Navigating the latter parts of your startup draft gives you a unique opportunity to fill out your roster with players with varying degrees of upside.
We kicked things off by giving you four value picks at the quarterback position and followed that up with five players to target as values at the running back position. Today we’ll discuss one of the most inconsistent positions in fantasy football – tight end.
The landscape of the tight end position is relatively barren. You’re either rostering one of the top clear-cut options at the position or taking swings on players you hope have touchdown luck bounce their way. In 2022, the TE12 and TE24 in points per game were separated by only 1.8 in PPR formats (Darren Waller with 9.4 PPG & Kyle Pitts with 7.6 PPG).
Here are three tight ends worth targeting later in your startup drafts whose upside outweighs the acquisition cost.
- More Fantasy Football Advice
- Dynasty Startup Draft Primers: QB | RB | WR | TE
- Dynasty Rookie Primers: QB | RB | WR | TE
- Dynasty Rookie Draft Simulator
3 Dynasty Draft Value Targets: Tight End
All ADP referenced is provided courtesy of DLF.
Hayden Hurst (CAR): ADP 225.67 (TE34)
Hayden Hurst was a top-24 option at tight end both in overall finish and in points per game in 2022, and now he could end up as one of Bryce Young‘s most trusted targets in 2023.
After catching 52 passes for 414 yards and two touchdowns a season ago for the Cincinnati Bengals, he agreed to a three-year contract with the Carolina Panthers in free agency. Hurst saw 68 targets in an offense that featured star-level wide receivers in Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, and that could be the floor for him in 2023.
The Panthers traded their most accomplished wide receiver, DJ Moore, as part of the package to move up and select Bryce Young, and now the pecking order for targets is wide open. We know young quarterbacks like to lean on the tight end position, and Hurst could easily play his way into a top-24 finish again in 2023, if not higher.
Tyler Higbee (LAR): ADP 221.33 (TE31)
After leading the Rams in targets in 2022, Tyler Higbee figures to remain one of the top options for Matt Stafford in 2023. Cooper Kupp will be returning from injury and should assume his rightful place atop the pecking order for targets, but outside of him, no one is cemented into that number-two spot.
Van Jefferson expects to have a bounce back, but the Allen Robinson experiment didn’t pan out for Los Angeles, and Tyler Higbee could easily remain a top-three target on this team.
It’s reasonable to expect him to see between 75 and 100 targets in the Rams’ passing attack, and if that happens, he will easily outperform his current TE31 price tag. It’s not often you can get such a discount on a player who finished as a top-six option a season ago, and this is one you should pounce on.
Trey McBride (ARI): ADP 160.33 (TE21)
DeAndre Hopkins has moved on from the Arizona Cardinals, and plenty of targets are up for grabs in Arizona.
Trey McBride was a proven pass-catching weapon at Colorado State. After a relatively quiet rookie season, you can add him to your roster in startups for a highly palatable cost. He saw 39 targets in his rookie season, and it would not be a shock to see that number climb toward 70 in year two.
We know he can handle a large target share when given the opportunity. In his senior season at Colorado State, he hauled in 90 receptions for 1,121 yards. McBride still has the ceiling of a top-12 dynasty tight end but for low-end TE2 prices.
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