Young Tight Ends to Watch! Brock Bowers, Dalton Kincaid, Sam LaPorta and More (03/05 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Summary

Fantasy Football Today: Episode Summary
Episode Title: Young Tight Ends to Watch! Brock Bowers, Dalton Kincaid, Sam LaPorta and More
Release Date: March 5, 2025
Hosts: Adam Aizer, Dave Richard, Jamey Eisenberg, Heath Cummings, and Crew
Focus: Evaluating young tight ends in their second and third NFL seasons, with insights on breakout potentials, sleepers, and busts.

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Introduction

In this episode of Fantasy Football Today, host Adam Aizer alongside analysts Dave Richard, Jamey Eisenberg, and Heath Cummings delve deep into the landscape of young tight ends entering their second and third NFL seasons. The discussion centers around prominent names such as Brock Bowers, Dalton Kincaid, Sam LaPorta, Tucker Kraft, Jatavian Sanders, Theo Johnson, and emerging talents like Brenton Strange and Ben Senate.

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Key Young Tight Ends Discussed

1. Brock Bowers

Brock Bowers emerges as the standout talent among the tight ends discussed. His impressive rookie performance positions him as a top pick for fantasy managers looking to secure a reliable tight end.

• Performance & Expectations:

  • Dave: “Brock Bowers was much, much better than Kyle Pitts and Sam LaPorta were his rookies. He had 44 more catches, 170 more yards and four more touchdowns.” [08:28]
  • Heath: Highlights Bowers’ elite prospects and his consistent performance, noting the hope for improved quarterback play with the upcoming coaching changes. [07:05]

• Audience Poll:

  • A YouTube poll overwhelmingly favored Bowers over McBride with an 86-14 split. Dave: “I was expecting like an 85, 15 split.” [25:08]

• Draft Strategy:

  • Heath: Advocates for drafting Bowers in early rounds due to his proven track record and high upside. [22:45]

2. Dalton Kincaid

Dalton Kincaid presents a more controversial pick, oscillating between sleeper and bust categories.

• Performance Concerns:

  • Adam: “In the first nine games, he led the team in targets with 54, but his production wasn’t aligned with the target volume.” [13:16]
  • Kincaid struggled with consistency and injuries, leading to limited snap counts later in the season. [14:23]

• Future Outlook:

  • Dave: Expresses skepticism about Kincaid’s ability to meet high expectations, especially considering his injury history. [11:43]
  • Heath: Suggests Kincaid’s potential hinges on his health and offensive role expansion. [12:45]

3. Sam LaPorta

Sam LaPorta's trajectory showcases a dip from a promising rookie year to a more subdued sophomore season.

• Performance Analysis:

  • Dave: Concerns about LaPorta’s yardage and touchdown numbers, attributing it to changes in the team’s offensive dynamics. [27:46]
  • Ben: Questions LaPorta’s reliability moving forward without significant offensive boosts. [30:14]

• Draft Positioning:

  • Adam: Considers whether LaPorta should be a value pick in later rounds, acknowledging his end-zone reliability. [28:24]

4. Tucker Kraft, Jatavian Sanders, and Theo Johnson

These tight ends represent varying levels of potential and risk for fantasy managers.

• Tucker Kraft:

  • Ben: Recommends Kraft as a top 10 tight end due to his playmaking ability and snap counts. [35:02]
  • Dave: Believes Kraft could evolve into a reliable option with increased targets. [36:03]

• Jatavian Sanders:

  • Heath: Regards Sanders as having substantial upside if he secures a higher target share within his team’s offense. [35:00]
  • Adam: Views Sanders as a promising option but notes the uncertainty around his offensive role. [36:10]

• Theo Johnson:

  • Ben: Stresses that Johnson lacks a clear path to being a significant fantasy asset, labeling him a high-risk, low-reward pick. [40:14]
  • Adam: Cites Johnson’s low yards per route run as a red flag for his fantasy potential. [40:14]

5. Emerging Talents: Brenton Strange and Ben Senate

These players are considered last-minute options with potential upside.

• Brenton Strange:

  • Ben: Positions Strange as a late-round pick with possible scenarios where his role might expand, especially if Evan Ingram exits the team. [42:17]
  • Adam: Suggests Strange could become a valuable asset if team dynamics shift in his favor. [43:36]

• Ben Senate:

  • Heath: Views Senate as a potential late-round pick, contingent on the team's tight end strategy and existing roster decisions. [43:38]
  • Adam: Notes Senate’s second-round pedigree but remains cautious about his immediate impact. [43:36]

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Strategic Insights and Recommendations

• Draft Prioritization:

  • Heath: Recommends prioritizing Brock Bowers early in drafts, given his superior rookie performance and projected growth. [22:45]
  • Dave: Emphasizes the importance of securing elite tight ends like Bowers to avoid the common pitfall of missing out on top-tier options. [28:46]

• Sleeper vs. Bust Analysis:

  • Heath and Dave: Discuss the fine line between Sleeper and Bust for players like Kincaid and LaPorta, stressing the importance of balancing potential upside with injury risks and team dynamics. [05:05, 11:12]

• Team-Specific Considerations:

  • Adam: Highlights how team offensive strategies and coaching changes can significantly impact a tight end’s fantasy value, using the Raiders’ potential receiver additions as an example. [10:40]

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Additional News and Notes

While the episode primarily focuses on tight ends, the hosts briefly touch upon broader NFL news, including franchise tag discussions, team trades, and player movements. Notably:

• Franchise Tag Applications:

  • The Bengals franchise tagging T. Higgins and the Chiefs tagging Trey Smith, emphasizing team strategies in player retention. [18:11]

• Player Trades and Releases:

  • The Eagles' extension of Saquon Barkley, Jets releasing Devonte Adams, and other significant team moves that could influence fantasy football landscapes. [18:11]

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Conclusion

The episode offers a comprehensive analysis of young tight ends poised to make significant impacts in their upcoming seasons. Brock Bowers stands out as the top pick, while Dalton Kincaid and Sam LaPorta present nuanced options with varying degrees of risk and potential reward. Tucker Kraft and Jatavian Sanders offer promising alternatives, and emerging talents like Brenton Strange and Ben Senate provide late-round options for savvy fantasy managers. The hosts underscore the importance of staying informed about team dynamics and player health to make informed draft decisions.

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Notable Quotes:

• Dave [08:28]: “Brock Bowers was much, much better than Kyle Pitts and Sam LaPorta were his rookies. He had 44 more catches, 170 more yards and four more touchdowns.”

• Heath [07:05]: “I think the upside slightly better [with Bowers].”

• Adam [13:16]: “Dalton Kincaid was leading in targets but his production wasn’t aligned with the volume.”

• Ben [40:14]: “I don’t see a path for Theo Johnson to be an impactful fantasy tight end.”

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This detailed summary encapsulates the critical discussions and insights shared during the episode, providing valuable information for fantasy football enthusiasts seeking to dominate their leagues with informed tight end selections.

Transcript

[Adam]

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[Dave]

This is Fantasy Football Today from CBS Sports.

[Adam]

Wanna play Can?

[Dave]

No, I can't it's time to dominate your fantasy league.

[Jamie]

Off to the races and he stays on his feet.

[Adam]

This is gonna go the distance.

[Dave]

Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath.

[Adam]

Hello, everybody, and happy Wednesday here on Fantasy Football Today. Adam, Jamie, and Heath. Dave will be joining us soon. We're talking about tight ends, young tight ends, years two and three. So Brock Bowers, Dalton Kincaid, Sam Laporta, Tucker Kraft, and then some guys that we have to be hopeful for, like Jatavian Sanders, Theo Johnson. And I might be missing someone, but we'll. We'll find out. So. All right, how are we feeling about your two, three tight ends, Heath?

[Dave]

Pretty. Pretty fantastic.

[Adam]

Yeah.

[Dave]

Like, if you look at the tight end position in Dynasty, I think we're going to talk about the top three tight ends.

[Adam]

The top three.

[Dave]

You see year two and three, right?

[Adam]

Huh?

[Dave]

So doesn't this include Trey McBride?

[Adam]

No. He is your four tight end.

[Dave]

He's a year four tight end. Okay, never mind.

[Adam]

Okay. I was like, oh, my God, did I forget about.

[Dave]

Trey McBride is a sincere McCormick moment.

[Adam]

Okay. But, yes. So just a couple of corrections from recent shows that the audience has been kind enough to email or tweet or YouTube about. I was wrong about Christian McCaffrey. He did not have knee surgery for the PCL, so that's good. So I don't have to freak out about that. And in fact, the 49ers expressed some optimism that he's going to be fully healthy and sincere McCormick. Yeah. Some people said he's not a year two running back. Technically, he is not a year two running back. He's only played one year, but he was drafted or he was signed several years ago. So he's What, a year three or four running back? Sincere McCormick.

[Heath]

10. You're 10.

[Adam]

You're 10. What? It doesn't matter. But we did talk about him on the year two running back show.

[Dave]

I just don't really agree with the idea that a year should count if you don't appear in any games.

[Heath]

Yeah.

[Adam]

I remember talking about Travis ETN on the year two, because he did. He missed his whole rookie season, basically. Right. Like, did he miss all of it? He had the foot injury he missed most of.

[Heath]

Yes.

[Adam]

Yeah. And we talked about him on a show like that with a qualifier. So I think it's fine. It's Tim McCormick. I'm not. I'm not apologizing for Sincere McCormick. Okay. You can stuff it. All right.

[Dave]

Sincerely.

[Adam]

Yeah. Years two and three tight ends give me a sleeper. A breakout on a bust. Also we have a lot of news to get to as well, but give me a sleeper in the year two, three tight end group.

[Heath]

Dalton Kincaid. Post type sleeper.

[Dave]

Yeah, I guess he, he might fall to that range. I will say Tavian Sanders.

[Adam]

Tavian Sanders. Okay, how about a breakout Tucker Craft.

[Dave]

That's the best one.

[Adam]

Yeah. I was a little discouraged with Tucker Kraft looking into because I had actually been kind of, you know, wahoo. Tucker Craft. But boy, his target share not good. When, when Christian Watson was out, we basically like, it's. The whole thing is like, oh, Christian Watson out, whatever. I'm sorry, I'm filibustering here while I pull up my notes. Six games without Christian Watson or with Watson playing less than 50% of the snaps. His target share in those games were 16.7%, 20%, 14.8%, 10.3%. And then in week 18 with mostly with Malik Willis for like half the game, he had a 28% target share. And then in the playoffs, 15.2%. So that is less than 17% in four of six games.

[Dave]

You, you should have just said he plays for the Packers. Like that's what they. Nobody gets good target volume in this offense.

[Heath]

You gotta have a little bit of faith that they're gonna throw the ball more.

[Adam]

Well, yes, they definitely should. They had the third lowest pass rate in the NFL last year. About 46% pass rate, something like that. Extremely low. Very out of character. Never a pass heavy team, never a team. I don't think they've been top 10 in pass rate in any year. With Matt LaFleur, that's six seasons now. The highest they've ranked is actually 14th, but they're usually more like middle of the pack. All right, so Tucker Kraft is the potential breakout. Unfortunately, it seems like the packers are going to add a receiver, so we'll see if we still feel that way. Give me a bust at tight end at this group of year 2 and 3.

[Heath]

Dalton Concatenate Power just based on expectations.

[Adam]

And that was the main thing I wanted to talk about was Brock Bowers being a second round pick. And my question to you is, what is different about Brock Bowers than Kyle Pitts and Sam Laporta and their second years?

[Heath]

I think the expected involvement in the offense and just the prospect that he was and proved to be. Now you can say the same thing about Pitts and the way that he performed in his rookie season, but I think the, the flaw with Pitts was, and this could be the same for hours, was that the quarterback play fell off. So dramatically for the Falcons that it really impacted Pitts in. In such a horrific way. I just again I'll go back to. I had the conversation with Arthur Smith that off season and he said I'm sorry, not that Austin the, the going into year three for. For pits. And he said the difference between year one and year two was they had a veteran quarterback in Matt. And the encouraging thing, which is why I think it's a little bit of a, you know, benefit to. To Bowers is the quarterback was pretty horrific for the Raiders. Hopefully it gets better.

[Dave]

Also Brock Bowers was much, much better than Kyle Pitts and Sam Laporta were his rookies.

[Heath]

Yeah.

[Adam]

Well Pitts yeah like it's definitely better than Laporta La Porta. He.

[Dave]

He had 44 more catches, 170 more yards and four more touchdowns. Like who not even in this than pits. Not even in the same ballpark.

[Adam]

Yeah, I know Pitts though did have an amazing rookie season and he was top five pick. He was I think the fourth overall pick. He was injured, very injured in his second season and that injury even carried over into his third season the last year. I have no excuse but I think what happened to Kyle Pitts also was they added Drake London and as Jamie mentioned, the quarterback play got so much worse. They went from 4000 passing yards in 2021 to 2900 passing yards in 2022. But they added Drake London and that was a big deal. So I wonder if that would matter if if anyone was added of significance for the Raiders. And then the last thing is to say that they had bad quarterback play. It's probably true. I mean going Minshew McConnell Ritter, it wasn't good but they threw the ball so much last year they had the fourth most pass attempts in the NFL. This is the Raiders I'm talking about here. They had the ninth most gross passing yards per game. So it was actually a pretty good environment for him. Especially when Devonte Adams got it. He was pretty good before Devonte Adams got traded. But just to think about 4th most past them to the NFL. Not a ton of target competition. That was great. So I did want to bring that up. They've been linked to Genti maybe with with their first round pick. Maybe they don't have as good of a passing season as they as they had in 2024. I think that's actually within the realm of possibility. 4,117 yards and 29 touchdowns. Really?

[Heath]

I mean it's a fair point. And look, Chip Kelly is going to come in and Obviously change a lot of things there, but you don't take that job. If you're Chip Kelly with the idea of not featuring Brock Bowers, who could be, you know, this elite prospect first, who was an elite prospect, lived up to the expectations, hopefully we'll have one of the better tight end careers. It's, it's exciting. It's, it's a very exciting, you know, outlook.

[Adam]

Typo, typo for me. 19 touchdowns, not 29 touchdowns. So that could, you're on a roll. I could definitely, yeah, but, but 4,117 yards, pretty good. But, but 19 touchdowns is not so good. All right, so we're optimistic about Brock Bowers.

[Heath]

They're going to add a receiver. I mean they're not, you know, whether it's a Jacoby Myers upgrade or a Trey Tucker upgrade, they're adding somebody there because they can't go with what they have.

[Adam]

Yeah. All right, so anybody else you want to talk about, you want to talk about Dalton Kincaid? Because Jamie, you had him as a sleeper and he called him a bust.

[Dave]

I just didn't think there was a good bust candidates going into this year and he has been the bust of this group for his fantasy football career. I, I wonder if like if we get to the summer and the Bills have not added a true number one wide receiver, if the Kincaid hype train starts back up again and he's a single, like if he's a single digit rounds pick, then I would think he's more of a bust than a sleeper.

[Heath]

I, I would lean that way also. I think the, the hope is the former and not the latter, you know, so that they don't add somebody and there's still the disdain for him that pushes him down to being a later round guy. And I think you're going to see most ranked lists where maybe the earliest or the, the highest he'll be ranked is like 10, you know, depending on how things shake out with the position, who ends up where. But I, I, I, I think you got to look into, you know, just one thing with him was that he said he played with two knee injuries. You know, one we know that he missed time. One was, I don't know if it was the, the, the, the absence or you know, the one he came back and he was playing through a torn PCL or partially torn piece. I don't remember the exact details of it, but I know it was PCL injury. So the hope would be, is that that's the next evolution of this offense is that you start to feature him Maybe a little bit more. You're starting to see, I think how this offense could look because they extend Shakir. You know, they invested in Keon Coleman last year. You know, are they going to be aggressive in a very bad free agent class or is it going to be another rookie? Or as they showed us last year, you know, they went out and they made a trade for a veteran guy that clearly did not help them. So there's a lot of ways that this bill's receiving corp can look once we get to, you know, September. But I think right now, like if you're looking at their building blocks, I still think Kincaid's a building block. You know, it's a matter of can he fulfill the expectations that were probably too high for him last year and maybe start to be just lower expectations but better production.

[Adam]

One thing that surprised me a little bit. So he played nine games and then he injured his knee in the, in the 10th game of the season. Then he missed a little bit of time. Dalton Kincaid. So in those first nine games he actually led the team in targets. He had 54 targets. Khalil Shakir had 45, Keon Coleman had 36. Unfortunately, you know, the production just wasn't even close. Like Khalil Shakir had nine fewer targets, but he had 139 more yards than Dalton Kincaid. Even Keon Coleman had a lot more yards than Dalton Kincaid. So he wasn't doing that much with the targets. And then when he came back, another thing that I guess I wasn't quite aware of, he didn't really play that much. He played 24 of the snaps in Week 10, then he got hurt. Then he came back, played 49, 34, 44% of the snaps in the next three games to end the regular season and then 38.2% to 51% in the playoffs. So there's a guy that I can't remember someone else, I think it was like Jalen Waddle, we were talking about that last year he didn't play that many snaps. Dalton Kincaid also at least second half of the season he was on the field like less than half of the.

[Heath]

Time he wasn't healthy.

[Dave]

Yeah, well that, that happened at the end of his rookie year too. He was 60, 70% a lot of the season. And then down the stretch in his rookie year it was 40 and 50. In the playoffs it was 50, really. And that's the kind of a difference between Bowers also and Kincaid or Kyle Pitts is the Bowers is pretty much a full time player. Like he he, I think he played 85 of their offensive snaps last year. That's way more than what Kyle Pitts plays. That's way more than what Dalton Kincaid plays.

[Adam]

One of the things that I came away with just for researching this show was that I cannot believe, I could not believe Kyle Pitts's career after the rookie year he had because he averaged over 2 yards per route run as a rookie tight end, which is insane. And Bowers did too, I believe. But Pitts was a little bit better. And then to just fall off like this is really mind blowing to me. But. All right. So. Well, that's an introduction to today's topic. We'll do some news and notes. We'll come back and talk about, you know, guys who have a chance for, for a big second season. Maybe you talked about Tavian Sanders, maybe Theo Johnson. You don't want to know about his yards per out run though. And everything was Ben Senate, Ben Sennett. Absolutely. He's on the list. We'll talk about that. Now we got to remind you, we're going to have a bracket challenge. Once the NCAA tournament field is set, we'll have the bracket challenge. You can join it. If you win our bracket challenge, you're in the podcast league, the 14 team PPR podcast league. Unless Jamie's giving away all the spots she usually does. But no, you'll be in the podcast.

[Heath]

I did three leagues on my own.

[Adam]

You did. I appreciate that. And also it's a great time to be watching CBS Sports HQ get you ready for March Madness. But also everything else going on. Spring training, NFL combine, NFL free agency, NFL draft, of course, NBA, NHL golf, everything. CBS Sports HQ on the CBS Sports app. We'll be right back on Fantasy Football today.

[Jamie]

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[Adam]

Welcome back. News and Notes A lot coming out for the Bengals. They have franchise tag T. Higgins. By the way, two players franchise tagged. I think it's the fewest in almost 30 years. 94 yeah, 30 years. 31 years. So there you go. So that's T. Higgins for the Bengals and Trey Smith offensive guard for the Chiefs. So the Bengals and the Chiefs are going to have until July 15th to get a long term deal done with Higgins and Smith respectively, or otherwise they will play on the one year franchise tag. Bengals also released guard Alex Cappa and their offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher said that the team might sign a bigger running back, get some more physicality in the off season. The Eagles gave saquon Barkley a two year, $41.2 million extension with 36 million guaranteed. The jets released Devonte Adams. That's going to save them nearly $30 million in cap space. They're also allowing Alan Lazar to seek a trade that seems unlikely. He'll probably get released as well. Alan Lazard the Seahawks, according to espn, are likely to release Tyler Lockett soon unless they can work out a restructure. Sam Darnold is a free agent. They did not. The Vikings did not franchise tag Sam Darnold and it seems like a lot, just a lot of buzz about the Giants right now. I don't want to make us a giant show, but they're going to be making some moves. They're going to probably sign a veteran quarterback next week. And then a lot of buzz about them trading up to number one to get Cam Ward. The Saints released Jamal Williams. The Bears. All right, this is big. Jamie, what do you think about the Bears? They've now traded, well, will have traded for two offensive linemen. Jonah Jackson from the Rams for a sixth round pick and Joe Tuney from the Chiefs for a fourth round pick. We say that fourth round pick was 2026.

[Dave]

Yep.

[Adam]

Okay, so it's a 2025 sixth for Jonah Jackson and a 2026 fourth for Joe Tooney, but pretty big deal, I'd say. What do you think?

[Heath]

I think it's great. You know, I mean, that's clearly one of the biggest issues that they had last season was protecting Caleb Williams. So you go out and you get a head coach who everybody thinks has a chance to be, you know, good at, you know, it's certainly going to improve the offense, you know, based on what Ben Johnson did as the offense coordinator for Detroit and what was the biggest success for the Lions, what was the offensive line, you know, and so you can, you can look at it and say it's a win for Caleb, it's a win for DJ Moore and Romo Dunze, and potentially a big win for DeAndre Swift if he remains the starting running back there. So I'm gonna guess they're not done either, you know, because this wasn't a lot of big investments. It's. It's a big investment money wise, because they're going to pay those guys. But to go and spend these two type of draft picks on players that still have an opportunity to be contributors right away, I think it's a great job by, by Ryan Pulse, Heath, on.

[Adam]

The other side of it. Are we concerned about the Chief's offensive line now losing Joe Tooney and needing a left tackle?

[Dave]

We'll see. Maybe. I, I think that they, they couldn't afford to pay Creed Humphreys and Trey Smith and Joe Tooney, so they chose the young guys. They can probably fix the guard thing. What we're concerned about as left tackle and I think what we saw in the super bowl is that the plan to go with mediocre left guard and Joe Tuney at left tackle is not a good enough plan so that they're gonna have to find a better option at left tackle. If they don't, then, yeah, it's a big concern.

[Adam]

Okay. To the point where you would drop someone. Mahomes, Pacheco, or whatever in your rankings.

[Dave]

I. It's going to be hard to be as excited about the running game, but I wasn't very excited about the running game anyway. And Mahomes was QB5 or 6, so I don't, I don't know how much you can drop him from that just because the potential upside does exist. We'll just have to see.

[Adam]

Okay. The Cowboys resigned defensive tackle Osa Adigizua to a four year, $80 million deal, 58 million guaranteed. And the Eagles released two defensive backs that have been pretty instrumental for them in their successful run. Darius Slay and James Bradbury. Bradbury kind of not so much lately, but had at least one really good year for them. All right, back to the year two and three tight ends. Anything you guys want to add on Bowers? When's the earliest you would take Brock bowers?

[Heath]

Early round 2 13.

[Adam]

Would you rather have Brock Bowers? Well, I guess I should ask this Bowers or McBride?

[Heath]

Bowers powers are McBride, but they're both.

[Dave]

Round two picks for me.

[Heath]

Yep.

[Adam]

How come Bowers over McBride?

[Heath]

I think based on his rookie season and the hope that the quarterback play will be better. Look, McBride can easily be a 10 touchdown guy, but that's clearly been something that's been a problem for him. So at some point that has to change and we saw the, the really the concerted effort to make that possible at the end of the season. Once you know, he finally got in the end zone, they didn't stop just because he got one. But I think Bowers just again elite level prospect that prove it in his proved it in his rookie season and hopefully continues to ascend in year two. So I just like the upside slightly better.

[Dave]

Yep.

[Adam]

Okay. Hey Schaefer, can we get a YouTube poll real quick here? McBride versus Bowers YouTube poll. I'd love to know how the audience feels about this in the Dr. They always seem to go back to back in the draft we did a couple of weeks ago. McBride went with the eighth pick of round two. No, sorry. Bowers went with the eighth pick around to McBride, the ninth pick of round two. So back to back there.

[Heath]

I think that's going to be the norm. You see one come off the board, the other one will probably follow pretty.

[Adam]

Soon after some players that went in the same range. Drake, London. Would you guys take bowers?

[Heath]

The Titans.

[Adam]

A.J. brown.

[Heath]

Brown, yeah.

[Adam]

Josh Jacobs, Titans.

[Heath]

Depends what I did in round one, but probably the Titans.

[Adam]

Christian McCaffrey.

[Dave]

Titans.

[Adam]

McCaffrey didn't have surgery, just so you know.

[Dave]

Appreciate that. Did they. Did they heal his tendonitis?

[Adam]

I. Yeah. Yes.

[Dave]

No, I don't. I don't believe they did.

[Adam]

Okay, we got the YouTube poll up, so I'll keep track on the. Of the results.

[Heath]

Well, the tendonitis was healed in Germany. The ACL was the. The knee injury, not the acl. The. The knee injury was in America.

[Adam]

Yeah. And I trust our doctors on the knee, not so much the tendonitis. I guess I'm gonna. I'm gonna vote here which tight end you prefer in. I'm gonna go with Bowers. Oh, he's crushing it right now. But only 14 votes.

[Dave]

I. I was expecting like an 85, 15 split.

[Heath]

Yeah, same.

[Adam]

That's exactly what it is. It's 86, 14 right now. 87 13.

[Dave]

Yeah.

[Adam]

Okay. Wow. Really? Yeah. That's interesting. I mean.

[Dave]

Yeah, you seem like, really surprised by the fact that Brock Bowers is the clear consensus tight end one.

[Adam]

Well, I. I actually do think that 4,100 passing yards, I might take the under. You've got a head coach that's been, you know, pretty run heavy in his career and you've got. I do think right now the season starts, I could probably go Bowers. But I expect them to upgrade at wide receiver and I definitely expect them to upgrade at running back. That's the thing. They had no run game last year, so.

[Heath]

But would it surprise you if the Cardinals at a receiver.

[Adam]

At a receiver on day in the round three or later now in the.

[Heath]

First two or again, you know, it could be, you know, a second or third tier free agent.

[Adam]

Yeah, I. But if they add a receiver, I think if either team adds a receiver, it probably would impact the Raiders more than the Cardinals. Like, the Cardinals have their top two guys and the Raiders have their top one guy and then could upgrade over.

[Heath]

Who are you saying the Cardinals top two guys? Michael Wilson.

[Adam]

No, I'm sorry. I mean McBride and. And Harrison.

[Heath]

Yeah.

[Adam]

And. All right, I'm. I'm rambling. Okay.

[Heath]

Not a Marvin Harrison guy. Some may argue that Myers and Bowers is better.

[Adam]

Yeah, they might. Let's talk about Sam Laporta and what we expect from him. So Sam Laporta went from the number, I think one tight end overall in 2023. Not per game. Yeah. Number one tight end overall. Number three per game in PPR. Number two per game in non PPR in 2023 at 120 targets. He had 10 touchdowns, 889 yards, 2024. He was the number seven tight end overall. Number nine per game in PPR. Number eight per game and non PPR. He went down from 120 targets to 83 targets in one fewer game and lost about 150 yards or so and three touchdowns. But he finished strong. So. So do you think he finishes closer to tight end 1 or tight end 7? Are you guys feeling it?

[Dave]

I think that my concern is that just like both years, his yardage, like his 17 game pace for his career is 832 receiving yards. His. His best was 889 in his rookie year. He has thrived in fantasy because he scored 17 touchdowns in 33 games. And I am a little bit concerned that without Ben Johnson, this team's going to score fewer touchdowns and that could impact relatively LaPorta and David Montgomery more than it does anybody else.

[Adam]

Hey, Dave.

[Ben]

What's up, guys?

[Adam]

So let me give you guys some values. Tell me what the best value is. Brock Bowers in round two, Sam Laporta in round five, Dalton Kincaid in round 10.

[Heath]

Hours.

[Ben]

Bowers agreed.

[Adam]

And how do we feel about Laporta in round five?

[Heath]

Fine with it.

[Dave]

I, I think that we've talked about this a lot the last few years on this show that that is the range, except for Kittle last year, but that is the range where we've made a lot of mistakes at the tight end position that not drafting the elite tier and going for the second tier. And so I'm probably gonna be out there at that cost.

[Ben]

I think I will be too. Where's Najoku going?

[Adam]

Well, in this draft he was. Najoku was the last pick of round six.

[Ben]

Yeah, I, I would have similar expectations for Najoku as I would for laporta. In fact, I think Najoku in full PPR is going to be notably better than Laporta. So I'd rather wait the extra round for Najoku.

[Adam]

Well, I know it's tough to rely on touchdowns, but for Laporta, he's been a very reliable end zone guy. He's either led the team in end zone targets two straight years or he was one behind the leader in end zone targets. So that is someone that golf looks to in the end zone. We know it's going to be a great off. Well, we think it's going to be a great offense to have a new offensive coordinator, but it should be really good. And man, I, I think they'll throw more than they did last season. They're very. What are they? They were 26th in pass rate and it kind of threw. They threw a lot late in the year and Laporta was fantastic late in the year. So the Port. So you'd say Najoku over laporta. Dave in full ppr.

[Ben]

Yes. Yes.

[Dave]

I think another big question is, is. Is Jameson Williams role done expanding or is his. Is his role still growing in the offense?

[Adam]

That's a great point.

[Ben]

Is Jameer Gibbs role expanding.

[Adam]

As a receiver? Yeah.

[Heath]

I'd be surprised.

[Ben]

Okay. I mean he, he proved to be quite a catalyst for that offense toward the end of the year. And then when Montgomery was out, you can't unsee what he did in those games. I would imagine that there would be an effort made to get the ball in his hands more.

[Heath]

But they had the same situation as a rookie when Montgomery missed time. And it's not like Gibbs entered the season getting dramatically more work. And early in the season, while clearly the coordinator change may throw all this in a different direction, Montgomery was out catching Gibbs.

[Adam]

Montgomery was. Yeah. That is true. By the way, Dave Bowers or McBride for you?

[Ben]

Bowers.

[Adam]

30 votes, 77 for Bowers, 23 for McBride. All right, well, I think that basically concludes our Sam Laporta talk. I'll give you some other names that went around. Sam Laporta in our most recent draft. Would you rather have Sam Laporta? Oh, actually Sam Laporter, Jameson Williams, they went two picks apart.

[Heath]

The Porter.

[Dave]

Yeah. But they're both a little early for me.

[Ben]

I will say Jameson if it's a three receiver league, Laporta if it's a two receiver league, slash tight end premium league.

[Adam]

Sam Laporta Aroma Dunes.

[Dave]

Can I see what the Bears do in the next couple months?

[Ben]

Nope. You have to answer now. And that has to be your answer all the way through September.

[Dave]

I'm gonna go with Rome.

[Adam]

So if. Is there any question that if the Ravens trade or release Mark Andrews that you'd have likely ahead of Laporta? Where would you do that in that case?

[Heath]

Likely ahead of the portal.

[Ben]

I won't have likely ahead of Laporta, but likely will be way up there.

[Adam]

I wish he were at your three tight end instead of a year four. I would have loved to have talked about likely, but the rules are the rules. We are not allowed to talk about Isaiah Likely on this show. I am sorry. We do have to get his own.

[Ben]

Show and on in when Mark Andrews has got.

[Adam]

Let's take one more. Yes, he will. We'll take one more break. By the way, next week's gonna be a big fun week on this show. A lot of. A lot of movement, trades, free agency, obviously you know, it's gonna be a big week, so we'll be with you.

[Heath]

I hope so. It feels like it could be a little bit of a slow week though.

[Adam]

Jamie, you gotta sell it. You gotta try to sell.

[Heath]

No, no, I'm just, I'm just being realistic, though. Like, there's not a lot of big free agent receivers.

[Adam]

No.

[Heath]

And the running backs may not sign right away.

[Adam]

It's free. It's such a bad agency here. Such a big. Quarterbacks are going to be big. Yeah, that's gonna. Those are gonna be the big dominoes. All right, we will take a break. When we come back, let's talk about Brenton Strange and Tucker Kraft and Theo Johnson and Jatavian Sanders.

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[Ben]

Will that be cash or credit?

[Adam]

Credit.

[Dave]

4 Galaxy S25 Ultra. The AI companion that does the heavy lifting. So you can do. You get [e-mail] compatible with select apps. Requires Google Gemini account.

[Adam]

Results may vary based on input.

[Dave]

Check responses for accuracy.

[Adam]

Ben Sennett after this on fft.

[Heath]

Wow.

[Adam]

Okay, how do you rank Tucker Kraft, Theo Johnson, Jatavian Sanders.

[Ben]

Craft? Enormous space Sanders and then Theo Johnson.

[Dave]

Draft Sanders Johnson.

[Adam]

Does everybody agree that there's an enormous.

[Heath]

Space as of now? Yes.

[Dave]

Yes. Big enough to fit Theo Johnson in.

[Ben]

I have Tucker Craft as a top 10 tight end.

[Adam]

I know, but can't you see a scenario? I could easily see a scenario where, where those guys are better than Tucker Kraft. I mean, again, he. He didn't really do that much. One thing I did like about Tucker Kraft is his yak. Oh, my gosh. I've talked about this before, but he had one of the most incredible yak seasons that you're ever going to see from a tight end. He averaged I think over 9 yards after the catch at 9.1 yards after the catch per reception. So that's pretty cool. And last year, his first year in the league, he averaged 7.5 on only 31 catches. But there might be something there. He might have some playmaking ability, but. But as he said earlier, he plays for the Packers. Whereas Tavian Sanders, I think, has a pretty good path to targets. I mean, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if he were second on the team in targets. He had some, you know, hit some good moments last year with not a lot to go on. But tight end is a position that's full of surprises.

[Dave]

Yeah.

[Adam]

So I. I think Theo Johnson have a little harder time seeing it with. But Sanders, I don't think it's that big.

[Dave]

I like Sanders and I think he has a lot of potential. And the difference between what Dave said, tight end 10 and tight end 20, is like the difference between maybe nine and a half fantasy points per game and seven and a half. So, yeah, it wouldn't be that surprising if the guy we thought was going to score nine and a half scored eight instead.

[Heath]

I think for both of these guys, it's touchdowns. You know, we're not talking about guys that are going to get a lot of catches, targets, yards. You know, that's just not the profile of their offenses, not the profile of what they've shown. You know, at least one year for Sanders, two years for Kraft. I think the difference is, is that, like you said, Kraft is in an offense that we've seen when they featured him. He's done some nice things. The coach comes out this off season and speaks specifically about getting him more involved. There's going to be a receiver that's missing right off the bat with Watson based on his injury. And even though, Adam, you know, the research that you have of that Kraft was not at his best when Watson was missing. I'll go back to what I said previously. Like, the hope would be, is that they're throwing the ball a little bit more, you know, whether it's, you know, 10% more, 15, 20% more, I think a lot of it, you know, and I don't know if you have this data in front of you because you're giving the full season pass rate. Like, what was their pass rate? Malik Willis vs Jordan Love, and how healthy was Jordan Love throughout the course of the season? You know, maybe he wasn't fully healthy until the end of the year and their offense was just working well in a different direction because Josh Jacobs was so successful. Again, do they go back to maybe a little bit more balance to what has been the norm for Leflore and sort of what was working for them 20, 23, when Jordan Love was fantastic and we all thought, okay, here comes this potential breakout quarterback that just didn't materialize.

[Adam]

Yeah, I compared the packers to the Eagles actually, because both teams after their buy went incredibly run heavy. The Eagles buy was in week five. The packers buy was week 10 or 11. But then after that it was all Jordan Love. Jordan Love did not throw more than 30 passes the entire.

[Heath]

Was that all Josh?

[Adam]

All Josh Jacobs. Jordan loved another 30 pass. More than 30 passes the entire second half of the season. They were still 30th in pass rate and they had an even, even lower pass rate after their bye week. And then he threw 33 passes against the Eagles and a loss in the playoffs or playing from behind. So they went super run heavy regardless of who the quarterback was. Again. Yeah, I think it was surprising. It's just, it's not, it's not Sean, it's not Matt LaFleur's M.O. he's usually kind of a middle of the pack pass rate guy. They usually have a top 12 ish offense that's pretty reliable. It's a, it's a really good offense and that, that is exciting. But can he stand out in the offense? Tucker Kraft? I don't know. Can Jotavian Sanders stand out in the Carolina offense? I'm, I think I'm. Obviously I would take Craft ahead of Sanders. I'm little more optimistic about, about upside. I would say that Sanders has more upside and that might sound crazy, but I never judge a rookie tight end. I never judge a tight end on what they did as a rookie. Right. That's like, look at some of the great Titans. They had quiet rookie seasons, but just in terms of being able to get to like 100 targets, I would think that Sanders has more chance of that than Kraft.

[Heath]

Yeah, I mean, look, yeah, there's, there's, I don't think Tucker Craft is going from nine and a half, whatever he averaged last year, points per game to 15. No, the 13, the 12, you know, like he's going to be a 10 and a half to 11 and a half guy to have a breakout season. Yeah, I think for Sanders, like, can he get to nine and a half? Well, like to me, Tucker Kraft feels a lot more like what we thought Jake Ferguson would be, like a good, reliable low end starting option, you know, someone that you can settle for on draft day. Sanders is the type of guy you're taking. If you already drafted your tight end with the hope that There's a lot more often.

[Adam]

Yeah. Okay. So that's kind of what I was trying to say. Yeah. All right. What do we think about Theo Johnson? Dave? I will tell you this about Theo Johnson.

[Ben]

Oh, please.

[Adam]

For you Yards per out run guys, 53 rookie tight ends with 40 or more targets since 2006. Theo Johnson ranked 51st, third worst yard per route run rate 0.91 yards. The only guys who were worse than him were Eric Ebron and Kate Otten as rookies. But then they, they both, you know, they both became respectable in terms of yards per outrun. But in that regard, it was a pretty horrible year for Theo Johnson. I don't know how much we can even take from it. But what do you think about him?

[Ben]

I don't even know what his role will be in this offense. Does he have a prayer of being the number two target getter for the Giants? I, I don't see a path to that. We know who number one's going to be.

[Adam]

Yeah.

[Ben]

And, you know, we, we might not love Wandell Robinson. He might be like a guy that we talk about off the waiver wire at some point during the year for what seems like the third or fourth year in a row. But I, I think that there are some significant blockers. They could always. This is a team that could add another wide receiver as well. I don't see a path for Theo Johnson to be an impactful fantasy tight end. He's absolutely in that bucket of you throw a dart on him with a late pick, probably more so in tight end premium leagues than. Than in a regular fantasy league, and you give him one or two weeks and if he does nothing, you cut him.

[Adam]

Okay. Does anybody think that Evan Ingram or Zach Ertz will be on a different team or retired, but not really, but Earth.

[Ben]

No. Ingram, yes.

[Adam]

You think, you think they're going to release Ingram?

[Ben]

I think they will either trade or release Evan Ingram.

[Heath]

There's a chance for both. You know, really Thing comes down to what the commanders think of Senate. They think he could fill that role.

[Adam]

And Brenton, I bring. Bring this up because of Brenton Strange and Ben Senate. But yeah, Dave, why don't you talk about those guys and if. What kind of potential they might have.

[Ben]

Strange showed some flashes when Evan Ingram was out last year. I think the coaching staff in Jacksonville likes him and I think if Evan Ingram leaves and they don't do anything to really address the tight end position, you can look at Bren Strange as another one of those guys that you'll take with A late round pick. I might be more interested in him than Jatavion Sanders. That one I'm writing in pencil. We'll see. As far as the other guy goes, I think Earth's proved to be a good security blanket for Jaden Daniels. And I'm not sure if the commanders are going to be in a hurry to let somebody like that go, particularly if they can resign Ertz for cheap and it and you know, if he takes a cheap one year deal to stay on it gives them another 365 days to get Senate ready to go. They could sprinkle Senate in more in that offense. I'm worried that he's going to be more of like an H back than the type of tight end that Zach Ertz has been. And that would mean that we're not going to ever see Senate be a huge fantasy asset.

[Adam]

Okay, so if Earth's were. If Earths were released or didn't come back, would any who would rank Senate ahead of Jotavian, Sanders and Theo Johnson?

[Heath]

Me.

[Ben]

If they let Earth go, they don't add anybody else to tight end. Yeah, that's an easy one. That's them telling you that they think Senate's ready and that he's not an H back.

[Adam]

Yeah, Senate. I mean the guy was a second round pick. He has, you know, pretty good prospect, seem to like him. You know, I think the Zach Ertz year was definitely a surprise.

[Heath]

But I think the thing with Ertz is now how much does Debo Samuel in their mind replace what Ertz is able to do?

[Dave]

Yeah.

[Ben]

Yeah.

[Adam]

Well, anything else you guys want to say about this class?

[Heath]

No, I actually have to go, so thanks.

[Adam]

Oh, fine. Whatever. I don't need them. Bye, Jamie. How about you guys? Anything else? How's. How's your day going?

[Ben]

Day is super.

[Adam]

What'd you have for breakfast?

[Ben]

What did I have? I had a protein shake, I had some bread with butter and that's it. Kind of a light day for me.

[Dave]

Some sauce?

[Ben]

Are you. What? What's going on? Where you're asking? Why are you.

[Adam]

We're done with this. We are done with the show. There's nothing else to talk about.

[Ben]

So this is a good time for you to remind people to like and subscribe. Maybe there's somebody watching us for the first time. If so, welcome.

[Adam]

Okay.

[Ben]

And you can subscribe for free to our channel. When we get to110,000 subscribers, we promise to do a live Q A. Adam said so. No, knows it. Adam loves the live Q&As. Of 110 questions.

[Adam]

110. Do we not have that yet?

[Ben]

We.

[Adam]

I don't know, 109K.

[Ben]

And so that means that if everybody who subscribes tells one friend who's not in a fantasy league with. To subscribe to our show where we give fantasy advice four times a week, three times a week during the off season, plus dynasty advice.

[Adam]

You know, I would honestly.

[Ben]

We'd have 218, 000 you have been talking. And then we'd have to do a 218 question live stream.

[Adam]

I'm. You've been talking for like a minute and a half. And all I want to hear about is the sausage patty. The. The red meat poison that Heath eats for breakfast every day.

[Dave]

Red meat is wonderful for you, especially if you get it from the right place. But this. We were actually chicken sausage.

[Adam]

Oh, okay. Okay.

[Dave]

So was not red meat very processed, though?

[Adam]

I mean, very.

[Dave]

I did have some. Some chicken breakfast sausage that was not too processed and some protein French toast sticks.

[Adam]

Okay. Oh, I know what I wanted to talk to Heath about.

[Ben]

I love that Adam wanted to hear about Heath's sausage.

[Adam]

Yes. What was I saying? Oh, Landman.

[Dave]

Yes.

[Adam]

You watching that?

[Dave]

Yes, I'm done with it.

[Adam]

I just started.

[Dave]

It's. It's. It's really, really, really fantastic.

[Adam]

We need to get Taylor Sheridan on our show, CBS Family 100.

[Ben]

Nothing else going on.

[Dave]

He would come on and try to tell us what one of the shows is about and you would disagree with him and tell him that he didn't know what the show that he made was about.

[Adam]

Anyway, watch Landman on Paramount plus. It's very good. All right.

[Heath]

So good.

[Adam]

We're out of here. We'll see you on FFT Express. For those of you who are watching live and want to hop on over to that show. For Heath and Dave and Jamie and Thomas, I'm Adam. Talk to you tomorrow on Fantasy Football.

[Jamie]

Paramount Podcast.

[Mike]

Just because the 2024 NFL season is over doesn't mean that you're done with football. I'm Mike Renner, co host of the Push in the Pile podcast, part of the CBS Sports Podcast network, and I'm here to help get you through the spring alongside my co host, former all pro guard Kyle Long. We're going to be diving into the combine, free agency and the draft because football season never sleeps. It's the offseason when championship rosters are built, so you gotta follow along, download and follow pushing the pile on Apple podcasts, Spotify and anywhere else podcasts are found.