There are a few tight ends who pose some big red flag emojis to me right now. Granted, things can and will change quite a bit before September, but here are a handful of TE’s who will need a healthy dose of the aforementioned change to climb up my draft board.
Rankings based on our half-PPR Experts Consensus Rankings
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Rob Gronkowski (TB): TE11
Are we even sure Gronk plays again? The career-long Robin to Tom Brady’s Batman, it feels as though Gronk may fall into the tight end abyss without Brady under center. Gronkowski is an unrestricted free agent this offseason, as well. I can’t think of many places he could end up where I’d draft him over Pat Freiermuth, Tyler Higbee, Cole Kmet, and a few other TEs who are still under contract with their respective teams.
Hunter Henry (NE): TE14
Per FantasyPros Expert Consensus Rankings, Henry is the TE10. I don’t see much of a ceiling at this price compared to Pat Freiermuth, Dalton Schultz (if he returns to Dallas), Logan Thomas, Cole Kmet, Tyler Higbee, and a few others. Henry’s ceiling is limited by the Patriots’ tendency to run the football and their plethora of decent receiving options. Henry had the chance to set himself significantly apart from Jonnu Smith, Jakobi Meyers, Kendrick Bourne, and Nelson Agholor in 2021. While we can argue about which player we’d rather throw to, he wasn’t head and shoulders more impressive than the rest. Sure, he led the Patriots in red zone targets. However, his snap counts, which are usually a good indicator of chances to see a target, weren’t exciting. He cleared 80% of offensive snaps just five times in 17 games.
Noah Fant (DEN): TE12
Don’t get me wrong, I really like Noah Fant. I think he’s talented and has a ton of potential. However, last year proved, for him, that volume trumps talent. In 2021 below-average quarterback play and the presence of Courtland Sutton, Jerry Jeudy, Tim Patrick, Albert Okwuegbunam, and two good running backs proved to be enough to saturate Fant’s talent and potential.
Robert Tonyan (FA): TE21
Tonyan, by all accounts from reporters in Green Bay, is a great teammate and hard worker, but for fantasy football purposes, I am and have always been all-out. His low snap counts in his one productive season (2020) were a huge red flag. I don’t see a situation in the NFL better than the one he had in Green Bay, and even in that situation, he totaled only 204 yards in eight games last season. Now, he’s an unrestricted free agent. Tonyan is worth a look if he becomes a clear-cut starter somewhere, but barring a mid-season injury, I’m not sure that opportunity is out there.
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TJ Horgan is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from TJ, check out his archive and follow him @tjhorgantv.