Fantasy Football 2017 - Top 12 Tight Ends + Sleepers

He's the first reading the offense. Yeah. Pun intended. I see what you did. And if you had read, early on last year, you were disappointed. And that was because for whatever reason, Washington was not targeting him in the end zone. They corrected that. But he is, he is equally, he is on par with Rob Gromkowski when it comes to injury risk. But.

See, that's where, so. Joy, you don't think that they're the same? I don't think they're the same. I think Jordan Reed is a significantly higher injury risk than Rob Grancke. Like you said, Reed has never finished with, you know, with a season worth of games. Gronks had two years where he's played 16, two years where he's played 15. I completely agree with you when you say that there are two difference-making tight ends. Jordan Reed is up there with Gronk. My whole reason where I put Gronk by himself.

Is injury risk, and that might sound hypocritical because Gronk has his own. But I don't think it's as significant as Reed. Who is injured right now? The difference between their injuries is Gronk has been more injury prone to major injury. And Reed has been more prone to concussions, more prone to smaller injuries that keep him out. And he plays through his shoulder strain or pain. That was not just pain. I mean, his...

His scapulet was removed from his body. Well, that's not good. No, not good. And the truth is Jordan Reed is likely, if you want to talk dynasty leagues for a second, Jordan Reed is probably one big concussion from done. I can't imagine that he will be back in the NFL. If he sustains another concussion and he seems to be more likely to get them.

documented cases dating back to college. That's in the, yeah, six in the last six years. Oh, my. That's not good. So, yeah, that's where I say. I just think Jordan Reed, every bit is talented for fantasy football purposes, but his injury risk is. But he's three rounds later. The way that I view it, I don't think Jordan Reed plays the majority of the season as in more than half of the games. I have a note to move him down. Well, if there's anything that's coming through these tight-in discussions so far, it's that.

you can make the decision to play to win with the tied-in position and hope that the guy you take, if you take one of these top-in guys, is healthy. And the odds of that being the case are maybe a coin flip. So let's talk about somebody who has been healthy the majority of the time. Travis Kelsey. Not when he came into the league. No, not when he came into the league, but the last three years he's finished in the top 10. He slowly put together this.

consistency that you hope for from a tight end. Not a touchdown producer, but last year in 16 games, Kelsey, 85 for 1125 and 4. I have them at 4. Mike and Jason both have them at that three spot. And I heard another fantasy expert talk about 1,300 yards as a possibility for Travis Kelsey. Do you buy into that as a possibility in this offense without Jeremy Macklin? Because he's pretty much, you know, him and...

Tyree Keller going to soak up passing targets. But what does that mean? What is his real ceiling? And is he maybe the best balance of security in terms of health with draft position going in the fourth round? Or would you not touch him there? I would not grab him in the fourth round. But to speak to your point, possible? It's possible because the team, when Macklin got injured last year.

for a stretch of games, they finally turned the offense over to Zeus and unleashed him. And that's when he started that reign of dominance where he finished with over 100 yards for four straight games. For the first half of the year, was just fine. It's really when that offense shift happened. So the question is, do you buy into the chief saying, okay, we've proven this in concept. Maybe that's a part of why they were okay letting Macklin go. Not so much.

that Tyree Kills ready to be the one. They think maybe Travis Kelsey is ready to be their one. But the problem with Kelsey is he doesn't score touchdowns. He had four last year. His number one season, which we always talk about, end of season rankings can be misleading. But last year he was the number one tight end. But 2015, he would have been sixth with the points he had. 2014, fourth, 2013, fourth. So it wasn't.

necessarily the rank the rank kind of excuse the wall the entire water level came down for tight ends last year and Travis Kelsey just happened to be the the healthiest boat right which he happened to stay at the top right so it's not that I dislike him at all I love Kelsey I think he's a lock for a thousand yards but if you're going to get that four to six touchdowns yet again from Kelsey it's you're going to be disappointed with that fourth round pick let me ask you this Jason do you believe

that the water level rises again this year, or do we see another year like last year from the tight end position? I think from tight ends as a whole, you're going to see it mostly the same. There are a couple guys that might raise the...

you know, the feeling of the position. Raise the sewage. There wasn't really water last year. I think Rob Grunkowski will come back to form. And I think Jimmy Graham has a chance to also take a step forward. If those two guys perform at their ability for 15 or 16 games, then at the end of the year will feel like the tight-ins rose. But I believe the majority, you know, Titan 3 through 30, they're going to be what they were last year, which is not important.

All right, number four on our consensus rankings is my number three guy. Both of you guys have them at five, and I think my number three ranking is reflective of my feelings on this offense as a whole. It's Greg Olson. Look, if there was a player at the tied-in position that we accidentally skipped like Danny Woodhead from the running back show, it might have been Greg Olson because the respect paid Greg Olson. It's almost like he's boring.

with his levels of consistency. 6, 7, 4, 5, 3. That's his fantasy finishes since 2012. And if you want a player that will play all the time. Yeah, I was going to say, here, let me read you, the games played last few years. I'm not going to look. 16, 16, 16, 16, 16, 16. I mean, I just keep going and forever. So Jordan Reed and Greg Olson are both in the fifth round. Polar opposites of risk, in my opinion. And one guy has never played 16. One guy only plays 16. I like the...

I like the Carolina offense. I like the schedule. I like the opportunity for Cam to bounce back and the weapons. And I like Greg Olson. And that's why he's here. I think you put Greg Olson into your lineup and you're going to be winning that tight-in matchup against your opponent. You know.

nine out of ten times. He's very similar to Travis Kelsey in that he is an integral part to the offense. He will play the whole season, but he's not a touchdown, high, you know, super high win you a week because he had that monster.

game type of player. But Greg Olson will go later in the drafts because he is older, because he wasn't the number one tight end last year. So if I only could pick between Travis Kelsey and Greg Olson, I'd be taking Greg Olson in my drafts. Now, in Travis Kelsey and Greg Olson, the same percentage of the time last year. Am I remembering this correctly that Greg Olson is the first tight end ever to have a thousand yards three consecutive seasons? That is true, ever. Sorry, Dicka. That's why he's made number three.

Tight-in. And I get it. He's consistent, but he's, yeah, he's like Travis Kelso. You're right. The touchdowns just don't seem to be there for him. You know who the touchdowns do seem to be there for is our number five tight end, which is Tyler Eifford. Oh, so handsome. Once again. Oh, we're bringing that back. What's a harking back to two years ago when he just complimented the appearance of Tyler Evert. He's just a handsome man. Next on the tight-in list is Jimmy Graham.

Handsome Tyler Eifert is very similar to, you know, the high upside high injury risk tight-in mold that some of these guys are made in. His per-game basis is fantastic. You know, he was better than the number one tight-in overall last year, Kelsey, on a per-game basis. But the problem has always been with Eifert, his injury risk. So over under on games missed for Eifert, if it's.

You know, 13, what are you taking? Yeah. I'll take the under probably. Yeah, I probably would too. But he's just, when he's on the field, he's dominant. And unlike last year, he's healthy coming into the season. He didn't get hurt playing in the freaking Pro Bowl. And last year from weeks 8 through 14, he was the tied in one in points per game because he is, he is an unbelievable threat to score. Great on third down. Great in the red zone.

Yes, and while the yardage may not be there, we at least have evidence. We've seen flashes that Tyler Eifert can take over a game and be a hundred yard per game type of guy. Will the offense ever truly funneled through him unlikely? But for a position that is so skewed towards touchdowns, Tyler Eiffert in the sixth, back of the sixth round, early seventh round,

who is a threat for double-digit touchdowns. That's something that is very interesting to me in my playdraft bestball leagues. I have him in probably 80% of those leagues. He's one of those rare players to me that actually makes a difference in your scoring.

format. You know, most time the scoring changes get overinflated and people are so worried about, well, what about how do they rank in this? And the reality is ranking shift very little. But with the average draft position of Tyler Eifford, he's in the sixth round, whether he's in standard or whether he's in PPR. To me, he is a value if you're in a standard league where touchdowns rank supreme for the tight end, but not a value.

at the same spot in a PPR league. So I shift my thoughts on him completely, depending on which scoring format I'm in. We have an office league through the Sleeper Bot app that we just started up. We just finished that draft. It's only a six-te-team league, like with the people that are here in the studio with us. So everyone's team. Pretty good. But I'm making this point because everybody's team's loaded, and we all get a chance to draft a couple good tight-ins, generally. Mike sniped Tyler Eifer.

Yep. But he only did it because the round before I took Jimmy Graham. And I took Jimmy Graham ahead of Eifford in that situation because I did not want to pair Rob Gronkowski with Tyler Eifer. Jimmy Graham is number six in our consensus top 12 tight-in rankings. And I'm with Jason. We cannot forget the history of Jimmy Graham. Last year he's the fourth best tight-in. He obviously had the injury the year before. He had just moved to Seattle.

But the years prior, 3, 1, 1, 2, going back to 2011. Was he the tight-in 4 or tight-in 9? I had him at 4. Okay, I had him at 4. Oh, you're saying you are projecting 4. I was thinking last year. Yeah, I think last year he was the tight-in 4. Yeah, he had a great year last year. I'm verifying. 65 for 923 and 6 on 95 targets coming back from the injury. In his first 8 games, he was tied in 4.

It looks like in the second half he was tied in 12. Okay, so that might have been. But on the season, he did finish as the tight end four. Okay. There you go. There you go. Travis Kelsey, Greg Olson, Kyle Rudolph, then Jimmy Graham. Okay. Talk about offenses funneling through a piece like Travis Kelsey. It could very easily funnel through Jimmy Graham this year. It's the Jimmy Graham, Doug Baldwin. We know what Russell Wilson can do. And now he's a year healthier and he's the back of the fifth round.

What do you need to say about Jimmy Graham other than upside potential is there for a top three finish? I see my note. He was actually the tight end nine on points per game. He did finish in a time stretch. Yeah, that's because of all your Jordan Reed's and your Travis, your Tyler Eiferts and Gronks. Let's be clear. You weren't just confusing yourself. You confused all of us as well. Yeah, you're welcome. Come along with me. With Jimmy Graham, when he went to Seattle,

I was very worried about the way they utilized the tight end and whether or not any volume would be there for him compared to where he was coming from. People were like, oh, he's going to Russell Wilson, so he'll be a good pick. Then there was the injury, which was a horrific, very difficult to come back from injury. Most people do not. All of those things stacked up very, you know, opposed to a successful Jimmy Graham season. And Jimmy Graham-