The TRUTH About Fantasy TEs in 2020 + Super Bowl Reactions - Fantasy Football Podcast for 2/9

Sounds worse. I don't know about that one. Dude. All right. Mark Andrews. As I live and breathe. Rocky Road for Mark Andrews to start the year. Three weeks outside the top 30. Three weeks inside the top three. 29% great games. Yeah. That's what I look for from the tight-in position. Win me a week. 50% good games. Okay. 43% bus. Not so good. Lamar Jackson and the miniature-sized passing pie of Baltimore.

had a lot to say about Andrew's taking the next step. I was hopeful we would see a volume increase. I know we talked about it in the beginning of the year. Instead, you got 88 target, 58 catches. You saw an opportunity for him to see a volume increase. I mean, his routes increased, his snaps increased on a per game basis. He did miss a couple of games. What's bizarre about Mark Andrews season is it was actually fine. If you drafted him,

you, I don't think you are very, I don't think you should be upset. In the middle of the fourth round, he turns into the tight end five, he missed a couple games, but he won you several weeks. You're definitely upset. And the reason you're upset. I don't, I said I don't think you should be. I agree. I won't argue with your feelings. In the end, but.

Here's what happened. If you wanted Mark Andrews, you had to pay up for him. You had to draft him earlier than everybody else. You wanted that Travis Kelsey break out before it happened, you know, that next step forward. And so he cost you a lot. And then those first three weeks, two of those weeks were absolutely irrelevance. I mean, he doesn't score four fantasy points in week two or week three. And you're going, oh, no, what have I done?

When you have to have extreme capital given in the draft, those early games matter so much. And that's why I think Mark Andrews is probably going to be a value next year. People got burned or they felt like they got burned. And so you're going to have a large chunk of especially the people who believed in Mark Andrews who were going to say, not this time, Satan. Not today. I think.

I will agree with you. Just call Mark Andrews Satanus. It was more of a Ace Ventura reference, but it's not, I agree with you on this one. I think that they will sign a big time wide receiver. Yeah, and I think Andrews will, between what he did to your team last year and that receiver and the narrative of the pie, look, Lamar Jackson loves Mark Andrews. He loves throwing in the football in the red zone. And so I think that there's a lot of upside there. I think Mark Andrews is fine.

And you can look at the beginning of Mark Andrews season, and you can also go look at Lamar Jackson. It was a bad start. Yeah. Lamar Jackson played poorly instead of offensively. Yes, he played very poor for about three quarters of the season. He did find himself. Yeah, yeah, won a title. I know. I know. No, I'm not even saying that, but thank you for bringing that up. It's a good time to remind everybody that I am a three-time champion in the League of Record.

a lot due to Lamar Jackson, finding himself and figuring out the offense and getting Hollywood Brown going, getting Mark Andrews going. So I'm with Mark Andrews for next year. All right. Let's get through some more tight ends here. Logan Thomas at six, Mike Gassickie at seven. Logan Thomas actually had a consistency rank of ninth. He was a hidden gym, not drafted by anybody. Once he didn't have Dwayne Haskins throwing him the ball. Yeah, yeah. And he's... What week was that? Was that week six? All right.

It was a genuine question. Oh, I don't recall off the top of my head. Okay. He ended up with 72 catches, 670 yards and 6 touchdowns. That's what you get at tight-in 6. And consistency ranked, like I said, of 9th. He is... He was Mr. Necessary for Washington. Yes. Yeah, he's definitely Mr. Necessary. I mean, we'll see what they do at the wide receiver position. I have to imagine they upgrade. The biggest question is, what do they do at quarterback? Because...

It still could be Mr. Necessary Logan Thomas. And like the dude is still learning how to be a tight end. He was a quarterback.

forever. He's only been a tight end for a couple years. So Haskins started the first three weeks. If you take those three weeks out, Logan Thomas was actually consistency number five. And he got better as the season went along. He's very interesting to me next year. Mike Gassiki, though, was kind of a disappointment. 53 catches, 700 yards, six touchdowns, 14th in consistency. And that's what really hurt. Had a stretch from week 9 through 14, where he was all right. Quarterback changes played a big part in what was going on in Miami.

But you didn't pay a lot in the draft. You were taking your shot that it was going to be a breakout year. Really wasn't. Had some spectacular plays. You know, tied for the most in-zone targets among the tight ends with 12. So, I mean, he could have had a Tunyan-like season if he had Aaron Rogers and not to a Tongavaya Loa. I saw a lot of those fades that were awful. Yeah. But if Deshaun Watson came to Miami. Okay. Now we're talking. Now we're getting sicky with it.

All right, Rob Grancowski at 8, consistency rank of 13. I think that that betrays the truth of Rob Grancowski because... Now I'm sick and getting jiggy with it in my head. You're welcome. Getting sick, all right. Week 6 through 17 are really where he got it going. A nice stretch in the middle of the year.

was better against bottom 16 defenses, and Bruce Ariens was willing to throw him the ball down the field, which is where Gronk used to make his hay. Most tight-in targets, receptions, and yards on 20-plus yard attempts. He was a diamond in the rough as well for fantasy teams. He was, but he also had an opportunity present itself when O.J. Howard went down, and he tore his Achilles. Am I remembering that correctly? So that...

What happens next year? They're, you know, honeymoon phase. I just won the Super Bowl. Brady, I'm coming back. Gronk talking about wanting to come back. Why would you not? And try and win another Super Bowl. But if O.J. Howard is ready to go at the beginning of the year.

What does that do for the role of Gronkowski? It's massive. It's massive. People that drafted Gronk were extremely unhappy. Gronk became a gym in the middle of the season because the first four weeks when O.J. Howard was playing football. Gronk wasn't really involved in the passing game. He was a great run blocking tight end. Week four is when the injury happened to...

You can't trail it all back to the injury, though. I mean, Gronkowski hadn't played football in two years, and he was joining a brand new system with Bruce Ariens, and they were figuring out some things in the offense, and it kind of worked out with Gronk had tied in. I don't think it's a – I don't think that you're going to have him disappear off the – you know, he's a favorite target for Tom Brady. Yeah, but –

I agree. O.J. Howard might even be back. Some of that coming back. That's why I said if he's back. I agree. Some of it is him getting his legs back and yada yada. He's a great run blocker. And O.J. Howard was on pace for 76 targets. You know, it's one of those things where if he is back, I think O.J. Howard is obviously going to siphon away targets from Grunk. Although you could lose.

one or two of the wide receivers. So, I mean, this is really a nebulous situation with the Buccaneers. We don't know if Godwin is back. We don't know if Antonio Brown is back. We don't know if O.J. Howard is back. No thank you on Gronk. If, if a lot of those or two thirds of those leave, then Gronk should be fine. He looked great. Obviously, he just dominated in the Super Bowl. Well, from week.

six on, or I'm sorry, from tight-in, six, seven on, you're looking at spot start streamers. You're not looking at locked-in players anyway. So it's just a matter of whether Howard or Gronk or, you know, Gassiki can give you a week because they weren't able to be consistent on a regular basis. Hearst was ninth with a consistency rank of 16, huge wet fart on his hype. Jono Smith is a free agent. He finished 10th, consistency of 11th.

Jimmy Grandpa finished 11th with a consistency rank of 12th. Noah Fant, I think, is you're jumping out as a breakout candidate because he finished at 12th. Consistency of 22nd, dealt with injuries. So injuries that he played through. Yeah, you're not going to see a bunch of missed games. He only missed one, but he was really hampered in the middle of the season. But they lost Albert O as well, didn't they?

Later, yes. Later, but they also lost their number one wide receiver before the season had even begun. So how do you feel about fans? Let's talk about him, Mike, because I get it that he has the athletic profile that you're going to take a shot on for someone who could break out. But I would project that Cortland Sutton will be good to go at the beginning of the year. Jerry Judy in his second year and Drew Locke.

If he's still the quarterback, then I will be not taking the shot on Noah Fischer. Yeah, I don't believe Drew Locke can support Noah Fant to be an every week starter. I think Noah Fant is an every week fantasy option with a solid quarterback. And to answer your question. Like Jared Gough. Right. Albert O went down, started missing games in week 10. Eric Ebron finished at 15th, consistency of 15th.

No juju next year for Pittsburgh. Is Eric Ebron, you know, Vance McDonald retired? Is Eric Ebron interesting in any capacity to kind of, he had a nice, well, I should say more consistent second half of the year after a couple of bad games to start the season? He doesn't strike me as someone who's going to turn into a weekly reliable guy. Someone I want to highlight real quick.

the, because he saw 89 targets. He didn't really do anything with the production because he wasn't supposed to be the guy who saw 89 targets. I'm talking about Donald Schultz from the Dallas Cowboys because my man, Blake Jarwin, went down in week one. He'll be back. He'll be better than never. The infinite stat lines in Mike's head for, for old Blake. The tight end that I would bring up here.

is someone that we had lots of debate and argument this previous season. Andy and I on one side, Mike on the other. But I think we're going to have more debate this year because Big Beast, if Gerald Everett leaves and is not a part of this team, which they're in not the best cap situation. And I think there's good odds that Tyler Higbee is alone.

And if that's the case, we've seen him be valuable on the field. Now, why didn't you just lead with the fact he finished at 18 with a consistency rank of 25? That's how you should have opened. Well, right. You didn't gloat enough. You didn't Jason enough. But I, well, it's weird because I'm kind of making a pro Higby. I know, which is weird. Well, but it's because Everett might be gone. Right. So are you saying that you don't think Tyler Higby could be a valuable fantasy asset if he's the only tied in there?

Well, I think he could be a valuable asset like he was four times this year. But the problem is he's really good at blocking people. Yeah, that's true. Gerald Everett couldn't block anybody. So, you know, I just don't know how consistent. I don't think I'm going to be reading those tea leaves with Tyler. Okay. I mean, we're scraping the bottom of the barrel. No, let's talk about George Kittle, though.

Yes. Consistency rank of four. That's where, I mean, George Kittle is the player that will be debated as a draft pick ahead of Darren Waller. He's the one player that despite the year being, you know, injury plagued is worthy of that consideration. If you, Mike, are you betting on, or I guess you were saying Waller's volumes guarantee, but Jason, you're talking about them bringing in some other pieces. Are you going to go George Kittles' way? I know you like Brandon Ayuk and Debo Samuel, I'm sure he'll be healthy for a game or two.

George Kittle or Darren Waller next year, right here right now. Oh, man. It's an interesting question. The pressure is on. My natural inclination is to go George Kittle because I think he's got higher upside. But I don't know that that is true. If they don't bring in another great wide receiver to the Las Vegas Raiders, I might just want to take the consistency and the volume and the known commodity versus the giant explosion games that George Kittle can give you. And...