Fantasy Football 2018 - The TRUTH About Fantasy TEs in 2017

that is just going to make him in the pocket more and look to his number one option, which is Zach Kurt. So I've got no worries there in the slightest. My love affair I had with Zach Kurtz this year was because he had every indication he could be a top five tight end and he was going in the eighth, ninth round. He was free. He was free. And so that's why he was one of my three. My guys this year, no, I mean, he's going to be, he's going to him and Kelsey.

will both be around that third round, is my guess, based on what we've seen from Jordan Reed in the past. And there's no way I'm spending a third round pick on a tight end. That's what I was going to ask. These onesie positions, even though you talk about, well, if you didn't have one of these top guys, then you're bust over half the time. That's not the truth. If we're talking the truth, all the other guys, if you have, you know, Kyle Rudolph or Jack Doyle or Delaney Walker, like,

Those aren't just plug in and play every single game. Guys, you do play the matchup. You're going to sit them in bad matchups. You're going to stream, you know, a Ben Watson when he's playing the Browns and have a great game. So I would rather just punt the whole position and stream. Next year, I hope that there is an arrow pointing up guy. I think there will be. There usually is in that 8, 9, 10 range. That's who I'll have my love affair with next year. Number four, Jimmy Graham.

The consistency rank of number five. 16 games, 57 receptions, 520 yards. 10 touchdown. Touchdown. Oh, my goodness. That's what Jimmy Graham was all about. 10 bailouts. Jimmy Graham's nickname should be Big Bank. Okay. He is, this is a big bank guy because he has received the bailouts this season. I look at his numbers.

And it's one of those things where it's like, man, he stinks, except he was, he didn't hurt you in fantasy. He helped you in fantasy. He played, this is from our 25 stats article. Jimmy Graham lined up for only 68% of his team's offensive snaps, 25 other tight ends in the league saw more playing time. Yeah, he, he was, he was used when it, where it mattered. Yes, he was used in the red zone. He got the touchdowns.

and you were fine starting him most weeks. He had a 38% bust rate, again, one of the only five guys under the 40%. He also, because of the touchdown numbers, almost 20% of the time, he had a big blowup week, and 50% of the time he had one of those good games. So you could rely on him this year. I don't believe you can rely on him going forward. Well, we don't know what team he's going to be on. If he goes back to the Saints,

he'll be overdrafted. That's my belief. I think people will want it to be Jimmy Graham of old, and if you just watch the tape, he's not Jimmy Graham. He looks old. He looks slow, which is weird for him. To be fair, for Jimmy Graham, the fact that he's even back coming off of that devastating injury, a tip of the cap to him for working his behind off, certainly to get back and be able to play.

But a man of that stature, I mean, he's 6'7. He's a big guy. He's 60. He's a ball player. He's got the boxout skills. And in the red zone, I mean, I definitely do want him to go to a team. If he goes to the Saints, that's still great for Jimmy Graham because they'll use him in the red zone. And he's already got a rapport with Drew Brees. But you're not going to get the yardage that you've had from him in the past where he was.

he was a wide receiver. Remember the contract talks when he was a free agent and all the debates. Changed his Twitter to from tight end to pass catcher. Yeah, because he didn't want to be franchised as a tight end and paid nothing when he is a valuable wide receiver. But you just look at the yards this year and, you know, you look at the yards of the top receivers or top tight ends and they're all, you know, really good 800 plus yards, a thousand plus yards. And then you got Jimmy Graham.

520 yards. You want to hear something incredible on this? The thought process, I'm sure, out there is Jimmy Graham. I mean, he's number four, four tight-in finish. He was good for your fantasy roster. I'm jumping a little ahead, so we will come back. Was Kyle Rudolph good for fantasy rosters? Hmm. Don't look at the numbers. I want you to know in your heart of hearts. Was Kyle Rudolph good for your fantasy roster?

I would say comparatively to the masses, yes. Because here's, here's Jimmy Graham's numbers once again, 57, 520, and 10. Here's Kyle Rudolph numbers, 57, 532, and 8. There's two touchdowns separating these guys, and people love Jimmy Graham, and Kyle Rudolph, who finished seventh amongst tied ends. I think that the public...

consensus about Kyle Rudolph was that he was kind of a bust for your team. Certainly. I agree with the notion of what you're saying. What's funny is if you look at how the touchdowns were... That's a difference. Kyle Rudolph didn't have as many explosive games. Yeah, he never had those games where he finished, you know, oh, he had multiple weeks where he's like the number one tied in because he had the multi-touchdown games. You know,

Give him two more. What's funny is you give him two more, and probably he did have a couple of those games. So it's an interesting thing to point out. Who would you rather have next year, Jimmy Graham or Kyle Rudolph? Let's say Jimmy Graham stays with Seattle. Stays with Seattle. So you've got apples to apples. Who's the quarterback for Minnesota? Case Keenham. Same as this year. Everything the same next year, because I would draft Kyle Rudolph. Who's drafted later?

Well, because it's going to be Kyle Rudolph. Without a doubt, be drafted later. He's not thought of as highly. He doesn't have the name that Jimmy Graham has. That's why I would rather go with the guy later. I completely agree. Back to number five. Rookie sensation, Evan Engram, actually consistency rank number four in 15 games, put up 64 reception, 722 yards, six touchdowns. He did have a nice goose game.

That helped me lose to Andy Holloway in the Dynasty League. You have a little bit of hatred in your heart. And then the final game in the championship week when I played yet again against Andy Holloway and he had an unfortunate rib injury. So the numbers for Evan Enging definitely could have been much better. But here's the thing. 64 receptions on 115 targets. Those numbers are bad.

Well, the 115 targets is incredibly good. But yes, the catch rate, not that great. And like we said earlier, he had 115 targets, but there was no Odell Beckham Jr. There was no Brandon Marshall who was signed to be that number two. For a lot of it, there was no Sterling Shepard. So he became the de facto one, and a lot of that will be going away. And that's to say nothing of a possible quarterback change. However,

What you did see from Evan Ingram this year was that he has the explosive playmaking speed that can do it on his own. You know, he could take that screen game and do what very few tight ends can do. And it helped fantasy owners. You could argue that Evan Ingram was more valuable than some, you know, if you want to take a look at.

cost in draft versus Engram was a waiver wire pickup. Exactly, versus a Travis Kelsey who finished better. There were only three players, according to our metrics at the tight end position, who finished well above average of the top 12, well above average in all three categories, big games, good games, and not having bust games. Evan Ingram is one of those three. So while you might remember the playoff week,

The championship game. Evan Ingram was great for my team. Yeah, he was amazing. He was fantastic. And I don't think they're going to go away from Evan Ingram just because they have other targets. You could always make the argument that those other targets help the offense produce more. Because the New York Giants as a whole, they were not the offense they can be if they have some of their other weapons. They've owed it back. And I just wanted to give people some context. So that was a catch rate of 55.7% for Evan Ingham.

Zacherts, 67.3. Travis Kelsey, 68%. Even Jimmy Graham, 59.4. Here's the real question is Eric Ebron. Mr. Drop it like it's hot. Mr. Dropski? I'm pulling it up right now. Because what's crazy with Eric Ebron. For Eric Ebron. That's what I mean. It was, there were a lot of plays. It didn't make sense.

I mean, you could say whatever you want about the quality of the targets coming from Eli Manning, but you watch the games. There were a lot of balls he should have caught. He had some drop problems. Rookie. Yes. Rookie tight-ins, I mean, like we said earlier, he had the best rookie tight-in game in recent history, and you can't just throw that out. Number six on this list, Delaney Walker, consistency rank of seven.

He played the whole season, 74 for 807 and three touchdowns. He had 111 targets. The problem with Delaney Walker, and this is why we didn't want to draft Delaney Walker is because in drafts, he was going as right, really right to be fair, where he finished. It was about that tight end six, but it's the price you had to pay for him in the draft, and you got zero percent of great.

games he was which is exactly what you'll get next year and probably what you got the previous year he's not a big take a game over blow up type of guy not anymore not anymore he was good 50% of the time however he busted 44% of the time and i guess and also to be fair for delany walker his quarterback was bad this year margis marriota regressed horrifically

So hopefully things get turned around next year. Maybe Jason's not so bullish with the hire of Mike Vrable. Well, the offensive coordinator is what's going to matter. But Mike Vrable's not going to touch the offense. So that's, that's TBD. But Delaney Walker, do you have any more notes on Walker? He's just, he's, he's getting, he's getting up there in age. Delaney, and John Smith.

is a tight-in rookie this year behind him who came in very had a pretty, didn't he tear his MCL right at the, in the playoffs? He did have a late season injury. He's supposed to be ready by the beginning of the year. But it just, it's one of those things where when you look at, you know, the contract and the future, Delaney Walker got much worse late in the season because he was dealing with injuries as well. Three of his last four games. That's true. He was. Three of his last four games were busts.

You know, just so you know, that's when the fantasy playoffs were. I don't think many people won a fantasy championship with Delaney Walker on their team, even if you helped get you to the playoffs. This is where if you're going to be spending a seventh round pick, you know, a sixth round pick on a tight end who will finish exactly where you're drafting him to finish, I would rather stream the position. This is, we said before the, before the show, there were five good tight ends.

everyone else was garbage. Right. And then we had this like, well, you don't think Delaney Walker was garbage. And maybe that's, he wasn't garbage. But he wasn't what you needed to win a championship. And that's all I care about. You can win a championship easier with streaming the matchups, I feel like, and getting those big blowup games and having a more solid running back wide receiver core because that's where you used your draft picks, then.

using that sixth, seventh round on Delaney Walker and being a guy that's going to make the playoffs. Delaney Walker. Drafting Delany Walker is like grabbing takeout from a restaurant that's about 25 minutes from your home. The food, it might be good if you can go there. When you get home after it's just sitting in the box, steaming itself in the styrofoam holders, you get home, you go, it's fine. It's fine.

Yeah. Number seven, we kind of talked about him already, but Kyle Rudolph, consistency rank of number nine. Kyle Rudolph and Jimmy Graham's season were very similar. Even Kyle Rudolph had 14 receptions on plays in the red zone. We talked about Jimmy Graham being utilized there for 14 receptions in the red zone. That's absolutely, that's ridiculous. That's tied with Alvin Camara. Yeah, for red zone completions. So.

I don't think there's, we don't really need to focus much more on Kyle Rudolph. Number eight, the man with the baby hands. That's so not fair to him, but it is his nickname according to this show. It may not be fair, but it's the right thing to do. Jack Doyle. Hold on to the ball, Jack. He does. It's,