Every year there are players throughout fantasy football that cause people at the end of the season to ask, “How did I not see that coming?” Whether it be caused by injury or the looming presence of another fantasy-relevant player on their team, these players fly under the radar and are then deemed “underrated.” Here are five underrated fantasy tight ends going into this season.
Rankings noted using FantasyPros half-PPR Expert Consensus Rankings (ECR) and Consensus ADP.
ECR TE6 | ADP TE6
Dalton Schultz crushed last season at the TE5 in weekly fantasy scoring. His upside this season is even higher as he could enter the top-three discussion at his position. In his first season with a featured role, he ranked 11th in yards per route run and 14th in targets per snap. With Michael Gallup questionable to begin the season at full health and only James Washington and Jalen Tolbert behind CeeDee Lamb, Schultz should easily carve out his role as the number two option in the Dallas passing attack.
– Derek Brown
ECR TE10 | ADP TE9
With DeAndre Hopkins missing the first six weeks of the season, Marquise Brown isn’t the only target beneficiary in theory for the Cardinals. Zach Ertz made a surprisingly smooth transition to the Cards in season. He finished as TE8 last year and should see 115 targets in 2022. Not to mention, he offers a nice first six-week upside with Hopkins out.
– Joe Pisapia
ECR TE17 | ADP TE15
Noah Fant has averaged 7.7 yards per target for his career despite playing with QBs Teddy Bridgewater, Drew Lock, Brandon Allen, Joe Flacco, Jeff Driskel, Brett Rypien and Kendall Hinton. If this guy had an actual passer, he might be a top-five tight end.
– Matthew Freedman
ECR TE19 | ADP TE16
It’s generally not advisable to wait around for sixth-year breakouts, but there’s reason to believe we’ll get one from David Njoku. QB Deshaun Watson could help fully tap the freakish athleticism that prompted the Browns to take Njoku in the first round of the 2017 draft. Njoku averaged a career-high 13.2 yards per catch and nine yards per target last season but saw only 53 targets. There’s room for a volume increase since TE Austin Hooper has left for Tennessee and the Browns don’t have a lot of firepower at WR.
– Pat Fitzmaurice
ECR TE20 | ADP TE24
If healthy, Logan Thomas has a chance to be a surprisingly good TE in fantasy this season. At his peak, Carson Wentz funneled many targets to Zach Ertz back in the day and Thomas has already shown TE1-worthy attributes over his short career. He could easily be the No. 1 target in this offense.
– Joe Pisapia
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