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Dynasty Leagues

Long-term TEs

Youth is served at tight end

A changing of the guard seems to be underway at tight end. Travis Kelce and Mark Andrews have dominated this position for the last half decade, but they’re on the decline. Evan Engram might be in that group as well. There’s a new, younger group at the position that looks a lot more compelling now.

Certainly Sam LaPorta and Trey McBride. They’ve run a little behind expectations so far, but they’re big-time tight ends. And Brock Bowers has shown enough in his first three games that it’s looking like he’ll be one of those guys. In a dynasty league, those would be the three tight ends at the top of my board.

After that trifecta, there are three others I’d be mulling. Dalton Kincaid looks like an up-and-comer, but he hasn’t done quite enough for me to elevate him up with those initial three. And Jake Ferguson, I think, looks pretty similar in value to Kincaid.

T.J. Hockenson is the other possibility up there, I think. I believe he’s going to be back in a couple of weeks, and once he’s up and running, he should be better than those guys. He’s averaged 6.2 catches for 59 yards in his 25 games with the Vikings, with 8 touchdowns and a pair of 2-point conversions.

Kelce will be 35 in a week and doesn’t have a 40-yard game (or a touchdown) this year, but he’s been good enough for long enough that I would be leery of simply kicking him to the curb. It’s still a possibility, I think, that he’ll rebound and be one of the top few tight ends for the duration of this season. It can be debated whether that maybe-something-now is more valuable than hope of Cole Kmet or Kyle Pitts developing into more of a longer-term possibility.

The following lists shows my top 40 tight ends for dynasty purposes. For these rankings, I’m assuming a 12-team league that’s using PPR scoring, with each team holding about three tight ends and holding their rights indefinitely. (So when we get into the third tight ends on each roster, there’s some thought to future upside guys – Theo Johnson, Ben Sinnott – rather than veteran guys putting up better numbers now with no real potential to develop into anything out of the ordinary (Colby Parkinson, Hayden Hurst).

I turn my attention to dynasty leagues every Saturday during the season, rotating between the four notable positions. Rookies are tagged with black dots.

To see previous installments, use the “past issues” navigation box.

Last week: Running backs.

Next week: Wide receivers

DYNASTY TIGHT ENDS
RkTmPlayerAge
1.DETSam LaPorta23.7
2.LV• Brock Bowers21.8
3.ARITrey McBride24.9
4.MINT.J. Hockenson27.2
5.BUFDalton Kincaid24.9
6.DALJake Ferguson25.7
7.CHICole Kmet25.6
8.ATLKyle Pitts24.0
9.SFGeorge Kittle31.0
10.PHIDallas Goedert29.7
11.KCTravis Kelce35.0
12.JACEvan Engram30.1
13.BALIsaiah Likely24.4
14.PITPat Freiermuth25.9
15.CLEDavid Njoku28.2
16.NEHunter Henry29.8
17.HOUDalton Schultz28.2
18.CINMike Gesicki29.0
19.GBTucker Kraft23.9
20.BALMark Andrews29.1
21.CIN• Erick All24.0
22.NOTaysom Hill34.1
23.SEANoah Fant26.9
24.TBCade Otton25.5
25.NYJTyler Conklin29.2
26.NYG• Theo Johnson23.6
27.WAS• Ben Sinnott22.3
28.INDKylen Granson26.5
29.WASZach Ertz33.9
30.GBLuke Musgrave24.1
31.MIAJonnu Smith29.1
32.CAR• Ja'Tavion Sanders21.5
33.KC• Jared Wiley23.9
34.TENChig Okonkwo25.1
35.LARColby Parkinson25.7
36.LVMichael Mayer23.2
37.DENGreg Dulcich24.5
38.BALCharlie Kolar25.6
39.BUFDawson Knox27.9
40.LACHayden Hurst31.1

—Ian Allan

Fantasy Index