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2019 Fantasy Football Rankings: Tight ends

I’m sold on Darren Waller in 2019. That opportunity was golden for Jared Cook a year ago...

Oakland Raiders v Cincinnati Bengals Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images

Yours truly has ranked tight ends here at Fake Teams for a few years now, and I show up in the FantasyPros draft accuracy competition on occasion. Here’s the last three years:

2016: 59th overall, 99th in TEs (of 145 experts)
2017: 62nd overall, 25th in TEs (of 130 experts)
2018: 122nd overall, 8th in TEs (of 154 experts)

Soooooo, at least my laser-focus on tight ends is showing up...right? On a serious note, splitting time between baseball and football sometimes feels futile. There are reams of information that I feel like I never unearth due to dividing myself. But I’m too degenerate to let either sport go, so here we are.

Here’s the first pass at the big safety blankets. I reserve the right to tweak these by the week’s end, when our cumulative tight end rankings will drop.

2019 TE Ranks

RANK PLAYER NAME TEAM NOTES
RANK PLAYER NAME TEAM NOTES
1 Travis Kelce KC 150 targets, 103 receptions, 10 TDs a year ago. Tied to Mahomes. Don't overthink it.
2 George Kittle SF Logged a startling 873 YAC last year. Only scored 5 TDs, but that total could improve with Jimmy G back.
3 Zach Ertz PHI Taking the under on last year's 156 targets. So many weapons in Philly.
4 O.J. Howard TB An aDOT of 12.4 smashes all others. Only needs to stay healthy for a top five season.
5 Evan Engram NYG An aDOT of only 5.3 is pedestrian, but his Y/R went up to 12.8. More of a volume play.
6 Hunter Henry LAC Like Ebron, he's a member of a talented offense--Henry just doesn't have a Jack Doyle lingering around.
7 Eric Ebron IND Even with Doyle healthy, Ebron will remain a fixture due to his scoring upside.
8 Vance McDonald PIT Antonio Brown's 168 targets are up for grabs (pun intended).
9 Jared Cook NO There's some concern with his level of opportunity, but Saints camp is raving and I'm buying.
10 Austin Hooper ATL Same deal as Cook--I like the player but he's not a primary option in Atlanta.
11 David Njoku CLE Feel like a record on repeat? Lot of mouths to feed in Cleveland.
12 Darren Waller OAK As the week goes on, it will be tough to keep Waller all the way down as my TE12...
13 Delanie Walker TEN Strictly a volume play, but if he can stay healthy he's due for some TDs.
14 Trey Burton CHI What a "meh" year last year, and now A
15 Jordan Reed WAS The issue isn't skill, it's health. It's worth a shot within the top-15, and I couldn't fault anyone for picking him earlier.
16 Mark Andrews BAL The drumbeats are pretty significant, but Hayden Hurst still lurks and Lamar Jackson is still a work in progress.
17 Jimmy Graham GB More chemistry (and TDs) in his second year with A-Rod seems like a given.
18 Jack Doyle IND He'll eat into Ebron's load, but I'm skeptical of expecting too much here.
19 Kyle Rudolph MIN He's the fourth option at best, after that pair of wideouts and Dalvin. Yikes.
20 Greg Olsen CAR Will he retire, won't he? Same as Rudolph, Olsen is a tertiary option in Carolina.
21 Dallas Goedert PHI There's not much left at the position, but a talented second-year guy in a high-powered offense makes sense.
22 T.J. Hockenson DET He's the top option in Detroit (at TE) for what it is worth.
23 Chris Herndon IV NYJ The Jets added Le'Veon Bell and Jamison Crowder, plus Herndon is suspended for four games.
24 Noah Fant DEN Flacco has a history of targeting his tight ends, but the rookie stigma still applies.