-in and be productive for fantasy, but there's no reasons for me to say this guy's going to step up. Or have a chance at top three.

I am sure that he's going to repeat. I'm pretty confident he's going to step back a little. That's all I have to say about Cameron. Yeah, I like him. I'm not worried about Deshaun Jackson at all taking away. You had, so last year, Mike Evans had 12 touchdowns. Cameron Brayette had eight. And then you had this laundry list of guys with two, two or less. And James Winston, while granted, I don't have the numbers in front of me, but James Winston through college, through his.

pro career. He does favor the tight end. Last year, 31% of Tampa Bay's red zone targets went to the tight end. That's sixth in the league. So it just, I don't think they're going to get away from him. It's fair to expect his touchdowns to go down. I'll water bet you on five or less touchdowns. Oh, I'll take that. You'll take it? Yeah. Hey, wow. All right. Water bet. We haven't had a bet in years.

It feels that way. I'm going to stay out of this one, but I would be on Andy's side. I think five or less. All right. Jack Doyle, number 12. Goodbye, Dwayne Allen. Hello, Jack Doyle. Last year finished number 13. I think that there is a lot of optimism out there. I'm not going to jump in on the Jack Doyle bandwagon. I think Jack Doyle comes out and does exactly what he did last year, which is not somebody I draft. I mean, he's 59 for 584 and five touchdowns. I think Eric Swoop is a swoop or Swope?