It is not often that we get to see the course of human history actively altered before our eyes. The moon landing, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and now, the Tight End Landscape of 2023. That landscape, which was largely fallow outside of Kansas City, has now sprouted yield in areas such as Detroit, Arizona, Green Bay, and Cleveland.
Following an off-season in which whispers of eliminating the tight end position from fantasy rosters gained volume, that position is now the new hotness. Almost overnight, as it were.
A few weeks ago, my esteemed co-host Michael Sicoli (@Michael__Sicoli) and I discussed the tight end position on the Dynasty After Party podcast and together built our consensus ranking tiers. Not being one for convention, my personal grouping tiers are as follows.
Dynasty Overview – Tight Ends
Tier I – SexyBack
- Travis Kelce, KC
- Sam LaPorta, DET
- Mark Andrews, BAL
- Trey McBride, ARI
- David Njoku, CLE
LaPorta is the unquestioned Dynasty Community overall Dynasty Tight End #1, and I won’t argue his long-term value. However, if I’m trying to win next year and don’t want to pay an elite price, give me Kelce. Not matching one of the all-time tight end seasons on the follow-up shouldn’t be held against him. As I wrote last offseason, historically, elite tight ends maintain a significant percentage of their top production level well into their mid- to late-thirties.
Andrews demonstrated that even with a new coordinator, the Ravens’ passing offense still runs through him. McBride and Njoku casually tossed aside a year/years of dynasty managerial frustration and turned themselves into target hogs.
Tier II – The Polar-izing Bears
- Kyle Pitts, ATL
- Evan Engram, JAX
- TJ Hockenson, MIN
Pitts requires no elaboration. You either still believe in the profile and rookie season production, or you’re out. Either is reasonable, and the middle ground is a fairy tale. If I, a notorious Engram despiser, can come around on him, you probably should at least consider it. Nobody is ambivalent about Hockenson’s ability. He just isn’t someone a contender should be rostering coming off a holiday season ACL tear.
Tier III – The Kids Are Alright
- Dalton Kincaid, BUF
- Luke Musgrave, GB
- Jake Ferguson, DAL
Kincaid and Musgrave were high draft capital tight ends who played like they deserved said capital in their rookie seasons. Wait, what? You mean Evan Engram/David Njoku types can be productive before their second contracts kick in? Inconceivable! I wonder if Jake Ferguson’s playoff performance will give him the Gabe Davis 2022 bump…?
Tier IV – The (Pretty) Old & (Mostly) Reliable
- George Kittle, SF
- Dallas Goedert, PHI
- Dalton Schultz, HOU
Fourteen players in and we’ve reached the end of the “guys you’re OK with” as starters. Not bad for a position that people (other people) wanted to eliminate. None among this tier are locks to be healthy on any given week, and they’re going to have their share of duds, but they each have enough upside on the weeks they see the ball to consider them comfortable-ish weekly starters.
Tier V – One Unfortunate Play Away
- Isaiah Likely, BAL
- Tucker Kraft, GB
Are we at a point where we can talk about handcuffing dynasty tight ends? Both showed last year that when their team’s lead tight end was unavailable, they could be fantasy starter-level productive with a full complement of snaps.
Tier VI – In My Day (i.e., Before Last Year), They Were Starters
- Pat Freiermuth, PIT
- Chig Okonkwo, TEN
- Cole Kmet, CHI
The unfortunate consequence of the evolution of the position is if you were counting on any of these to be your long-term starter, you now need another plan. With so much actual talent injected into the league and dynasty rosters, the “Hope for a touchdown” tier just isn’t cutting it anymore.
Tier VII – The One Guy From This Class
- Brock Bowers
Super talented, but the Kyle Pitts experience is likely to make people gun-shy.
Tier VIII – Taysom Hill and Taysom Hill-adjacent
- Taysom Hill, NO
- Juwan Johnson, NO
Hill’s “Wild Cat-ness” is going to provide occasional spike games for him and manic frustration for managers of other Saints skill players. It’s no coincidence that Johnson’s most (read: only) productive stretch of the season came when Hill was banged up.
Hope you enjoyed our article on dynasty tight ends. Be sure you’re following Joel on Twitter. You can also find more of his Club Dynasty work, including QB, RB, and WR tiers, here!
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