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Jordan Reed

Short career burned brightly

Jordan Reed is retiring, betrayed by a body that couldn't stay on the field. Those who had him rostered in fantasy leagues during his short career should remember him fondly, at least for when he was available. A healthy Reed was pretty awesome.

He wasn't healthy often enough, of course. From 2013 to 2020, Reed played in only 75 of a possible 128 games. Especially disappointing was 2019, when Reed got blown up with a helmet-to-helmet hit on his only catch of the preseason and missed the entire year. But he had a couple of nice games filling in for the 49ers after George Kittle got hurt last year. And he was really good for some of his first few seasons.

Reed, in fact, was a top-15 PPR tight end in 2015, 2016 and 2018. He would have been even better in those years but for injuries that cost him 2-4 games in all three years. I've taken the liberty of projecting his fantasy points (*) in those years over a 16-game season. (If he'd actually played in every game.) He'd have had two of the top 15 fantasy seasons by a tight end over the last six years (also the 54th-best).

TOP TIGHT END FANTASY SEASONS, 2015-2020
YearPlayerTgtRecYdsAvgTDPPR
2020Travis Kelce145105141613.511314.8
2018Travis Kelce150103133613.010296.6
2015Jordan Reed1148795210.911283.6*
2020Darren Waller145107119611.29282.6
2018Zach Ertz156116116310.08280.3
2018George Kittle13688137715.75258.7
2019Travis Kelce13697122912.75256.3
2015Rob Gronkowski12072117616.311255.6
2015Delanie Walker13394108811.66244.4
2015Gary Barnidge12579104313.29237.3
2017Travis Kelce12283103812.58235.5
2015Greg Olsen12477110414.37229.4
2016Jordan Reed896668610.46227.5*
2017Rob Gronkowski10569108415.78227.4
2018Eric Ebron1106675011.413224.2
2019Darren Waller11790114512.73223.0
2016Travis Kelce11785112513.24223.0
2019George Kittle10785105312.45222.5
2019Zach Ertz1358891610.46217.6
2019Mark Andrews986485213.310209.2
2016Kyle Rudolph1328384010.17209.0
2016Greg Olsen12980107313.43207.3
2017Zach Ertz1107482411.18204.4
2018Jared Cook1016889613.26193.6
2015Travis Kelce1037287512.25193.5
2016Jimmy Graham956592314.26193.3
2015Benjamin Watson1107482511.26192.5
2019Austin Hooper977578710.56191.7
2015Tyler Eifert745261511.813191.5
2016Delanie Walker1026580012.37188.1
2016Zach Ertz1067881610.54183.6
2017Delanie Walker1117480710.93178.5
2020T.J. Hockenson1016772310.86177.3
2020Logan Thomas110726709.36176.9
2020Robert Tonyan595258611.311176.6
2017Evan Engram1156472211.36173.6
2017Jack Doyle108806908.64173.0
2015Zach Ertz1127585311.42172.3
2017Jimmy Graham96575209.110171.0
2016Cameron Brate815766011.68171.0
2016Dennis Pitta121867298.52170.9
2020Mark Andrews885870112.17170.1
2016Martellus Bennett735570112.87168.1
2019Jared Cook654370516.49167.5
2015Jason Witten104777139.33166.3
2018Austin Hooper88716609.34163.0
2019Tyler Higbee896973410.63160.4
2015Richard Rodgers85585108.88160.1
2020Mike Gesicki855370313.36159.3
2017Kyle Rudolph81575329.38158.2
2016Jason Witten95696739.83154.3
2019Hunter Henry765565211.95152.2
2018Kyle Rudolph82646349.94151.4
2018Jordan Reed845455810.32149.9*
2016Antonio Gates935354810.37149.8
2020Noah Fant936267310.93149.3
2020Rob Gronkowski774562313.87149.3
2020Hayden Hurst885657110.26149.1
2018Trey Burton765456910.56149.1
2017Jason Witten87635608.95149.0

Reed's injury history includes a series of concussions, so it's good for him that he's getting out at the age of 30 -- hopefully it's not a case where the concussions are continuing to impact his daily life, although that's possible. In any case, it was a career that burned brightly at times, and left its mark on the NFL, and fantasy leagues, while it did.

--Andy Richardson

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