The following three fantasy football sleepers at tight end have an average draft position (ADP) after 156 in Underdog best ball drafts, meaning they’re picked on average in the 14th round or later. Furthermore, two of the players have an ADP of 215.0 or later, meaning they’re frequently undrafted in Underdog contests. All three players are young, and two have uber-athletic profiles, while the other is a rookie with a ton of collegiate production.
Fantasy Football Best Ball Late-Round Targets: Tight Ends
Brenton Strange was on the depth chart behind Evan Engram last year. Yet, he flashed his potential when Engram was hurt, despite an unfriendly fantasy football environment. According to the data suite at Fantasy Points, 52 tight ends ran at least 150 routes in the 2024 regular season and playoffs, and Strange was tied for 15th in targets per route run (0.21), tied for 19th in yards per route run (1.56) and 15th in expected half-point per reception (half PPR) points per route run (0.38).
Interestingly, Strange was tied with Cade Otton in targets per route run and yards per route run. Liam Coen was Otton’s tight end as Tampa Bay’s offensive coordinator in 2024, and Strange is his starting tight end as Jacksonville’s head coach. Otton did his best work when the Buccaneers’ receivers were banged up. Still, Otton’s 2024 was a third-year breakout, and the Bucs had a loaded wide receiver corps. Brian Thomas had a fantastic rookie season, and the Jaguars traded up to the second pick for Travis Hunter, who could also be an outstanding NFL receiver. Although it’s not entirely clear how the two-way rookie will split his time between the offense and defense.
Still, Jacksonville’s ecosystem should be better than the mess it was in 2024. Furthermore, Coen demonstrated the ability to involve a third-year tight end in a talented pass-catching group with the Buccaneers last year, and Strange is a third-year pro. Strange likely doesn’t have a sky-high ceiling, but he could flirt with a top-12 TE finish in Underdog formats, namely if Jacksonville’s offense lights up the scoreboard and touchdown variance works out in Strange’s favor. At the least, Strange should run routes at a high rate and occasionally hit Underdog lineups, making him unlikely to bust completely.
Ben Sinnott played in all 17 games last year. You’d hardly know it from the box scores, though. Sinnott had only five targets, five receptions, 28 receiving yards and one touchdown, and he had a higher snap share on special teams than on offense.
Sinnott didn’t provide fantasy gamers with much reason for optimism this year. However, it wouldn’t be unprecedented for a young tight end making the leap from an afterthought as a rookie in Kliff Kingsbury’s offense to a breakout in his sophomore campaign. Admittedly, Trey McBride‘s 39 targets, 29 receptions, 265 receiving yards and one touchdown in 16 games as a rookie for the Cardinals in 2022 were leaps and bounds ahead of Sinnott’s production as a rookie in 2024. Yet, both players share a similarity from their rookie year. Both players were stuck behind Zach Ertz.
Ertz was a reliable veteran for young signal-callers in both seasons. However, Father Time is not on Ertz’s side. Last season was Ertz’s age-34 season. According to Stathead, in the previous 20 years, there have been only eight seasons of tight ends playing at least 10 games and posting at least 35 receiving yards per game in their age-35 or older season. Tony Gonzalez was responsible for three of those seasons, Antonio Gates had two, Travis Kelce had one last year, Jason Witten accomplished it once and Ben Watson did so once.
Ertz has an uphill battle to fend off the age-related cliff, and it looked as if he already hit it in 2022 and 2023. If last year was Ertz’s swan song for productivity, Sinnott could make a massive jump into relevancy in a high-scoring, Jayden Daniels-led offense.
It’s also critical not to throw the baby out with the bathwater after his quiet rookie season. Sinnott had a drool-inducing relative athletic score (RAS).
The Commanders also used meaningful draft capital to pick him in the second round of the 2024 NFL Draft. Moreover, Sinnott was productive in his final collegiate season. According to Pro Football Focus (PFF), 69 FBS tight ends had at least 35 targets in 2023, and Sinnott was ninth in PFF’s receiving grade (81.0), slightly lower than Brock Bowers at sixth with an 87.1 PFF receiving grade, and one spot ahead of 2025 NFL Draft first rounder Colston Loveland (80.5) in 10th. Sinnott was also seventh in yards per route run (2.02). Additionally, he had 0.22 targets per route run, 48 receptions (4.0 per game), 669 receiving yards (55.8 per game), a 10.1-yard average depth of target (aDOT) and 6.8 yards after the catch per reception (YAC). So, Sinnott combined a relatively deep aDOT with ample YAC.
Sinnott is an intriguing TE3 in late-round dart-throw builds, a cheap stacking option to tack on with Daniels or a viable last-round pick for gamers who select Bowers or McBride early. However, Sinnott shouldn’t be picked as a TE2 with non-elite tight ends since he could be a complete dud again this year.
Oronde Gadsden II had a highly productive collegiate career with a young breakout at the age of 19. PFF classified Gadsden as a wideout in his age-19 season in 2022, and he played 83 passing snaps (18.3%) wide, 359 (79.2%) in the slot and eight (1.8%) inline. Last year, Gadsden played 49 passing snaps (8.7%) wide, 327 (58.3%) in the slot and 183 (32.6%) inline.
Circling back to 2022, Gadsden’s 82.7 PFF receiving grade was tied for 20th and 2.30 Y/RR were tied for 69th among 286 FBS receivers with at least 50 targets. He also had 61 receptions (4.7 per game), 966 receiving yards (74.3) and six receiving touchdowns in 13 games in 2022.
Gadsden also had a fantastic final collegiate season at tight end. Among 70 FBS tight ends with at least 35 targets in 2024, Gadsden was 10th in PFF’s receiving grade (82.6), 14th in yards per route run (1.89), fourth in targets (103), fourth in receptions (73), third in receiving yards (934) and tied for fifth in receiving touchdowns (seven).
The Chargers made him the eighth tight end picked in this year’s NFL Draft when they selected him with the 29th pick in the fifth round. Will Dissly is still on the Chargers after a career year. Still, the organization prioritized adding talent to the position group. Per Over the Cap, Tyler Conklin signed a one-year deal with the Chargers worth $3 million, with $2.8 million guaranteed. And, of course, they drafted Gadsden.
LA’s offensive coordinator, Greg Roman, has a history of using multiple tight ends. While it can be dangerous to attribute too much credit to a coach for production from a position group, Roman has worked with tight ends of various skill sets and body types and coaxed meaningful production from them, including Dissly’s career highs for targets (64), receptions (50) and receiving yards (481) in 15 games in his age-28 season last year. Tight ends such as Vernon Davis, Charles Clay and Mark Andrews have had rock-solid to excellent seasons in Roman’s offense with the 49ers, Bills and Ravens, respectively.
Ladd McConkey had a superb rookie campaign and is LA’s unquestioned top pass-catching weapon. It’s wide open behind him. Quentin Johnston, Mike Williams and rookie Tre Harris aren’t necessarily target hogs, leaving a path to Gadsden carving out a meaningful role as a pass-catching specialist. Yet, Gadsden could avoid getting shoehorned into a jumbo slot-only role if he provides any value as a blocker.
Encouragingly, Chargers tight end coach Andy Bischoff spoke glowingly of Gadsden’s blocking.
Furthermore, Jim Harbaugh gushed about his practice and preparation habits, as well as his receiving prowess, which they saw on tape at Syracuse.
Gadsden is an ideal TE3 target, especially as a stacking partner with Justin Herbert or a bring-back for LA’s fantasy playoff opponents in Week 15 (Chiefs), Week 16 (Cowboys) and Week 17 (Texans). Finally, he’s a fun upside swing in tight end builds with low-ceiling, route-volume types such as Otton and Dalton Schultz.
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Josh Shepardson is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Josh, check out his archive and follow him @BChad50.
