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The Re-Draft Roundtables Series
The Footballguys staff looks at various strategies to help you in redraft leagues.
Participating in a redraft league is a process that starts with the draft and hopefully ends with a championship. The Footballguys staff has answered several questions about various strategies to help you achieve your championship dreams. From the beginning to the end and everything in between, we've got you covered to give you the tools and knowledge needed to dominate your redraft league.
Is there a sweet spot for tight ends this year? Where would you prefer to take your starting tight end this year?
Ben Cummins
Unlike quarterback, I hesitate to say there is a sweet spot with tight ends. I see Travis Kelce providing an advantage over the field, but he requires Round 1 draft capital. I see advantages to going both early and late-round tight end as I have many targets in both ranges, including Kelce, Kyle Pitts, George Kittle, Dalton Schultz, Irv Smith, Albert Okwuegbunam, Robert Tonyan Jr, Cole Kmet, Tyler Higbee, etc.
Jason Wood
You don't want to be the person who reached for a tight end after Travis Kelce and Mark Andrews are drafted. Either target one of those guys or wait until at least a dozen tight ends are off the board. Is there a chance someone like Kyle Pitts or T.J. Hockenson can break through and match the Big 2? Sure, but for everyone one of those guys, there will be six to eight early-round picks who barely outperform the guys taken five+ rounds later. Most of the tight ends in fantasy are touchdown-reliant. When they score, they help your team. When they don't, they hurt.
Christian Williams
While the value dictates everything on the board, leaving a draft without one of the top five tight ends always feels like a missed opportunity. Late-round tight end strategies have faltered in recent years, though there's always one surprise guy that emerges (e.g., Dalton Schultz in 2021). I don't mind selecting a tight end in the second or third round if that presents me with a positional advantage over my league mates. Leaving with Travis Kelce or Mark Andrews is ideal.
Will Grant
Unlike quarterback, while every NFL team starts a player at the tight end position, that doesn't mean they utilize it a lot. A back quarterback might still get 225 passing yards. A bad tight end could easily post a zero. In any PPR league, I'm going to take my tight end early - somewhere in the first three rounds, I would guess.
Andy Hicks
Missing an elite tight end makes in-season work harder than usual. Hoping to pick up a Dalton Schultz type on the waiver wire is frustrating and time-consuming. Then again, drafting one of the best too early can affect the rest of your draft. I would prefer loading up on other positions this year and taking a Hunter Henry type as an emergency or, hopefully, better in the early middle rounds. I would then do the hard work of scouring the waiver wire for this year out of the blue tight end. Two or three happen every year.
Craig Lakins
The scarcity of elite fantasy tight ends is a source of frustration every year. There are so few tight ends that you can rely on for consistent production that it absolutely pays to take one early on. Spending a second-round pick on a Travis Kelce or Mark Andrews doesn't always feel good, but it provides peace of mind that you've locked down that starting spot and can focus elsewhere for the rest of your draft.
Chad Parsons
I love Travis Kelce and (lesser so) Mark Andrews this season and am more open to an early stud tight end than many years in the past. I would rather draft a top tight end for the positional advantage than a top wide receiver (outside of Justin Jefferson). Wide receiver is deeper and especially appealing in the mid-rounds, while tight end is basically a studs-or-duds draft approach.
Gary Davenport
Tight end is the trickiest position in fantasy this season—and one without an appealing range of targets. It's hit-and-miss. The asking price for Travis Kelce of the Chiefs is steep, but his production and consistency over the past several years make it tempting. Once Kelce is off the board, the next appealing target is Dalton Schultz of the Cowboys, who has a good chance at out-pointing multiple tight ends ranked ahead of him. If that doesn't pan out, the best course of action may be to punt the position until the double-digit rounds, grab a guy like Chicago's Cole Kmet or Miami's Mike Gesicki and hope that your strength is at other positions can offset a potential weakness at tight end.
Victoria Geary
If I cannot snag Kelce/Andrews/Pitts, I tend to wait as long as possible on the tight end position. We see this every year, but outside of the top tight ends, there typically isn't a huge difference in points-per-game from the mid-tier tight ends to the tight ends we stream each week! A top-tier tight end can give you a nice edge, but I don't go into drafts with the mindset that I need one of those guys to win my league. Streaming is sometimes tedious but allows for more flexibility with other positions in your lineup.
Sam Wagman
I am recently an early-tight-end drafter due to how the position has tightened up to three to five elite options, and then the rest fall into an uncomfortable category. There are a few targets outside the Top 5 that I’m fine with, but I would generally prefer one of the elite options.
Zareh Kantzabedian
Any of the top three tight ends at their current ADP is justifiable. After that, waiting until the tenth round for tight ends such as Zach Ertz or Dawson Knox is terrific.
Jeff Bell
I aim to walk out of every draft with a tight end in the top five of ADP. Otherwise, there is no reason not to play the position like quarterback and target the last of the starters at the position.