Top 10 TE Rankings + Hit Rates, Danger Zone - Fantasy Football Podcast for 8/13

I think that becomes a huge situation. What week was Nick Chub injured? I think it was like week two. I mean, I'll verify it. It was very early. Week two. Okay. I guess I was curious, too, from an identity perspective, and we won't have Chubb to start the year as well. We've talked about Jerome Ford, but like the offense is going to need to transition into a passing offense. And the question is just whether, like you said, do you have a player in Judy? Is Amari Cooper the same guy he's always been? And do they? force feed the ball to Nizoku or not. And I don't think it's, you know, the stakes are not as high with an eighth round pick if you believe that they're going to continue to compete. I mean, I thought that Kevin Sifanski and this team did the most impressive job with all of the injuries last year of any team. And now it's their job to make Deshaun Watson work. And, you know, I get the impression that most of the time we talk about Nizoku, you two would rather just wait. Yeah, I think I'll keep taking shots.

When I get passed, so I've talked about a bunch, right, the top five. I want one of the top five tight ends. That's where I'm usually trying to get the fifth one because I think there's five guys that can get number one. I've now started to really kind of include George Kittle on that, so it's six. We'll have a big question mark here when we get to, you know, the next guy on the list. But I will say that. after those guys, I'm waiting until whatever my last pick is. I just don't care. The difference between whether I get Najoku or Pat Fryermuth or whoever, I'm fine just loading up on wide receivers and running backs and saying if I'm not having a stud tight end, I want the rest of my roster to be worth it. Like there should be a reason that my team doesn't have a great tight end. It's because I loaded up elsewhere, not just, oh, I got a worse tight end.

Yeah, no, I mean, that's a good strategy. And it probably is the one that's going to bear out. The nice thing about Nogoku, unlike Friermuth or some of the other later names, is that you had a stretch from week seven through 17 where he was the number one tight-in and fantasy. It's always nice to know, like Kittle, to some extent, like Kittle hasn't been what he was three or four years ago. But at least you know on any given week, this one player can win you a week at the position where, you know, at least with Firemuth and Schultz, I don't think that's going to happen. Right. I'm okay. I really am okay. People are like David Nujoku's the guy of this range that I don't want to take the chance on. He just, he's not that for me because, simply because of the next player, the number nine tight end here, who is in the exact same range. Like ADP, we're going from David Nogoku at 804 to this point. Number nine. Number nine, Jake turd Ferguson.

of the Dallas Cowboys. That's why the poop emoji's written in there. Yeah, turd Ferguson. It's a funny hat. It's a funny hat. It's a big hat. It does make them more attractive now. Yeah, yeah, turd Ferguson. I was out, no, man. Turd Ferguson is your target here in the, now he still qualifies in the same range as, uh, as Njoku and those stats that you're talking about. I mean, he was only the, he was the tight end eight at eight point three points per game. But you both would take him over in a joke. And the reason being is I believe, and I'm firmly projecting that Ferguson is the number two target for the Dallas Cowboys passing offense. He led all tight ends and red zone targets. It didn't turn into as much fantasy goodness as we want. You're pointing. Uh-oh. Breaking news. Uh-oh. I'm sorry. I'm seeing surgery for JJ McCarthy. What? What? Is that what? Deucer's Alley? What are we reporting? V vetting.

The falcon drop this one. So I see Adam Schefter. How extensive. It is. So it is from Schifty. How extensive the surgery on J.J. McCarthy's meniscus is will determine how long he will be sighing. Wow. Dude. He's going to undergo knee surgery. And then they will determine the severity in the surgery. So he underwent an MRI on Monday night. So this is a follow up on our breaking news or our news segment from earlier. Surgery for McCarthy. Looked so good. Dude. The baby may need to be sacrificed over a longer period of time. That's unfortunate. But a meniscus injury is also not, you know, we're not talking a catastrophic ACL tear. No, no, it's not that. But you, if memory is serving me right, like there, you can have a meniscus surgery that can take you out for the year. Like that happened to Irv Smith.

And then you can have ones where it's almost like they're snipping it. And then it's just like Larry Fitzgerald did where it's like two, three weeks. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it, I guess we sit back and wait for which surgery he gets. That is a big time bummer. Yeah. All right. Back to the turd. So anyway, he's the number two guy on the team. And last year, while it was his sophomore year, it was his. first year as a starting tight end in the NFL for the Cowboys where David DiJoku is headed into I mean I believe it's year 22 yeah he's only 20 years old though yeah he's amazing he's very David Najoku is still young for a tight end but it's just was drafted at 12 years old we we we haven't seen it where his first year being the starter he was the tight end eight and I think he can

I think he can improve from there. He left a ton on the field. If you look at what his expected touchdown rate should have been for the amount of red zone work he received, and DAC has always used his tight-in this way. So DAC's number one tight-end, while they don't have a clear alpha wide receiver two, like when it was Cooper and Lamb together, there's a good role here. Now, this still falls into the same category. Like when I say that I lean more on the side that David Nojoku is not going to be great. Not going to be that tight in one with Watson. I'm not out on Njoku or out on Ferguson. I like both, but they are in the same category to me of like, I just don't care that much about this level of Titan. I want to view this as a streaming position. Tightens are one of the best positions to like actually get a lot of points based on matchup and playing the matchup. I mean, we forget that it wasn't just the Flacco thing for Njoku, but.

We knew that his upcoming schedule against the tight end was like he played like the six worst defenses against tight in a row. So Ferguson falls into that category for me. I like him. He's got upside with the touchdowns. He let all tight ends, 25 targets in the red zone. Yeah. Talk about a different kind of player than Nizoku from an athletic profile. Oh, yeah. But he's touch, you know, like Nizoku is off the charts and all of the major explosiveness and quickness and speed. Ferguson's not bad. He's just. He prototypes as a touchdown dependent, potentially great red zone target on a great offense and should not be ignored. Do you, Andy, you're more on- Oh, Andy. You're more in on Njoku than we are. Who do you feel like has the better probability of hitting 10 touchdowns? Jake Ferguson. Okay. Yeah, I am really trying, I mean, in this conversation, all the conversations on the off-season, I'm trying to like wash away any bias I have from.

Like I jumped on the back of David Nujoku and rode that stallion. I rode that stallion into a championship. He didn't even feel you. That's how strong that man is. I know. He had no clue. I was there. You was a fly on his back. But I mean, like middle of last year with the schedule. And again, we part of the in season tools that we provide is the strength of schedule and the projections of where weaknesses are at tight in. And it takes time to accumulate that. You cannot go into the year. and project every defense from last year to have the same weaknesses. It always changes. So it takes two or three weeks. Be a lot easier. Yeah, it takes two or three weeks at least to identify it normally four or five to get real meaningful data. And then you make those midseason adjustments. And both Najoku and Ferguson fit into that category of one, if you take them, don't stay hyper committed if it's not working out. And in Jason's case, like maybe it's just not worth the mid-round commitment if you can take a shot somewhere else. And if you like an upside talent later,

We need to move on to a chaotic number. Number eight. Kyle Pitts. Yeah. This is the one I said incorrectly with seven. This is the interesting one. Who's taking the shot on a- Nice misdirection. Yeah. I mean, Kyle Pitts is, it's all about embracing the chaos if you take Kyle Pitts. It's not, he's a fifth round pick. I mean, that's going to make it hard to do. He could be the best pick in the draft. Can he be the number one tight end? Yeah. No. I want to say yes. Man. What have you said no? I'm going to say no. Yeah, that's what I would do. Because otherwise you're the guy who said yes to that. And that's not. I mean, Kyle Pitts is a new offense, new quarterback yards as a rookie. Yeah. A thousand. But he couldn't turn left last year.

You know, you saw that in his film. Like, he was still struggling with the knee. So if he's fully Zoolander. Yeah, he is. So if he's fully healthy. He had he had fewer yards the last two years combined than his rookie season. Yeah. And you, you really felt it. You saw he didn't look that great. I can't turn left. We're still hung up on. And I guess I just don't know if it's rightfully hung up. Like, he is not yet 24 years old. This is a young, young player who genuinely is the best tight end prospect I've ever seen. Who among us wouldn't want to be the one that drafted him and got what you wanted? Oh, man. That's the tantalizing prospect of Kyle Pitts is. He could be a league winner for where he's going. He's being drafted, you know, is whatever. Is he really being drafted as the titan six? Yeah, he is.

And right now we all have him below that. We have him at seven. I have him at seven. Mike at A. Jason at nine. But I would like to pay the Njoku price. I would be comfortable with that risk. Looking back, just trying to remember. I know injuries play into it. But as a rookie, he had Matt Ryan. He had a great quarterback. And then he's had just pure. Trash. If you watch Desmond Ritter play preseason football, you might not know how trash it was, but it was trash. And it comes down to Kirk Cousins and your belief in the recovery of his Achilles and the new coaching philosophy that I, Kyle Pitts is a very difficult player because the, the emotional destruction of the last two years from Kyle Pitts has been immense, but he is, Ikea.

You want to find athleticism in a tight end. You're not going to find more than Kyle Pitts. And you ask about the offense and the pecking order, because usually to be a very good, a high-end tight-in that is great for fantasy, you have to be either the number one target for the office or the number two target for the offense. It doesn't work if you're beyond that. And are you scared of Darnel Mooney? That's the thing. It's like, who's the number two target in this office? Obviously, it's Drake London number one. And then it very well could be Kyle Pitts.

He can achieve that role, whereas, you know, that's where when we talk about Kittle, it's a little harder because of all the people in front of him. You know, if Pitts were to slide in a draft, if you're in a draft where nobody is a believer and he's falling to the eighth round, I will take a shot because I see the path for high, high upside, but I'm passing by him. I mean, I haven't, I have zero shares of him right now in the fifth round. This price is not, I'm not doing it. Wait, so if I'm. Kyle Pitts is being drafted before George Kittle? Yeah, and that's no. No, no, no, no, no. That's incorrect. Is that what you were going to say? Yeah, no. That's just flat out wrong. Yeah. All right. Well, we'll take a break and talk about George Kittle in a minute. All right. You guys just reacted to the fact that our number seven tight end is being drafted behind Kyle Pitts. Number seven. This is a travesty. That'd be George Kittle. I draft him before Kyle Pitts. Yeah, Mike has him at five.

Jason at seven. I'm at nine. I'm moving him up. We all have, we're all want, we all want the dust to settle. Now, you could move them up and then Iyuk stays. And then your opinion will revert. It isn't, it's actually the next time we're going to talk about that I would, I would personally much rather have Kittle over who we currently have at six. Oh. So. Yeah. Okay. We'll get there. I mean. Just lump them together then. Yeah, number six. Number six. Evan Ingram. We can talk about them both at the same time. Yeah, so. Who I have higher. We, we. I believe we've got him as the mark of the beast. I believe we all have them at tight end six, which is how many Mark of the Beast references do you try to get into his show? However many there are. I can't stop seeing the beast. He's everywhere. If I see it. I say it.

I call it out. See something. Say something. Okay. Even when it has to do with the beast. Look, I was only a piece of it. Okay. I'm only one of the six. Didn't you say you were going to change? I am. I'm changing. So he's no longer going to be Mark of the Beast. Kyle, are you actually tracking it? Kyle just made that made that up. Oh, Kyle said 39 times. Don't do that. Kyle. When you say stuff, I believe it. Let us know when he hits 666 on the references. The Mark of the Beast at the Mark of the Beast.

Squared. Oh, okay, so George Kittle and Evan Ingram. Let's talk about those two guys and whether they should be drafted in that higher range area. Here's the thing with George Kittle. George Kittle, I always want to say he's going to be inconsistent because his lows are low. When they have a game plan that is not his, he can go out there and score 1.4 fantasy points, 0.6 fantasy points, 3.4. He's not, he's a blocker that game. But also, he is unbelievably great. And if you look back at the last three years, he's been the Titan four, the Titan three, the Titan five. Top five all three years. And then you do have the built in like maybe Brandon Ayuk does get traded. I'm in the opposite camp for sure. I want slow and steady. Give me the tortoise. Evan Ingram was the Titan two last year. They lose Calvin Ridley. They don't know what they have in Brian Thomas yet.

They don't have Zay Jones. I am all about getting the steadiness of Evan Ingram as opposed to the occasional Superman performances from George Kittle. Kittle had three times last year. He's the number one overall on a week. That's not Evan Ingram's game normally, but the volume is just outrageous. So I am on the Ingram side, Mike. How do you weigh you? I have Kittle just one spot ahead of... Because I don't have the numbers in front of me. We'll see if we can pull those up. Jason, is that your phone? No. What? Was what my phone, Mike? I couldn't let that one go. It was too long. Some other shows may edit. Some other shows may hide, but we shame here on the fantasy footballer. No idea what you're talking about.

And why is your laptop ringing? Why do you have your laptop set to ring like a phone? I don't know how to make my laptop stop calling. When I get a phone call comes through my laptop, how do I turn your feet? Do you pick it up and hold it up like a phone? Hello? I'm into cinema. Hello? Oh, man. Yeah, no, someone after the show, show me how to turn that feature off of my laptop. It's so stupid. Why do you do that, Apple? No one wants to answer a phone call on their laptop. We always say if somebody doesn't mute something and the sound comes through that you get slimed like Nickelodeon, like it drops from the rafters. Like if we had that, it would be great. That would be so fantastic. It was what I was going to bring up was like since Brock Purdy has been the quarterback, like,

George Kittle had a couple games, of course, last year. But he was, let's see, he's a B inconsistency for us. Same as Evan Ingram, despite all those targets. And his upside is just, it's greater than Evan Ingram. Ingram is not a touchdown guy. That's just, it's not part of it. And the concerns of when he went turbo over the second half of last year, talking about Evan Ingram, it aligned perfectly with when Christian Kirk missed time. because Kirk can take those underneath routes as well. So that's where the tiebreaker is for me. I like it makes sense. If you're in a PPR. No, you have historically hated him and I've always loved him. How dare you? That's exactly. If you go back to the archives, mute and then play them on mute, you will hear that. Just under 40% of Evan Ingram's total points last year came in three games. He had that outrageously high 27 point game.

where he had the multiple touchdowns. You know, he basically had three monstrous weeks, but he had a lot of that season where he was unused. He was just not that great for fantasy. It's fair. I mean, he had, it's a really weird situation between the two because he almost, he literally almost doubled George Kittles' receptions. Like Kittles at 65, England was at 114, and yet you're right. I mean, it is a different recipe. And maybe. Maybe the steadiness of Ingram is not what you're looking for. It just depends on like, what's the draft cost difference? It's about a round different. Like if Ingram slipped into the seventh round and I can get that instead of paying for Kittle, that's just my personal conviction. These names are why I think it's important in for the footland out there. I think you should get one of the next five we're talking about. And just real quick to because Evan did finish as the tight end two.

in a half-point scoring format with 173 points. Georgie Porgy was tied in five with 170 points, and he didn't play in week 18. Like, George Porgy? Yeah, I mean, if Kittle had played the final week of the season and given one of his vintage garbage performances. he probably would have finished as the Titan 2. Well, and not only that, but Evan Ingram in that final week, wasn't that the week? Oh, yeah, they were going for the record. They were manufacturing him, trying to get him the record. So a lot of his fantasy points when he was the Titan 1 that week were like, look, I will not stand for this Engram horse garbage. Time is a flat circle. It is.

Number five. All right. We're going to blitz these top five because you know the names and just say something interesting about them and we'll go through them. Dalton Kincaid comes in at number five, four for Jason and I, Mike at seven. There are a lot of questions in the offense in terms of. What are you? You're eyeing my number seven? Yeah. Yes, I am. He's looking down upon you with his haughty eyes. I do not. Unless George Kittle has an outlier touchdown season, I don't see these five not finishing these five, barring injury. They're established to me. It's a huge tear break. Do you see what he sees? No, Mike does not. I think that Kittle is fine. Or not Kittal, I'm sorry. Dalton Kincade is, like the ADP is fine. If you want to take the chance that he really is the number one guy for Josh Allen, then he will pay off massively. But if he just is.

you know, kind of the mixed in and he's sort of the leader of the passing attack. And then it will just be an okay pick. Number four. He's on the, he's on the back wall today. Trey McBride comes in at number four. He is my number three tied in. Jason's five. And Mike's number one overall tight in for the year. We ride for McBride. You are on the Trey McBride. It was such an impressive. into the season for Tray McBride. Ended the year 81 for 825 and 3. Didn't have target competition in the offense. He does now. Yeah. Across, you know, second year of Michael Wilson and then obviously Marvin Harrison and Zay Jones and the human dorge. But McBride has got his role in this offense. It's just a matter of how high will he go. Yep. One is a very aggressive projection in Ranking for Tray McBride. I will not.

It's as aggressive as a ranking can get. I'm not going to say that it's not a lock. Like, yeah, for sure. But it's just that's where my numbers ended up because he was, he came through to be the player that they thought they had drafted. It just took a little bit of time as it does for most tight ends. Last year he was second among tight ends and yards per route run. was getting a huge target share. Yeah, if Marv eats into the target share, that's fine because the offense will be better. Far more scoring opportunities, far more opportunities for actual red zone targets, and like they design screens for the guy. He is a full, well-rounded pass catcher who is not just, I'm going to catch it and fall down. So I'm going to make a really strong aggressive catch, and then I'm going to try and yak.

From Weeks 10 on, which are the Kyler Murray weeks last year, obviously no Marv there yet, but he was on a 17-game pace with Kyler of 112 receptions. That is outlandish. So close to Ingram. Except the athleticism and the tackle-breaking ability to do something with it. There's another stray. Just worked it in. It's worked it in. All right. So McBride at 4. Number three. Andrews comes in at three. Jason and Mike have him at two. I got him at five right now. It's just a little bit of a lack of confidence on the week to week of what Baltimore's offense is going to be. But Andrews has been as consistent. Like it's other than saying that this guy has dealt with injury, which has happened, it's you can't really hold any argument against him from a consistency standpoint. Even in the games he played last year, he didn't take a.

hit on yards per reception he was still involved he's always been a touchdown score he's going to be a go-to player around the end zone and they don't have anybody else so he has hit since did the breakout of year two for mark andrews he's posted double-digit points per game in every single season like he is maybe he's five but like andrews feels locked in. The only thing that can take Andrews out of this is injury. Yeah, if he's on the field, he's in your lineup and he's scoring you 10 plus points. That's very rare at the tight end position. Number two. Last year's impressive, shocking, breaking Jason's brain rookie, Sam Leporta, who finished at number one, comes in at number two on our rankings. I've got him at two, Jason and Mike both at three.

Most receptions is a rookie. Tide Gronk for the most rookie receiving tight ends. Second most tight end, first down, second most routes run ever among rookie tight ends. And one thing I'll bring about LaPorta and his chance to repeat because that is the big concern is touchdown regression, which could happen. I mean, it probabilistically, it. Probabilistically, that is correct. You don't need to say just probably. Probabilistically. But he's trying to get probability in there. Oh, I'm standing by it. I don't mind it. You're standing by probabilistically? Yeah. I stand by it because I know what he means. So it's a word now. Yeah, that's not. If I had said probably that you would not have known what I meant. That's weak. I'm saying based on probabilities. Probabilistically is probably with math. Can we get the deucers to weigh in here, Al? It's a word. Thank you. It is in a way. Thank you. Hit the check. Oh, I got.

I don't even have the check anymore. Yeah, let's go ahead and there we go. I got you. Yeah, I was just using English, Jay. That's a real word. Yeah. Probabilistically? Yeah, because Mike knew exactly what I was talking about. In a way based on or relates to how likely it is that something will happen. It's probably with math in it. Probabilistically, that's amazing, Andy. It's a mouthful. Yes. Especially with a fake tooth. Oh, man. Eat it, Jason. Here's what I was going to get to because we've talked a lot about these players. The new insight on LaPorteur to me is the fact that there's still reports from camp that they don't have enough in the receiving game. That losing Josh Reynolds is going to be a bigger blow than they expect. That Jameson Williams, he's explosive, but he is not a possession receiver. And so I think Sam LaPorte, like the offense doesn't function with that. Like it just doesn't. Like what made them great last year was very, very much.

connected to what Sam Leporto offers the offense. And there was nothing that you saw that was unrepeatable to me. Like, you know, Rob Grankowski, probably should not have scored doubles as touchdowns as many times as he did. But sometimes... I feel like that one should have been probably. There was no math in there. No, no, still the same. There was math in there. The problem is that... Now, that's a different word. Problem is another, it's our same letters, but different meaning. Gronk went from 10 to 15 sometimes. He went from 10 to 13 sometimes. So I just don't want to undermine what Laporta did. Like punish him for breaking records and then saying he's not an outlier. Like that is kind of what happens. You get tight ends that become touchdown machines. And, you know, I wouldn't want to bet a significant amount of money against Laporta scoring double digits. The problem statistically that I have,