In the last part of our series on player value at each best ball site, we will cover the tight end position.
Because FFPC is TE premium (1.5PPR), we won’t talk about ADP but rather focus on the different positions as they come off the board.
There are a lot of late-round TEs I am interested in this year, making 3 late TEs builds viable.
First, a couple of important points on each site.
Best Ball Scoring Differences:
- Underdog is half PPR, so TDs are more important. That makes late TEs who are on good offenses more likely to get TDs
- DraftKings offers bonuses for 100 yards receiving that make the elite TEs more important
- FFPC is TE premium. This tends to move up all TEs even though certain TEs receive more targets and others do not.
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Discounted Best Ball Tight Ends:
- Travis Kelce is coming off a remarkable year where not only did he crush but all the second tier TEs failed miserably. He will be 34 in season and is going very early. You can’t avoid him, but he is not someone I plan to be overweight on.
- Before his injury, Mark Andrews was averaging one point less per game than Kelce. He played hobbled and lost his QB when he came back. He is someone to really focus on Draftkings where he got the bonus in 33% of his starts pre injury.
- T.J. Hockenson is TE 3 on all sites. He went from 6 targets to 9.5 targets per game after the trade. The team added Jordan Addison, but Hockenson should still receive a lot of targets, making him most interesting to me on FFPC.
- George Kittle is TE 4 on all sites. His big play on lower volume profile fits best on Underdog, and he is most overpriced on FFPC.
- Kyle Pitts is TE5 on all sites. Coming off a disappointing season, you are not getting much of a discount, but he still profiles as a stud athlete who could end up TE1 if things fall right. I like him best on DraftKings where the bonus is in play.
- Dallas Goedert is TE6 on all three sites. A very talented player but the clear No. 3 option on a team that scores a lot of its TDs on quarterback sneaks, he is not a priority for me this year. He averaged fewer than 6 targets per game.
- Darren Waller is a high-risk, high-upside play that I really like this year. He goes seventh on all three sites and is easily stacked with his quarterback, unlike Kelce, Andrews, and Hockenson. Kittle and Pitts both have questionable quarterbacks. Waller is the likely #1 receiver on the Giants playing for a coach who should scheme him up well.
- Evan Engram is TE8 on all sites. He could be the fourth option on his team some weeks, and I like him least on Underdog as he only scored 4 TDs in a career year.
- Pat Freiermuth is very talented but has a questionable quarterback and a sneaky talented rookie tight end addition that could scarf red zone looks. 9th on two sites and 10th on Underdog, I like the player, but he has been a hard click for me since I like so many later TEs.
- David Njoku is still only going to be 27 this year. He had 80 targets last year but gets a full season with Deshaun Watson. He is a very interesting first TE in 3 TE builds on all three sites.
- Dalton Schultz is 11th, 12th, and 14th on half PPR Underdog. He fits best on FFPC where his ability to get open for short catches is a benefit in the TE premium format.
- Chig Okonkwo is 11th or 12th on all three sites. He is best drafted on Underdog where his lower possible volume and big plays are an asset.
- Dalton Kincaid is in my view suffering from rookie hype and is a fade. I would rather draft Dawson Knox later, especially on Underdog.
- Greg Dulcich is next and my most-rostered TE. Questions about his role are keeping his price down. I am happy to bet on talent and a coach with a clue, especially on FFPC.
- Cole Kmet, Gerald Everett, Irv Smith, and Juwan Johnson are in a tier together. All of them are guys who I tend to only take when I have a stack or a Week 17 correlation. Kmet and Johnson both showed upside, however, so I wouldn’t hate it if you wanted to take them anyway.
- Sam Laporta's and Michael Mayer's ADP have been falling on all sites, and I love mixing them in along with another rookie, Luke Musgrave. While rookies often start slowly, in 3 TE builds having one of these guys could really pay off in the playoffs once they have more experience and injuries thin lineups.
Late Tight End Targets:
- Mike Gesicki showed inconsistency but some huge spike weeks before last season. He is one of my most rostered TEs.
- I have come around on Hayden Hurst as a guy who has very little talent around him at receiver and a rookie quarterback who might love to dump the ball off.
- Isaiah Likely and Jelani Woods are super talented, but their role is a question. As you should know by now, I LOVE betting on talent, especially late.
- Dak Prescott loves throwing to TEs and Jake Ferguson should be first in line. He could have a much bigger role than his ADP covers.
- Tyler Conklin has Aaron Rodgers throwing him the ball and has shown aptitude as a receiver.
As stated, that is a lot of late TEs to like. You could even throw in Trey McBride, especially now there are rumors Zach Ertz could be cut. Ertz is tough for me because he obviously has slowed down and is coming off an ACL injury, but his price is so cheap if he ends up in the right spot.
In general, I like late TE best on Underdog where you don’t need a lot of catches if you catch a TD, but it is viable on all three sites.
This is part of a best ball strategy series from expert best ball player Tod Burros.
