There’s unusual quality and depth with the rookie wide receivers – lots of them. But that’s not the case with the first-year tight ends, where the pickings are unusually slim.
You could make the argument that no rookie tight end should even be on a roster in a 12-team dynasty league with each club carrying 2-3 players at the position.
I’m not going that far. Cole Kmet and Adam Trautman have shown a little potential. Probably both (I think) will be starters next year. So while neither has any fantasy value right now, you could say that it makes sense to carry them with a reserve spot, hoping they develop into a top-10 tight end in the future.
I went with Kmet and Trautman just inside the top 20. And three other rookies at least make my top 50: Harrison Bryant, Albert Okwuegbunam and Devin Asiasi. (Okwuegbunam is out for the year with a torn ACL.)
On the chart below, rookies are tagged with black dots. Chart comes with current ages, as well as their ranking when I last looked at tight ends four weeks ago.
Travis Kelce, George Kittle and Darren Waller are very firm in my top 3. I had Kittle at No. 1 last time (he’s younger than Kelce) but with Kittle now having a serious injury, I dropped him to No. 2.
Hunter Henry (pictured) is the notable upward mover. With Justin Herbert coming on nicely, Henry is looking like a stable, solid player at this position. He’s been coming on recently.
DYNASTY TIGHT ENDS | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Rk | Tm | Player | Age | Prev |
1. | KC | Travis Kelce | 31 | 2 |
2. | SF | George Kittle | 27 | 1 |
3. | LV | Darren Waller | 28 | 3 |
4. | LAC | Hunter Henry | 25 | 7 |
5. | BAL | Mark Andrews | 24 | 4 |
6. | DET | T.J. Hockenson | 23 | 5 |
7. | PHI | Dallas Goedert | 25 | 6 |
8. | DEN | Noah Fant | 23 | 8 |
9. | NYG | Evan Engram | 26 | 10 |
10. | TEN | Jonnu Smith | 25 | 11 |
11. | ATL | Hayden Hurst | 27 | 9 |
12. | MIA | Mike Gesicki | 25 | 12 |
13. | PHI | Zach Ertz | 30 | 18 |
14. | GB | Robert Tonyan | 26 | 14 |
15. | PIT | Eric Ebron | 27 | 19 |
16. | MIN | Irv Smith | 22 | 13 |
17. | CLE | Austin Hooper | 26 | 16 |
18. | CHI | • Cole Kmet | 21 | 15 |
19. | SEA | Will Dissly | 24 | 40 |
20. | NO | • Adam Trautman | 23 | 32 |
21. | TB | Rob Gronkowski | 31 | 17 |
22. | CHI | Jimmy Graham | 34 | 21 |
23. | IND | Trey Burton | 29 | 24 |
24. | LAR | Tyler Higbee | 27 | 23 |
25. | WAS | Logan Thomas | 29 | 26 |
26. | NO | Jared Cook | 33 | 20 |
27. | MIN | Kyle Rudolph | 31 | 29 |
28. | BUF | Dawson Knox | 24 | 25 |
29. | CLE | • Harrison Bryant | 22 | 30 |
30. | HOU | Jordan Akins | 28 | 27 |
31. | TB | O.J. Howard | 26 | 48 |
32. | LAR | Gerald Everett | 26 | 31 |
33. | DEN | • Albert Okwuegbunam | 22 | 22 |
34. | DAL | Dalton Schultz | 24 | 44 |
35. | NYJ | Chris Herndon | 24 | 38 |
36. | IND | Mo Alie-Cox | 27 | 47 |
37. | CIN | Drew Sample | 24 | 28 |
38. | CAR | Ian Thomas | 25 | 37 |
39. | SEA | Jacob Hollister | 27 | 61 |
40. | CLE | David Njoku | 24 | 49 |
41. | DAL | Blake Jarwin | 26 | 34 |
42. | NE | • Devin Asiasi | 23 | 43 |
43. | HOU | Darren Fells | 34 | 41 |
44. | IND | Jack Doyle | 30 | 33 |
45. | TEN | Anthony Firkser | 25 | 57 |
46. | ARI | Dan Arnold | 25 | 45 |
47. | GB | Jace Sternberger | 24 | 46 |
48. | LAC | Donald Parham | 23 | 39 |
49. | TB | Tanner Hudson | 26 | 36 |
50. | SF | Jordan Reed | 30 | 55 |
—Ian Allan