The TRUTH About Fantasy TEs + Reaper Returns - Fantasy Football Podcast for 2/8

Beep, that's how Alan Robbins is flashing. Let me put it this way. Just go back a season. If Kenny Galladay signed in Atlanta, Kyle Pitts, excitement would be muddled. If Kenny Gallaudet were a free agent this year, it would be more exciting than the free agents were available. Assuming Adams. Is that how you feel about the class? Yeah, well, it's headlined by Devante Adams, but I just, I don't see a world where Adams. Yeah, you guys discuss that too, right? Yeah, I don't see him getting out of Green Bay.

The cap situation is tough. Yeah. Yeah. But I do think he's probably... You figure out of way. There's probably moments from a long-term deal there. Yeah, I mean... I don't think they'll franchise him. I think he's back with the long-term deal. Either way. I think Kyle Pitts is the third drafted tight-in and redraft next year. I think they'll take them ahead of Kittle. Who's they? The world. The people. The average draft position. Kelsey Andrews and then Pitts? Yeah. Kelsey Andrews. And I think that'll put them in...

Maybe the third. Yeah, third round. I mean, he reminds me a little bit of kind of where Andrews is gone in recent years. I mean, Waller's still going to be up there. Kittles still going to be up there. Yeah, I mean, those guys will be, I think. Let me ask you right now. Yeah. I mean, we don't know what the landscape was, but are you drafting Kyle Pitts over Kittle in Waller? Yes. Okay. Definitely over Waller.

And I think a head of Kittle. You just love Kyle Pitts, man. I do love Kyle. It's so ironic. I know. I know. You know, you know, I was painted as this Pitts Hater. I wasn't. You were also, you weren't just painted as a Pitts hater. You were painted as a Hawkinson lover. Yeah. Guilty is charged as well. Dawson Knox. I had some debates about Mr. Knox on Twitter, Dynasty Leagues. You love them. I love Dawson Knox. Yeah, I do. I love the, uh,

all the power-ups he has accumulated around him, which is long-term elite quarterback play, trustworthy offense, increased target share, like all of the externals to me, you know, super young. I mean, there's a lot I like about it. I think that the counter argument is a, there's some strong ones against Dawson Knox, which would be like, I don't know, he almost had a tunion type of season. You know, nine touchdowns. Nine's a lot.

It is. Could have given a couple to Kyle Pitts, and he would have appreciated it. But 49 for 587, that's not that, you don't write home about that. No. So you do have to project a little with Dawson Knox, and you have to make the, didn't we do this with Mark Andrews in year two, where you have to go, all right, volume will increase, touchdowns might regress. It should balance out and you've got yourself a top 10 tight end, top five tight in. Yeah, you do. The thing is.

Where is Dawson Knox going to be drafted? And I think it'll still be... It'll be late. Later, like, he could jump into that middle round where it's like the kind of almost that dead zone, deadish zone for tight ends where I prefer not to draft him. So hopefully he doesn't go in there. But if he's a bit later, Dawson Knox is very appealing to me. I think Dawson Knox will be an eighth rounder.

in redrafts next year somewhere. I think even later maybe. Yeah. If he's a double-digit guy, then I'll be about him because he can score the touchdowns. But the 49 receptions, I'm not super excited. And unlike Andrews, Andrews was this guy where you saw these flashes. Then the second year, he really took a step up. You know, this was Knox's third year after doing very little his first two seasons.

including, you know, last year with Josh Allen in a great breakout year. So I'm not a hundred, I'm more worried. You'll take Dallas Goddard over Dawson Knox, right? I would take Dallas Goddard over Dawson Knox. Yeah. I think most people will. I think I'll take a handful of guys over Dawson Knox. I'm less bullish. Yeah, I mean, that's fair. I, I, I'm also a big Gabe Davis fan. Yeah, yeah.

Mike, your thoughts on Dawson Knox's season, 27% great games, 40% good, 47% busts. He's one of seven tight ends with 9 plus receiving touchdowns on fewer than 50 receptions, which Hunter Henry did this year too. Sure, but I'd rather have Josh Allen as my fantasy reliant quarterback for the tight-in. I thought it was a very solid breakout season. You picked them up off the waiver wire for the most part.

And, yeah, tight-ins give you trash games, but the fact that he, like, at least every other game or so, he was coming through for your team helping you win a week. So I really like him moving forward. Hunter Henry was number nine, 29% good games, 18% great games, 53% busts. What was it? Well, it was 50 for 603 and 9. It was nine touchdowns. Is there any of us in this room not willing to dismiss this season?

Should we give him more credit? He was 11th inconsistency just on the outside edge. Everyone expected Johnny Smith to kind of, you know, them to cannibalize each other. No, I'm not. I'm not it.

So you're willing to dismiss it. I am willing to dismiss this year for the most part. I'm not excited. I still think that they need to build up the wide receiver core more. I think they will do that this offseason. I do love Mack Jones's future. I'm sure he's going to throw a lot of touchdowns. And Hunter Henry will be a beneficiary. If he's, if he's, you know, in those double digit rounds and all the guys I like are gone, I'd be fine to draft him. But I don't think this is that the.

you know, that the touchdowns were indicative of a guaranteed great season next year at all. Mike, any optimism for the 27-year-old Hunter Henry in year two with Mack Jones? He's my least favorite archetype of tight end. Right. Because I don't feel like I can trust playing him ever on any given way. It reminds me of Kyle Rudolph with Minnesota. Where...

I close my eyes when I put them in the lineup and just hope I get the touchdown because if you don't, you don't get like, I don't know, number 15 on the week. You get number 35 on the week or 44 or 67. You get goose. Yeah, call me crazy, but I prefer for my Titans to not bust the majority of their games. And he busted the majority of his games. For me, it's more of just the growth. Like Hunter Henry is a very good, capable NFL.

Tight end. Agreed. But we're five years into the career. At this point, it just... Yeah, five years and he's peaked at number nine. The probability of him taking another step for fantasy football purposes is just... It's very low historically. Not that he can't because he's good, but with the system that I think that they will continue to run with Mac Jones, it's really hard to see a world where...

Hunter Henry improves drastically on this. All right. I want to talk about Dallas Goddard, T.J. Hawkinson and Darren Waller to close out our tight entry segment. Dallas Goddard ended up 10th with a consistency rank of 7, which was pretty much what he was doing the whole year. 47% good games, 13% great, 40% bust. It really was dominant against bottom 16 defenses, almost 13 points a game.

really bad against top defenses? You know, and that kind of makes sense to me that he was bad against top defenses. Because Jalen Hertz was bad against top defenses. Like there were, he took advantage of matches that were to his favor and to his credit, he got it done. But then it seemed like there were games that he got stifled and it seemed like everybody felt it. Whether was Devante Smith having a bad week, Dallas Goddard. Now, Dallas Gotter was number one among tight ends and yards per target and yards per outrun.

Those are great metrics for presuming future success. Like those things, when you're doing those things, usually the counting stats will come in later. They didn't as much as you wanted this year. I think most people would be disappointed in what Dallas Goddard did, considering that Zackert was gone. Like, I would have been...

way higher on Dallas Goddard in draft season. If I knew Zach Ertz was going to leave, I thought he would dominate given the opportunity by himself. He didn't, but I still do like the talent of him. These metrics. He did okay. Yeah, no, and he wasn't bad. Midseason contract extension. He probably got another year of hopefully further developing Jalen Hertz. Yeah, I'll be pretty in on Dallas Goddard next year ahead of several of the people we just talked about. Hawkinson was.

Really a success story. Hawkinson just made me sad and angry. But then he wasn't, but then he kind of was, but then he kind of wasn't. Because he tricked us. I mean, his consistency rank was five. Yeah. He had 83 target, 61 for 583 and 4 in 12 games. He only busted 33% of the time, which for a tight end is actually a really solid number. So to answer the question, 50% good, yeah, 33% bust. So like, was he?

I think he was good. But was he, I mean, he didn't break out. Were you happy if you drafted him? I think that's the hardest question I've asked. No, you're definitely not. I can say no. Fifth round with all of those wide receivers that went in the fifth round, like that five, six area this year. Okay. You are not happy with what Hawkinson did.

Yeah, I would say that that's true. I mean, it's a sliding scale. It's all relative to who else you would have drafted. Were you happier with Hawkinson than Waller? Yes. Obviously, he didn't help you in the playoffs as he got injured and was shut down. But he did show enough flashes to where I, you know, look, going forward, it's going to be another debate. Hawkinson or Goddard? I'll go Hawkinson.

Even with the profile picture on his videos. Oh, time to dig in. Let's find out. What are we doing? Oh, yeah. Where are we getting these pictures, man? Well, that one was from the Dwarven Mines. Oh, my gosh. Also, get a bigger helmet, brother. I know the, I mean, okay. Now I'm on my way. Mike, yeah, you got to get in on this, man. Yeah. This is something special. Oh, yeah. He's in the Dwarven Mines with an extra small helmet on. Also, currently mid.

dump taking you got to check these pictures out wow but we only he's also working a forge at the exact same time do we get discounts on the picture pack if they're all taking a dump in the middle of it we just we like the constipation path impromptu you know off the cuff photos oh man he's die cut in this pose i mean if i'm putting this picture together i'm looking for another one all right so hawkinson he just he he's this was an homage to his former coach i think hawkinson proved

something to me this year, which is that he can have what I love at the tight-in position, which is week-winning weeks, right? He can go out and dominate a week. Finish number three for the first two weeks of the year. Finish number one overall in week eight, number four in week 13. So do you want to see more consistency? Of course. Stay healthy. Get some consistency on the offensive line. Put the offense in a position to have success. I mean, they ended the year fairly strong.

The future seems pretty bright for TJ Hawkinson. Has the draft capital. He's 24 years old. He won't cost you a fifth rounder. Are you a Dawson, Knox or Hawkinson, Mike? Oh, man. If ADP is not factoring in at all, I think I'll go Knox. Really? Yeah. Wow, that is such an easy Hawkinson for me. I think I would even have to say Hawkinson on that one. Darren Waller finished at number nine, inconsistency, 18 overall.

hurt over the last part of the year. You know, was this a case of starting too good to be true with the target totals at 18 targets in week one? Look, he was 55 for 6, 65 and 2. Okay. I mean, this was, this was a bummer because you had to invest third round, high third round draft capital on a player that.

Look, you draft a tight end that high. They have to win you weeks for the weeks that are there, and he didn't do it very often. And I'm not entirely sure why he still had enough targets coming his way, not 18 like in week one. And we talk about how that was such a letdown, but it wasn't like. How does that even happen in a game? I know how it. I want to bring this up. And to your question, Jason, do you worry about the lack of John Gruden?

because Gruden was famous for these quotes. He's the best player. I'm just going to find a way to get him in the ball, the targets. Like, did the team get better and pushed towards the playoffs because they had to go well other places in the offense? Yeah, I don't know. I mean, the reality is Gruden was there for the, you know, the first half of the season when after week one,