Still, Too Early Fantasy Tight End Rankings – Part 2

Still Too Early Tight End Fantasy Rankings – Part 2 

13. Tyler Higbee 

It’s hard to know how often the Rams will use their tight ends in the passing game this season. They do currently have five of them, so Sean McVay must value the position. and Higbee is the standout number tight end on the roster. The Rams’ tight ends accounted for just 11% of their total targets in 2023. But all three of their tight ends missed games. All three of them played just 15 games. 

But Higbee averaged 10.5 yards per touch in 2023, he only caught two touchdowns though. Bearing in mind 2023 was a transition season for the Rams and not many were expecting them to make the playoffs 2024 promises to be even better. And if their offense can improve any more Higbee will catch more touchdowns even if he’s sharing time with Davis Allen.

14. Cade Otton

25-year-old tight end, Otton was Mr. Consistent in 2023, he ran routes on 89% of the Buccaneers’ snaps. But only 79% of his targets were catchable, as a result, he ended up ranked 12th overall in PPR leagues. The bad news for Otton is Baker Mayfield is still throwing the passes (the ones he could only catch 79% of the time) but there’s a new offensive coordinator. Liam Cohen was coaching in college football last season, but he was the Rams offensive coordinator in 2022. In that season the Rams’ tight end saw 23.4% of their total targets in the passing game. That’s good news for Otton and maybe even for Ko Kieft. 

Otton scored 116.5 fantasy points in 2023, he’ll score more than that in a Liam Cohen offense. 

15. Tanner Hudson 

Hudson was one of the Bengals’ numerous offensive players who got banged up in 2023. He played 12 games though, so that was more than some. It was also a career-high for the veteran tight end who converted from quarterback. And despite playing with three different quarterbacks, he still led the Bengals tight ends in receptions and receiving yards. Only Chase, Boyd, Higgins, and Mixon had more receiving yards in Cincy last season. Hudson only caught one touchdown last year though, he’ll be looking to improve on that this time out. 

Hudson scored only 80.2 fantasy points in 2023, but he ended the season by catching 35 of 44 targets and recording 304 receiving yards in 10 games. If he starts 2024 the way he ended 2023 he’s going to put up some numbers. 

16. Noah Fant 

Former Iowa tight end Fant has re-signed with the Seahawks and that’s fine because he did average 12.9 yards per touch in 2023. That was the highest average of his career. But his 32 receptions were the fewest of his career and that’s not great for his fantasy stock. Pharoah Brown has arrived in Seattle to replace Colby Parkinson and he is a sneaky good pass catcher. But he is mainly a blocking tight end. The biggest change in Seattle is the coaching staff. Pete Carroll has become an “advisor” and new head coach Mike McDonald has hired Ryan Grubb. Grubb was coaching Michael Penix Jr. at Washington in 2023. And Penix threw 36 touchdowns last season. How that transfers to the NFC West remains to be seen, but it’s certainly exciting. 

Fant only scored 73.4 fantasy points in 2023, that was partly because he didn’t catch a single touchdown in 2023. But also, because Geno Smith kept getting injured. Fant will score more points in Grubb’s offense, even if Geno Smith can’t stay healthy. 

17. Pat Freiermuth 

Fourth year tight end Freiermuth will be part of the exciting new dawn in Pittsburgh. But part of the reason it’s exciting is that nobody is really sure who the starting quarterback will be, so it’s difficult to know what role Freiermuth will play. If Russell Wilson is under center “Muth” could have a big role in the passing game. But if Fields is the signal caller, then the tight ends might be run-blocking more than they’re catching passes. That’s why it’s exciting. 

The good news for Freiermuth is that Jonnu Smith saw 70 targets in an Arthur Smith offense last season. He also averaged 11.6 yards per reception. That’s 23 more targets than Freiermuth saw in 2023 and two yards more per reception. He scored 76.8 fantasy points last season, but he looks set to significantly improve this year.

18. Gerald Everett

Former Chargers tight end Everett could end up being Caleb Williams’ favorite receiver in 2024. DJ Moore and Keenan Allen won’t like that, but the rookie will have to learn a completely new offense and won’t be getting the sort of protection he did at USC. Everett has previous with the Bears’ new offensive coordinator Shane Waldron, they were together in Seattle in the 2021 season. That season Everett caught 48 passes even though he only started 12 games. He averaged 10 yards per reception and caught a career-high four touchdowns too. 

Everett only scored 111.1 fantasy points in 2023 as a Charger. But familiarity with a coach and a rookie needing a safety valve is a good combination for him in 2024. 

19. Michael Mayer 

22-year-old tight end Mayer was one of the Raiders’ most exciting players in 2023, but injury ended his season prematurely. He averaged 11.5 yards per reception, only Tre Carter and Jakobi Meyers had a better average (and Jakob Johnson, but he only caught one pass). Only Davante Adams and Jakobi Meyers caught more touchdowns than Mayer. But the Raiders only had four players who caught touchdown passes! They replaced Bo Hardegree, who appeared to have developed a very effective offense in Vegas, with Luke Getsy. Getsy has bought Luke Steckel with him from Chicago to be his tight ends coach. Steckel worked as a production assistant on “The Fast and Furious”, but that’s a whole other thing. He was also the Titans tight end coach between 2021 and 2022. In Steckel’s second season in Tennessee, tight ends accounted for 30% of the total receiving yards. That’s definitely good news for Mayer. 

He only scored 71.4 receiving yards in 2023. If he can avoid getting injured this year, he’ll smash that. 

20. Jonnu Smith 

Veteran tight end Smith is a Dolphin now. And anyone on a Mike McDaniel offense has a real chance of putting up huge numbers. In 2023 Smith set career highs in receptions and total yards from scrimmage and his 11.6 yards per reception was his most since 2019. And even if it seems like he’s been in the league forever he’s still only 28 (29 in August). 

Smith scored 124.2 fantasy points in 2023. That seems like the sort of number he’ll score this year too. Although he could improve on that in Miami 

21. Chigoziem Okonkwo 

Former Maryland Terps tight end Okonkwo is a very difficult man to stop when he’s got the ball. The Titans seemed to realize that in 2023, only DeAndre Hopkins saw more targets last season. Okonkwo only caught one touchdown though. New Titans offensive coordinator Nick Holz was the Jaguars passing game coordinator last season. And Evan Engram caught 114 of his 143 targets in Holz’s offense! 

Okonkwo scored 113.4 fantasy points in 2023 and he only caught 54 passes. 2024 could be a big year for the 24-year-old.  

22. Kylen Granson 

Former Rica and SMU tight end Granson started seven games (three more than in 2022) and caught 30 of his 50 targets in an offense that suffered plenty of disruption. First of all, Jonathan Taylor held out and Jim Irsay dragged it out for too long. Then they had to start Gardner Minshew at quarterback in 13 games. Minshew has been replaced by Joe Flacco so even if Anthony Richardson does get injured this season there’ll be a less frantic quarterback waiting in the wings. 

Despite the chaos, Granson averaged 12.3 yards per reception in 2023. He only scored 73 fantasy points last season. He will definitely improve on that if he can avoid injuries in 2024. 

23. Isaiah Likely 

Derek Henry has arrived in Baltimore, and it seems likely they’ll draft a wide receiver but after Likely’s 2023 that shouldn’t affect his usage. The 23-year-old former Coastal Carolina tight end stepped up when Mark Andrews was injured and ended the season averaging 13.7 yards per reception. Likely caught 75% of his targets last year so even with a healthy Andrews he should still be an important part of the Ravens offense. 

He scored 101.1 fantasy points in 2023 and it’s easy to see him repeat that this year. 

24. Austin Hooper 

The Patriots might have Jacoby Brissett starting at quarterback in 2023 and unless they can fix the offensive line, he’ll be throwing a lot of passes to the tight ends and running backs. Former Stanford tight end Hooper had a pretty quiet 2023 in Vegas. He caught 25 passes, his fewest since his rookie year in 2016. And he averaged just 9.4 yards per touch. Hooper has previous with new Patriots offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt though. They were both in Cleveland in 2020, that season Hooper caught 46 passes, second to only Jarvis Landry. He averaged 9.5 yards per reception and hauled in four touchdowns in 2020. In 2021, their second season together, he caught 38 passes for 345 yards as the Browns relied on Nick Chubb to do the heavy lifting.  

Hooper only scored 48.4 fantasy points in 2023. But he will be involved a lot more this season, even if the Patriots offense is still clunky.