Let’s dive into fantasy football quarterbacks and tight ends we’re targeting in every draft possible. Here are a few of our must-have quarterbacks and tight ends to target in your upcoming fantasy football drafts.
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Fantasy Football Must-Have Quarterbacks & Tight Ends
As NFL offenses continue to expand into more diverse and exotic passing attacks, the quarterback-tight end relationship has grown with it. Tight end is no longer a position where you either draft Rob Gronkowski or wait until round 12 to grab someone who might score seven touchdowns. In recent consensus average draft position (ADP), 11 tight ends are selected in the top 100 picks.
Consider tight-end usage in the last 10 years. In 2023, 19 teams distributed more than 100 targets to tight ends. Of those teams, six had tight end rooms that accumulated more than 150 targets. In 2014, just 17 teams had at least 100 tight end targets with just three teams topping 150.
As the position grows in fantasy football importance, so does its entanglement with the quarterback position. In this piece, we will look at them together and examine three quarterbacks and three tight ends who are must-draft players at different levels of a traditional half-PPR draft.
Jalen Hurts (QB – PHI)
Now fully stocked after the out-of-nowhere trade for Jahan Dotson, this Eagles’ passing game is full of playmakers all over the field. Jalen Hurts still leads an offense that plays to his strengths in and around the goal line. Yes, you will have to reach to get him by the mid-third round in most drafts, according to fantasy ADP, but this level of production is worth the opportunity cost of another skill-position player at that point in the draft. He has the potential to score as many rushing touchdowns as the top running backs and he could easily throw for 30 touchdowns. He is two players in one; a cheat code.
Jalen Hurts
AJ Brown
DeVonta Smith
Jahan Dotson
Saquon Barkley
Dallas GoedertNearly 1,700 pounds of offensive line
Kellen Moore’s system/playcalling
This is UNREAL ????pic.twitter.com/DP83m6WDNG
– Eagles Fan Central (@EagleFanCentral) August 22, 2024
Hurts finished as the QB2 in fantasy scoring in 2023 thanks to the rushing touchdowns, and there are no signs that part of the offense is slowing down. There are worries about Saquon Barkley stealing work, but I think Barkley needs to be more afraid of Hurts than Hurts does of Barkley. The Eagles’ offense has a very middle-of-the-road level of difficulty in their schedule, which is surprising considering the nature of the NFC East. In Kellen Moore we trust, however, and he should be able to get everything he possibly can out of Hurts.
Anthony Richardson (QB – IND)
If anyone is going to rival the number of fantasy points Lamar Jackson or Jalen Hurts gets on the ground, it’s going to be Anthony Richardson. Now fully healthy after several injuries that caused him to miss 13 games in 2023, Richardson is not sneaking up on anyone this year and is on many, many fantasy draft cheat sheet lists predicting his breakout season. Certain mock drafts around the industry have seen him go off the board as the number three quarterback overall. A QB3 season is certainly within his range of outcomes, but the good news is his price tag isn’t anywhere near that night.
Richardson, as we enter late August, is the consensus QB6 in drafts and is going around pick 49. That’s into the fourth round in 12-team drafts, meaning a fantasy manager can roster an anchor running back and two stud wide receivers before circling back to take Richardson and his potential for 3,500 yards passing and 1,000 yards rushing. In parts of just four games last season, Richardson already had four rushing touchdowns, so that part of the game is ready. Any incremental improvements in his passing game going into his sophomore season give Richardson the potential to be a top-four quarterback in 2024.
Jordan Love (QB – GB)
If 2023 is defined as the year Jordan Love officially had a breakout season, 2024 might be seen as the year Love vaults his way into the top five for years to come. Playing half the season without Christian Watson and another six games without Aaron Jones, Love finished number five in fantasy points per game and number eight in fantasy points per dropback. Playing in a Matt LaFleur offense that loves to throw in the red zone, Love attempted the second-most passes in that area (100), but also the third-most deep ball attempts (76).
The #Packers had a 95% TD rate in goal-to-go situations last year. The highest % ever recorded.
Jordan Love in those situations?
12 TDs
0 INTs12 of his 22 pass attempts went for a TD. pic.twitter.com/Law2msoiee
– Eli Berkovits (@BookOfEli_NFL) August 22, 2024
What could lead to a bigger year for Love? First, the development of the plethora of talented pass-catchers around him. Love has four bona fide receivers plus an emerging tight end to target on his dropbacks. Second, the Packers could see an uptick in passing this year. They ranked 19th in pass play percentage and 20th in pass plays per game in 2023. Even if the Packers move up to just 12th or 13th in those metrics, it could spell 4,500 yards and 35 touchdowns for Jordan Love.
Next, let’s get into tight ends to target in upcoming fantasy drafts.
Dalton Kincaid (TE – BUF)
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. The Buffalo Bills have a lot of vacated targets heading into 2024. Khalil Shakir is the only wide receiver on the roster who has ever caught a pass from Josh Allen. With Stefon Diggs and Gabe Davis out of town, Allen is going to be relying on some other weapons this season. One of those will be second-year tight end Dalton Kincaid, and his role is about to explode.
Dalton Kincaid was eighth in tight end targets and seventh in receptions in his rookie season last year. He was top-12 in both receiving yards and yards after the catch and was 11th among all tight ends in routes run. Again, this is with Diggs and Davis competing for targets. I think Curtis Samuel is a fine addition, and Keon Coleman could someday turn into an elite field-stretching receiver, but for 2024? Grab Kincaid all day long at his draft spot in the fifth round.
Evan Engram (TE – JAX)
In 2023, Evan Engram had perhaps the greatest tight end season ever that very few people are talking about. His 143 targets were 16 more than any other tight end. That was more than 20 targets over what players like Sam LaPorta and Trey McBride had, two players going before Engram in drafts right now (Engram’s ADP is around pick 72). Now Calvin Ridley and Zay Jones and their 200 combined targets are gone. At least a slice of those are going to head to Engram.
Evan Engram finished with the 2nd most TE receptions (114) in NFL history and led all TEs with 143 Targets.
Jacksonville has the 5th most vacated targets in the NFL. Hard to project Engram as anything but a target hog in 2024.
An all formats target ???? pic.twitter.com/LyRXVBLUTR
– TheOGfantasyfootball (@TheOGfantasy) May 26, 2024
Engram finished as the overall TE2 in total fantasy points and was sixth in points per game despite eight bad drops that could have propelled him even higher in the rankings. As the consensus eighth tight end off the board, there is a pathway here to a top-two finish if Trevor Lawrence makes any progression in his passing accuracy and red-zone efficiency.
Cade Otton (TE – TB)
At the bottom of the draft boards, you will find Cade Otton (current ADP of 199). In most leagues, he will be on the waiver wire when the draft is finished unless it is a two-tight-end league or one that rewards tight end-premium scoring. But at times over the past two years, he has been the security blanket for first Tom Brady and then Baker Mayfield. Otton has absolutely no target competition at the tight end position, mirroring his situation from last season.
Don’t look now, but Mr. @CadeOtton has been on ???????? pic.twitter.com/2ytPYIgw7D
– Tampa Bay Buccaneers (@Buccaneers) August 7, 2024
In 2023, Otton drew 67 targets, which were 60 more targets than the next-closest tight end on the roster. The Buccaneers should still be an offense that throws enough to be able to support two strong wide receivers and a tight end who has the potential to end 2024 as a top-14 option.
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