
Fantasy Football show for Aug 1, 2025. Which tight ends are being overvalued for the 2025 fantasy football season? Top 10 TE rankings breakdown on today’s show! Find out who Andy, Mike, and Jason are targeting and avoiding in fantasy football drafts! Plus, how much to factor in the strength of schedule. Manage your redraft, keeper, and dynasty fantasy football teams with the #1 fantasy football podcast.
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Andy Holloway
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Jason Moore
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Andy Holloway
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Jason Moore
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Andy Holloway
The Fantasy Footballer studio is sponsored by Walmart. Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast with your hosts, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore and Mike Wright.
Jason Moore
Welcome in.
Mike Wright
It's August. It's time. We're here. We made it.
Jason Moore
August 1, the fantasy footballers Podcast. Thrilled to have you join us. As we count down to the beginning of the NFL season 2025 approaches. We are five days a week.
Andy Holloway
Football has already started.
Jason Moore
Yeah. What. I mean, what else is there? Yeah. What a game, too. A Hall of Fame game, I'd say.
Andy Holloway
Yeah. Glad everyone came out unscathed.
Mike Wright
So what are you doing? What are you doing? We're recording this early?
Andy Holloway
What are you doing?
Jason Moore
We're recording Thursday afternoon before the game.
Mike Wright
You realize who's playing tonight or yesterday?
Andy Holloway
Yes, I do.
Mike Wright
These are not people that you want to throw that out.
Andy Holloway
We're going to be given a solid 80%, a drive or two. We're safe here.
Mike Wright
Okay. Well, they've already seen what happens or.
Andy Holloway
Talking about it or whoopsie doodles.
Jason Moore
But we have so much to cover. We're getting into our rankings episodes, the top 10 tight end rankings on today's show. We'll count it down. We've got NFL News to catch you up on. We got a great quick question. We also want to remind you as the NFL season, as the fantasy season kicks off, if you have a league, which look we. We recommend that it's the easiest way to play football. You need a trophy or you need some swag. You need some gear. Every, every league's got a trophy. Maybe you want a championship ring. You want a belt for the, for the champ. Some other accessories for your league. We always start off the fantasy season reminding you about fantasychamps.com we have a special code. It is Ballers. If you go to fancychamps.com you can get 10% off anything over there. So get your league trophy now. Have it ready for your draft. If you're the champ, buy yourself a ring or 10 and put them on your fingers and bring them to the draft.
Andy Holloway
You could put the belt on or you could put it over your shoulder. I like over the shoulder. And if you want one of the physical draft boards that you put the names up on for a live draft, they got them there as well.
Jason Moore
Yeah. So fantasychamps.com use that code. Ballers. We've got the Ultimate Draft kit available to you@ultimate draftkit.com so the value Scout tool, launching momentarily, which will give you the ability to compare what we consider a player's true value to be, which is, you know, based on their draft position. And then you can compare that with all the different platforms that your league mates play on. So they. They see average job position lists and sleeper and Yahoo and NFL and espn and a lot of players draft kind of subconsciously, even if they say they don't. When you see that ADP list, sometimes you feel a pressure to take players in certain spots. That's why we want to give you an advantage, a way to exploit and take advantage of that with the Value Scout tool, another part of the 2025 Ultimate Draft Kit. Here's your quick question of the day. Let's get into it. How much do you guys consider and factor in strength of schedule in your rankings?
Andy Holloway
Not much. When it comes to the actual rankings. The I do factor it in from last year to this year, and the gap kind of the delta between, like, did they have a really easy schedule last year and now they're going to a really hard one. A really hard one last year and they're going to a really easy one. You know, Kyron Williams is somebody that's going from a very difficult schedule last season for running backs to an easier schedule this year. Ironically, the previous year, he went from an easy schedule to a hard one. You saw the efficiency dip. But for the most part, when I'm doing rankings, I'm looking at the season. I don't believe we know a lot about how these defenses are actually going to perform in 2025 because they're always so wildly different.
Jason Moore
That's the thing that people need to understand is that when you look at the strength of the schedule for what they had last year, that's all settled. Like, we know how good those defenses were. That is a real Number the strength of schedule Moving forward is 100% projected. Doesn't factor in the mysterious injuries that are going to take place. All the turnover on defense. The changes of coordinators like the Lions.
Mike Wright
For example, got devastated by injuries, including an injury to, you know, their, their pass rusher, Aiden Hutchinson is like, that's factored into the numbers of. That's who they were last year. So that's what they are in the projected strength.
Jason Moore
So they look like a better matchup than they might actually be for opponents.
Andy Holloway
So the Dolphins were difficult to throw on last year for wide receivers, a bad matchup. They've lost like their entire secondary. I don't think they have a single player from last year's secondary on there. So you've got to have some projections. I will say, not so much when I make rankings, but when I am drafting and we've got the strength of schedule tool in the ultimate draft kit. If you just pull that up, go to go to myutic.com and you can go to the strength of schedule tool. I like looking at the first three weeks. I know that we might be wrong about whether I agree.
Mike Wright
I use that too.
Andy Holloway
Whether. But I look for the extremes and I definitely use it on my defense. It's like when I'm picking my defense. Like, I love Baltimore's defense. I love the Bills defense. They're great. You know, who plays each other? Week one, Buffalo and Baltimore. Like, do you really want to start week one playing against either of those offenses? Not really.
Jason Moore
Right. Like, you wouldn't. You might avoid Buffalo and Baltimore.
Andy Holloway
Exactly.
Jason Moore
In your draft just because, you know, oh, cool, I got a great defense. But then in week one, you throw them out there and you're disappointed because both offenses are going to score. I will say, like, just as a kind of sidebar of the same question, you really want to. And we'll tell you this throughout the season if you're with us, but you really want to start paying attention to strength of schedule data. You know, four or five, six weeks into the season with an eye on the playoffs, the fantasy playoffs. That is because you're going to understand which teams are actually improved on the defensive side. Look like really good matchups are weak against certain positions. Like, you know, we've had, I think, famously a couple of years ago, Derek Henry had this beautiful, you know, playoff schedule. I think it was Tennessee versus Houston all the time. And he played Houston twice in the playoffs. Yes, something like that. But it becomes very, very important to the way we look at our week to week Rankings as the season progresses. Not a heavy emphasis on the way we look at projecting individual players because there is so much turnover.
Andy Holloway
I have two early season takeaways, though, that I will just float to you guys, see if you. If you care.
Jason Moore
Currently, Cleveland has a tough time.
Andy Holloway
Yes. Currently going into this season. The number one easiest strength of schedule.
Mike Wright
For running backs for the how many weeks?
Andy Holloway
For the first three weeks. The first three weeks is New Orleans, Carolina and the Niners, which is the Arizona Cardinals and James Conner. So you've got old man Conner, who you don't know how long before he breaks down, but you know at the very beginning of the season when he's healthy, that's like a pretty nice opening schedule.
Mike Wright
Sure.
Andy Holloway
Getting off to a hot start after your draft is so important. Like when you start three and oh versus oh and three, the way you manage your team is just so different. I feel like every time I get.
Jason Moore
Controlled and not like you're freaking out.
Mike Wright
Yes.
Andy Holloway
Yeah, exactly. It's true. And then the other one that I'm a little bit scared of on the reverse. This is a passing offense I want. I find myself taking them everywhere. I talked to Jeremy yesterday. He got this stack in the mock draft. I thought I was. When I went in with the fifth pick, my plan was CD Lamb at 5. Dak late. But the opening schedule for Dallas's passing. Listen to this. They start on the road against Philly. That's going to be not fun time.
Mike Wright
No.
Andy Holloway
Not easy, at least. Then the Giants, which. The Giants as a team are not good, but their defense is good. Then on the road in Chicago, very difficult. They were. They were actually the 32nd worst matchup for quarterbacks last year. Then Green Bay, who was good. Then the jets. Great defense.
Mike Wright
Yeah.
Jason Moore
I told you. I don't like Dallas. I like. I like the. I like the idea of Dallas. I like the history of Dallas. And we, you know, George Pickens, CD Lamb, maybe Dak, they can all get it done. But that's an interesting one to figure out. Let's. Let's talk some news.
Andy Holloway
News and notes from around the league, presented by Progressive Insurance.
Jason Moore
All right. Juwan Jennings misses third consecutive practice on Thursday due to a calf strain. That is an aggravation of the same thing that bothered him in the off season. Kyle Shanahan said. So he did have a little troubling. So, yeah. I mean, the. Joanne Jennings. Like, for me to be really excited about Joanne Jennings, I want like a bunch of things to be aligned.
Mike Wright
Like.
Jason Moore
Right.
Mike Wright
The both Cavs.
Jason Moore
No.
Mike Wright
Are good.
Jason Moore
Well, yes. Both good Cavs. Yes. That's one of my check marks also. Just like you know Ricky Pearsall. He's getting healthier, getting back into it. We know Brandon Ayuk's probably not going to be there for a while. They just signed a pile of depth players there.
Mike Wright
That means there's one answer. His name is Christian McCaffrey.
Jason Moore
Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because a big workload. That's what he needs to stay healthy. Definitely is what he needs to stay healthy. Groin index.com update Juwan Jennings, who had left practice with a groin injury.
Mike Wright
Juwan Johnson.
Jason Moore
Juwan Johnson.
Mike Wright
The fact that we have a Juwan Jennings into a Juwan Johnson.
Jason Moore
Yeah, that's on our team. That's on our team. They can't trust me to get that right. That's on somebody out there. Joanne Johnson left with the groin injury but is already back at practice. So he's going to be okay.
Mike Wright
That's because he's a man.
Jason Moore
Yeah, a man. But probably not one you draft.
Mike Wright
No.
Jason Moore
He could be. You probably don't. He's a nasty boy.
Mike Wright
You probably don't draft. Yes, yes. Let me hear the buzz. He's not someone you draft.
Andy Holloway
But.
Mike Wright
But you I'm paying attention to Juwan Johnson of he has a history of a little bit of fantasy success in his past like a lot of touchdowns and they just gave him the money and then looking at the roster of you know like Chris Olave and Rashid Shahid just I would leave a little little open place in your heart for Juwan Johnson.
Jason Moore
Noah, you've always had a place in your heart for him. Noah Fant expected to sign a one year deal with the Bengals. He had visited a couple other teams. I think we know what Noah fantas at this point it is. You know he joins Mike Gasicki, Eric Hall Jr. Tanner Hudson who gets snaps.
Mike Wright
Like you think it makes the any potential of the Mike Gasicki auto start should meet Higgins missed time.
Jason Moore
I think it does hurt up a bit.
Andy Holloway
Yeah, for sure. You're not going to draft no fan now you're not going to draft Mike Kosicki even lower.
Mike Wright
He wasn't a draft. He was just pick up and play.
Andy Holloway
On the pickup and play. I won't do that. I think that they'll eat into each other. I mean it's good for Joe Burrow. It's good for the offense and it's great. I mean I love the Bengals constantly giving more money to their offensive players and letting Trey Hendrickson. Do not sign Trey Hendrickson, please Please let us have a terrible defense.
Jason Moore
Here's the thing. You can get past the point of no return like their defense was, their defense was already the worst of the worst with him you can get to a point where you circle all the way around to where it just like.
Mike Wright
Your offense can't do anything if they.
Jason Moore
Score on one plate. You know how often, how tired the office is going to be. But yeah, maybe you're right. Amir Abdullah, the Abdullah Express himself signed by the 49ers. He still can play football. I mean he's a, he's a good third down back. Latavius Murray apparently just retired from the NFL. I guess this is in here because I think Kyle remembered the famous like.
Mike Wright
When you're like I love Latavius Murray.
Jason Moore
But yeah, he is officially retiring. It's always interesting when the guy officially retires four years after you thought he retired.
Mike Wright
That's not four. He had, he had four starts for the Buffalo Bills in 2023.
Andy Holloway
Well that blows my mind.
Mike Wright
According to Pro Football Reference.
Andy Holloway
2023. Yeah, the year before last he was playing football. Yeah, starts.
Jason Moore
I do remember that.
Mike Wright
16 games, four starts. Still a, I mean 79 for 300 on the year.
Andy Holloway
I mean I still would have retired last year but you know, you. Do you.
Jason Moore
I think that's it. By way of news that was news and notes sponsored By Progressive Insurance quote today at progressive.com, progressive Casualty Insurance Company affiliates and third party insurers not available in all states or situations coverage subject to policy terms, limits and conditions. Into our tight end rankings we go.
Andy Holloway
Tight ends.
Jason Moore
All right. The tight end position always pretty interesting and we get to count down our top 10 rankings. This is our consensus rankings. You can see all of the tight ends, all of our tiered rankings custom to your scoring system, printable cheat sheets. Everything in the, you know, is in the mobile app and on the website for the ultimate draft kit. But you know one thing that we should talk about is just philosophically how do we look at the tight end position? The investment you make in fantasy it, you know the tight end and the quarterback. Unless you're in a super flex league, those are the onesie positions. Right. So you always, if you spend a draft pick on a high draft capital tight end or quarterback, it's at the expense of a, you know, another valuable.
Mike Wright
Position given opportunity cost.
Jason Moore
So one thing that you know, Kyle pulled up for us data wise was the hit rate for tight ends since 2019. So if you draft the tight end, you know the 1, 2, 3, like the top three tight ends off the board. 50% of the time they've been finishing as a top five tight end on the year. But if you include the first six, like the first six tight ends off the board over the last five, six years, it's an 80% hit rate that they finish inside the top five. So it is a high probability that if you do invest in one that you're going to get a decent return. Yes, but there is a cost, right?
Mike Wright
Yeah, there is definitely a cost. And then, you know, we talk about the way our draft strategy is you either invest in the position early or just bail out and just wait, you know, hope hopefully you find the diamond of the year. There's not a lot of them, but it's also a position that you can realistically, you can stream it, find guys to give you just a couple games here or there.
Jason Moore
Yeah, I mean, last year we had Johnny Smith and Brock Bowers that were not, you know, they both finished in the top five. They were not high draft picks. The year before we had Sam Laporta. So the story there, a couple of rookies in a row, Dalton Schultz was undrafted in 2021. He ended up with the big year with Dallas. Robert tunion, back in 2020 was an undrafted tight end. That ends up being, you know, waiver wire pickup.
Mike Wright
The Robert Tunion year of what do you have like 30 receptions and a ton of touchdowns per reception?
Jason Moore
So, yeah, I mean, I don't know what your guys's approach is this year, but I. Let's talk through these names. Tell me if these guys are, you know, because obviously we're going top 10. We're going outside that top six.
Mike Wright
We're going top 10. And I think just notable to mention here, I guess I'm revealing some of the time, but the rookies are not in our top 10. They are just outside.
Jason Moore
As in we didn't rank them there.
Mike Wright
Right. Like in our consensus rankings, they did not make it high enough. Some of them, like Jason and I are more in on Loveland. Andy right now is out. And like I'm, I've moved both of them up to talk about guys who aren't in the show. But they're, they're like, they're fringe. They're just outside.
Andy Holloway
I think it's important before we get into the top 10 to say like the projections that we have, you know, those are kind of those median outcome projections. And that doesn't necessarily. That's why we have the upside meter in the udk. So you can look and say, okay, this guy might be ranked two spots later and you go, okay, but his, his upside meter is really, really high. It's just, you know, those type of players, when you're late drafting tight ends, you want to swing for the fences. You want to have Mark Andrews's breakout year because, or Brock Bowers, you know, surprise rookie season for being as good as it was versus a piddly poop tight end six season because, you know, we were talking about like, okay, the tight ends drafted early, they finish in the top six. But it's also true that usually almost every year, the top two tight ends matter, sometimes three. And then when you're tight in five, when you finish a tight end five, you, you did not move the needle. You did not matter. You were not consistent. You scored more fantasy points than the sixth best tight end. But it didn't really make a difference.
Jason Moore
I mean, one thing we've done a lot in the past few years, you can look at Chiga Conqua last year. You look at tight end matchups, you talk about strength of schedule, you look at what teams struggle against tight ends. And if you're not holding one of those top three, four or five tight ends, you're certainly playing matchups with players that have opportunities against bad defenses. Because the defenses, you know what they're doing against tight ends, it shows up seemingly week in and week out. Some teams just don't concentrate on stopping that spot.
Mike Wright
They say, go ahead, run your offense through the tight end, because we don't care and we do not care. Yes, that's. I think that's a great point of. Usually there's about two, two to three teams where you're like, I know that I'm going to be playing my tight end against that defense. Jason, just to highlight it a bit more. So last year, Mark Andrews, tight end, five on the year.
Andy Holloway
Right. Hopefully.
Mike Wright
We do not forget saying nine and a half points per game for Mark Andrews. Travis kelsey, the next 9.2. Laporte is at 9. Zach Ertz was at 8 and a half. Like these guys are all. You're talking five.
Jason Moore
What was the gap between Ertz and Andrews?
Mike Wright
One point.
Jason Moore
Yeah. So I mean, that, that tells you a lot.
Mike Wright
Like they're all. The whole top 10. They're just, it's a cluster of guys who are.
Jason Moore
That also means you spent a top five selection because it's not a guarantee. If you spend a super high draft pick and you get those numbers, it's a bummer. That's a bummer. Super number 10, Tucker Kraft comes in at number 10 on our rankings, just 24 years old. Mike and I love him. Yes, Jason and I or Jason not an eye, just Jason. He has a much lower. I think, you know, I'll speak for Mike, but I think we both like what we saw on the field in terms of just explosiveness from Tucker Kraft. This is a passing game where look, I love Jordan Love this year, but part of the Jordan Love argument is like, hey, maybe we aren't going to be able to figure out week to week which guy puts up the biggest numbers. But that's okay for Jordan Love. They've got a lot of talent there. He was the tight end nine last year on the back of 707. He wasn't the tight end people were expecting to break out and have a big impact. Right. Luke Musgrave was what everybody expects.
Mike Wright
He was the chosen 1. Yeah.
Jason Moore
Second round tight end turned into Tucker Craft and a lot of impressive plays. He averaged 8.8 yards after the catch that was 2 yards higher than any other tight end. So that was part of his storyline. It's one of the things I think people hope Colson Loveland can do with his kind of athletic makeup. But you know, really, really big plays for him. Last year he had 17 plays of 15 or more yards on 70 targets. That is a high proportion.
Mike Wright
Yeah. And just to, to flesh that out a bit, you have, you know, Travis Kelsey had, He also had 17 receptions of 15 yards. It took 133 targets to get there. Our beloved Trey McBride, he had 21. So he had more plays of 15 yards but it took 147 targets. The thing with Tucker Kraft is it is like it takes, it's a projection. But look at, you know who they have. Romeo Dobbs. He is who he is. Jane Reed seems like he is who he is. Christian Watson is not a factor for this team to begin. And then you're just like, is Matthew Golden? I know he's the first round pick. Is he ready? Like is he ready to be one of their top options from week one. Tucker Kraft is so fascinating to me because he, because of the yards after catch a chance of increased volume here as they're shuffling their pieces around and he is late. And then on top of that doing my ADP studies which admittedly the sample size is not gigantic, but per ADP tight ends who break out in year two, drafting them in year three, they are the best statistical bet in adp. So like when I'm punt, either I take one of the early guys or I'm going with the rookies because they could be a boat, but the rookies ADP is all over the place where we'll have some mocks where they will go extremely late. You'll have mocks or real drafts. They'll go early because people are trying to jump in on the trend. If I'm not early, Tucker Kraft becomes a focal point.
Jason Moore
Is that you ended up with yesterday or was it.
Mike Wright
I went, I went Loveland. I had Loveland or Tucker Craft and I took Loveland in that one. Just because one of the. Where I see the ceiling case for Tucker Kraft, it's like some, some really good spike weeks. But I finish it, you know, capping out at, I don't know, six or five or something. Where with the way the NFL has been going in the draft capital of those two rookies, it, it is no longer wild to think that those guys can finish in the top three.
Jason Moore
When Jordan Love came back from injury, because if you remember, he got hurt, missed two games. When he came back, Tucker Kraft had five weeks where he finished four of them inside the top 10. One at number two, one at number one. Again, this is part of, this is the film. Part of this is just liking what I see from him and thinking that Jordan Love, if Jordan Love threw 35 touchdowns. And that's very possible because that's very possible. I mean he was the quarterback five, two years ago with 32 touchdowns. If he threw 35, I think you're going to get a very plus season from Tucker Craft. Agreed. I believe that the team is so committed to him. Everything that I've seen, they love what he brings to the table. So I, you know, this far down. What's his ADP right now?
Mike Wright
Let me double check it.
Andy Holloway
He is in the, he's the 12th tight end off the board in the 10th round. I don't mind. So I've got him ranked as my tight end. 19. I'm obviously not as hot and bothered as you guys are. When, when I look at the film, I don't see a bad player. But what I did see was a lot of incredible. I mean the scheming was great. He had a couple like a 66 yard wide open. He's just like anybody could have done it. But also he's in that system and so there's a lot of things to watch for. So you can, you can argue that both ways. Like he had a couple big gigantic plays.
Mike Wright
He had a catch of 66 yards and a catch of 67 yards.
Andy Holloway
And that doesn't happen for tight ends very often. But those two plays, they weren't him. Breaking tackles and manmaling people, you know, in some kind of amazing yards. After the catch, it was like, oh, the whole defense and offense was on the right and they forgot about Kraft. Musgrave. Remember he, you know, he was, he was supposed to be the guy and now we're like, oh, Musgrave's stupid. But Musgrave got injured.
Jason Moore
All last week we said he was stupid.
Andy Holloway
No, I'm saying that's how like fantasy, fantasy community.
Jason Moore
The depth chart has changed.
Andy Holloway
The fantasy community is like. Is acting like Musgrave is irrelevant. But he missed the whole season.
Mike Wright
But he also did. He started the year he played in the first four weeks. And the transformation like week one, 25% of the snaps. Week two, 44, then 56. Meanwhile, Tucker Kraft is a full time player. Yeah, that's so I have like.
Jason Moore
And that hasn't changed in camp.
Mike Wright
That doesn't change with the way I'm reading it.
Andy Holloway
If you want to buy into craft, he's 24 years old. That's great. He's athletic, that's good. And he's on a great offense. So I don't have any problem going after him. But to me I see not arrow necessarily up because you draft Matthew golden last year you had Dobbs and Christian Watson, you know, missing games. You had Musgrave missed the majority of the season. So they needed Craft a little bit more than I think they need him this year. But obviously great, great offense, young tight end broke out last year a little bit. I'm okay with it, but there are just other guys like the two rookies I would rather have than.
Mike Wright
It's not that drastically different to me, you know, situation of the Mark Andrews of Hayden Hurst was the first round pick of the Baltimore Ravens. Then they took Mark Andrews and that's the say they went. They went with Musgrave and then Tucker Kraft and I think it. I think they figured out that. That Kraft is the receiver.
Andy Holloway
Yeah, but Hayden Hurst was a ginger. So that's Iran. You know what I mean?
Mike Wright
Like that changed a good player.
Jason Moore
Luke Musgrave, stupid. It hurts the ginger Jason is.
Mike Wright
You didn't go back to sleep and wake up again.
Jason Moore
Jason did say he was pretty tired. He rolled in brief Goodness.
Andy Holloway
By the way, tell me a lie.
Jason Moore
By the way, our fine redheaded friends. I'll just start out there. When Tucker craft scored a 66 yard touchdown, he straight up stiff armed one of the opponents and ran over another one.
Mike Wright
He put two guys into.
Jason Moore
Look, he was almost a my guy. Like he's on. He was on my board as a my guy earlier this offseason. So obviously we're going to be really bullish about him in this argument today. But it is, it's a lot of good pass catchers there. They dealt with a lot of injuries last year and there's a reason he's sitting at 10. So we'll take a break and we'll jump right back in.
Andy Holloway
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Mike Wright
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Jason Moore
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Jason Moore
All right, I'm looking at the rankings on these guys, the individual rankings on our. Our next guy, and I'm a little shocked. Number nine, Mark Andrews comes in at number nine. A long time staple on this episode. Not normally even this low in the rankings, but Jason and I have him right at the. Out at the edge of the top 10. Mike has him buried at 15 even after this Isaiah likely news, which I did make some tweaks. I think you said that too.
Mike Wright
So did I.
Andy Holloway
You moved him up to 15.
Mike Wright
I did.
Jason Moore
So this is. I mean, I think that's really interesting because Mike has always been in. Mike and Mark go way back.
Mike Wright
Well, Jason, I equate Mark Andrews as Jason's guy, but I do.
Jason Moore
You know what? Maybe I'm thinking of you drafting him over McBride. Trey McBride last year.
Mike Wright
Yep. That would be it.
Jason Moore
Oh, man.
Mike Wright
I already had Marvin Harrison, by the way. Out of context, I want the people to know. I just. Out of context, that for sounds real bad. The way I talk about Trey McBride. That sounds horrifically bad.
Jason Moore
You did already have Marvin Harrison. That is true. And I bet you wish you had two Cardinals.
Mike Wright
Oh, very much so. My year would have gone a lot different.
Jason Moore
So Mark Andrews year last year was really. You want to use stupid. This is a good opportunity. It was a stupid year. I mean, it started out as bad as it gets. His targets, they have been going down opportunities, catches per game, and yet he salvaged all of it.
Andy Holloway
Mark Andrews touchdowns was one of the best waiver wire pickups last year. I mean, that's. That's actually true because he was pretty darn good.
Jason Moore
I'm having to zoom in on the screen to see these points. 2.40 and 0 for two of the three of the first four games.
Andy Holloway
Yeah. After that you had a stretch run where he was extremely consistent. Last year, he finishes the tight end five. You remember how bad it was to start the season Back to back gooses. The world was over after a week one collapse. It was like Mark Andrews was dead. Just completely evaporated from fantasy football. He will never be relevant again. And then he went on the rest of the season and had an awesome fantasy season. The issue that we have, and it is true is almost all of it. And it's so much. The vast majority came from touchdowns, which are not a sticky stat. He had his own career high.
Jason Moore
Was it 11?
Andy Holloway
11? Yeah.
Jason Moore
Yeah.
Andy Holloway
I think the next highest tight end last year had eight. And so you just go, oh, well, he is a Touchdown machine and you expect Lamar to throw a lot of touchdowns. So that's great. There's a good place for Mark Andrews. He doesn't cost as much this year. However, you have to assume it's going to regress. He didn't even have 900 receiving yards. Every touchdown with 10 plus touchdowns and fewer than 900 receiving yards. They all have massive regression.
Mike Wright
You go with 900, you could have gone with 800, you could have gone with 700.
Andy Holloway
That's but the statistic of regression.
Jason Moore
The second he said that, I'm like, what? I started looking up his yardage number because I was like, did he get to almost 800? There's.
Mike Wright
I think a couple things to remember with Mark Andrews is, you know, he was. When this season, last season started, he was coming off of the. What the ank. Breaking his ankle. He had the, you know, he was the victim of a hip drop tackle, busted his leg. He got in a car wreck right before the season started. So like those are. We look at these guys as superheroes and that they can do anything and injuries are nothing. They bounce right back. So that maybe that was far more of a factor than we wanted to give credit to. My biggest issue with Mark Andrews is it, dude, it's vibes like the way that they were talking about him the whole off season of essentially like, well, he's.
Jason Moore
He was a threat to be gone.
Mike Wright
He's on the team right now. Like it was just, it was so bizarre. The, the whispers in the bushes of an Isaiah likely extension coming up, which has not happened and likely is of course hurt. So.
Andy Holloway
And Harbaugh talking about how he expects like to be an all pro, right. Like this year.
Mike Wright
So for me, honestly, it was the, it wasn't that I was trying to trash Mark Andrews and I'm not elevating Isaiah. Likely it was, I think that what the most likely existence of these two tight ends is they. One will have a good game here, one will have a good game here, and you're never really happy with either of them. Now if, if likely misses time at the beginning of the year, then Mark Andrews will be sensational in all those games because he will play all the snaps and he will be just dominating the middle of the field.
Jason Moore
He was 20th in the NFL and targets at the tight end position. 20th.
Mike Wright
Yeah, that's.
Jason Moore
He was 14th in receptions. So it was touchdowns. It was just, it was. And he'd done that once before, you know, where he had a big, you know, low total reception, high touchdown season. Right. Like he did it in 2019. He had 64 catches but had 10 touchdowns and that vaulted him up there. Look, it's just a lack of confidence in. It's going to be one of those rides every single week when Andrews is in there where you're like, I hope he scores.
Andy Holloway
Would it change your draft day decision if. Likely. If it seemed like, you know, we're at the draft, it's, you know, a week or two from football and it looks like likely is probably going to miss the first two or three weeks.
Jason Moore
I was going to say if you give me three weeks because I feel.
Andy Holloway
Like that would change my late.
Jason Moore
I would take the shot then because what if there is some, you know, what if you can get it going a little bit more on the target count? The problem is they do. I mean, they just have. It's a different team than when he was at his best for them. Right. They just gave Bateman a big contract. You mentioned likely. They're predicated on, you know, Derek Henry's a big motor in this offense. They have a good defense. They have Zay flowers, they have DeAndre Hopkins. They added this off season. So it just. He's just not as necessary as he.
Mike Wright
Once was and the last.
Jason Moore
And he's older, he's going to be 30.
Mike Wright
My final point for him is just how efficient he was. Where last year he had 15 targets in the red zone. He had 11. Red zone or touchdowns. Like that is.
Jason Moore
All of his touchdowns were red zone.
Mike Wright
Yeah.
Andy Holloway
And. But I'm saying he should act like two point conversions, like, are for touchdowns. Easy, easy.
Mike Wright
But like the year before, 14 targets.
Jason Moore
Oh, man.
Andy Holloway
Did you catch up? Not efficient on two point conversions, 15.
Mike Wright
Targets turned into 11 touchdowns. The year before that, 14 targets turned into six. The year before that, 18 turned into five. Like, maybe it's the Derek Henry effect of like, the defense has to be so worried about that that the efficiency went through the roof. But there's so many markers to be nervous about.
Andy Holloway
Mark Andrews, number eight.
Mike Wright
All right.
Jason Moore
We talked about him quite a bit on the last episode. Evan Ingram was on the Unsolved Mysteries episode. He is older than Mark Andrews and he comes in at 8 on our rankings. 8, 9 and 9 when you look at where we have them individually. So we talked a lot about Evan Ingram. The big story here, he's going to be a great target for Bo Nix. Well, that, you know, not a huge perk catch kind of guy, but a very good PPR option. I took him in a full PPR draft that I like him a Lot more than.
Andy Holloway
Yeah, that was the one thing I don't think we brought up. Well, talking about Ingram on that episode was that it does make a difference to me if you're in a full PPR because his inefficiency, you know, his sub 10 yards per catch, it's not going to move the needle. But if you're getting a full point for every reception, he should be getting five, six receptions a game. And as a tight end, where he's going later in drafts, I do think I would because I'm not really in on Evan ingram. I would 100% pull the trigger. Full PPR.
Mike Wright
I think we, we all got to the point where, like the draft, the cost just has to be better for Ingram.
Jason Moore
He's sort of the most opposite of Mark Andrews. Opposite player can be right with the touchdowns and receptions. I mean, it's nice to see Camp Buzz that he was the favorite target of Bo Nix right when they put the pads on. That's awesome to see.
Mike Wright
But five plus receptions a game last year, so it's ppr. Goodness. And this probably won't change things for you guys, but I did see a quote today. A player said he's going to be perfect in the joker role for Sean Payton. The person who gave that quote, Adam Troutman. So if Adam Troutman's given the stamp approval, see, you know, it's good.
Jason Moore
I'll be honest, I thought, I thought maybe the head coach was saying that and now.
Mike Wright
Oh, no, I doubt it.
Jason Moore
Made me.
Mike Wright
You should have. I don't know if you followed along with the Sean Payton running back expose today. Every running back on that team is doing awesome, literally every running back.
Jason Moore
Find somebody that'll work you into a podcast, like Mike works Adam Trotman and into a podcast.
Mike Wright
Yes. Because that means find that for a true love.
Jason Moore
That's True love number seven, David Najoku, who is our number seven tight end. I got him at six, these guys at seven. He is going into year nine as a 29 year old and still every bit the physical force that he's always been. He proved, you know, last year or in 2023 and last year that he can be a focal point of an offense. You know, you look at the kind of fantasy football winning season he had in 2023. He was the tight end on my championship team that year. He was better on a points per game basis last year. Just missed time due to injuries. It's nice to see because there's a roulette at quarterback that happened all last year and it's going to happen again this year most likely. And he was still a dominant force.
Andy Holloway
He's my second favorite target in all of Fantasy four tight ends right now. He is darn near a double digit pick because of the injuries last year because of some of the question marks at quarterback. But it's not like he's been playing with great quarterback play. And like you said Andy, he was better this last year than the year he brought you a championship on a points per game basis. David Ajoku was the Titan Four last year. It went George Kittle, Brock Bowers, Trey McBride, Najoku and Najoku cost you jack squat. Go ahead and load up on running backs, load up on wide receivers and then take David Najoku late and he's just as good as the other guys.
Jason Moore
Do you have to watch the Browns game?
Andy Holloway
No, you don't have to watch the points happen. Like the platforms now, they actually automatically put the points in.
Jason Moore
You don't have to watch to have credit for it.
Mike Wright
So even what if the word comes out like hey, Kenny Pickett, he's our starter, you would still be that gung ho.
Andy Holloway
I am. I am still gung ho. I don't think he is completely dependent. Obviously if Jameis was there, I would prefer it to be Flacco. I think those things would slightly elevate Najoku, but I believe that his role in the offense is secure and established by the last two years. So I think he's going to be necessary for the offensive system.
Jason Moore
Whoever the quarterback is, his physicality does get him banged up. That would be the only other thing that I want to throw out there. He's been hurt quite a bit over the years, but he is definitely as a 9th round pick, somebody that you can look at with top 5 upside if things work out. And I would love it with Flacco.
Mike Wright
I mean I think that's everything for me. We get the word that Joe Flacco.
Jason Moore
He gets close to the painted area, that's what he can do.
Andy Holloway
But it doesn't matter.
Mike Wright
I mean, but it does matter to me. He wasn't great in the Watson games last year. He was terrible in them the year before.
Andy Holloway
I guess it matters in the sense that if we assume they're keeping both rookies that they drafted on the roster, then probably Pickett or Flacco aren't on the roster. In which case it would matter if Flacco wasn't on the roster. But My point is one quarterback is not playing 17 games for the Cleveland.
Jason Moore
I just want Touchdowns was my point. I think Joe Flacco is the most capable of throwing him a pass in the painted spot.
Mike Wright
Yeah, I agree with that.
Jason Moore
Kenny Pickett did not. I think Kenny Pickett literally set all time records of not doing that in Pittsburgh.
Mike Wright
Correct.
Jason Moore
Is the only reason I'm in love with the Flacco upside of Najob, which.
Mike Wright
We, as far as I have seen, that is the route we are trending. We just don't know for sure that it's going to happen.
Jason Moore
Yeah, 55% of the time, good games last year, 18% great, 27% bust games.
Mike Wright
Just Jameis Winston. When we have. We have David Najoku here. He had a week with 17 targets.
Jason Moore
Jameis had an interview the other day.
Mike Wright
A tight end over the course of three weeks would be stoked to have 17 targets.
Jason Moore
Did you guys see this Jameis interview where they were talking about whether the NFL humbled him? Do you know?
Andy Holloway
I didn't see that.
Jason Moore
I'm telling you, he gave. He gave either the dumbest or the most intelligent answer.
Mike Wright
Oh.
Jason Moore
In the history of football. And I can't. It's a thin line and I can't tell the difference.
Andy Holloway
I'm pretty sure I didn't know which one it was.
Jason Moore
It was like, it was like every bit of Jamis, like this long winded answer about the NFL not humbling him because he didn't have, you know, his dream growing up was just to be in the NFL. It was not to like win a Super Bowl. It was like once you get there, that was the end of your dreams. I didn't dream big enough. Like if I dream bigger, dream, dream to win the Super Bowl. But he just. You just can't take him seriously. You look at him talking seriously and there's. We've got Deucer's Alley over here. We got one guy.
Andy Holloway
Yeah.
Jason Moore
Over there in the corner. And you can see it right now, this dude, the Falcon can't. Can't go five minutes without smirking. That's how Jameis talks.
Andy Holloway
Yeah.
Jason Moore
If that guy right there, if the Falcon started saying something important to me, you believe in that.
Andy Holloway
You can't believe what he says with a giant smile.
Jason Moore
He was a judge in a courtroom.
Andy Holloway
Oh, you can't be down a verdict.
Jason Moore
Yeah.
Andy Holloway
You're guilty. With a giant smile on his face. Wait, wait, wait, wait. Am I. Are you joking right now?
Jason Moore
Yeah. Jameis is the. And that's what. He's on the football field, which is hilarious. As a quarterback, he is the dumbest and smartest at the same time. All right, we'll move on. Number six, very interesting name. Sam Laporta comes in at number six. We all have him. Well, Jason's the highest at number five, Mike at six. I'm at seven. I think I said something a couple shows ago or off the air about just like, I just don't see a world where Sam Laporte is not a really important part of this.
Mike Wright
I have been rising.
Jason Moore
I mean, we. We have to understand the emotions of fantasy. And when you come off a number one overall season as a rookie, you put up an outlier touchdown number and then you come back and lo and behold, you know, you're number seven. That's, you know, it was a tough start to the year. It got going late, but it was the worst first impression.
Mike Wright
That was like where I think I had been, you know, grasping on to what had happened with Sam Laporta a little too long. The rookie sent. The rookie year was sensational. And then his ADP was out of control. Like, he felt like the easiest.
Andy Holloway
Do.
Mike Wright
Not draft player of 2024 of taking a player who did what he did on the targets in the second round.
Andy Holloway
Is like, do not very obvious.
Mike Wright
Do not do this. Do not do it. And then for the whole, you know, through week nine, he gave you a couple good games. So it was a complete slam dunk victory for the show of saying do not draft him. But then the second half of the year, it was way, way better. I mean, to the point of 14 points, 8, 14, 12, 15 in the championship weekend. So do you. The question about Laporte is not, is he a good player? It's. Was that a. Was that caused by the Detroit Lions defense falling off in the second half? And all of a sudden now they have to put up way more points.
Jason Moore
Look, they were an amazing offense. I think what it just comes down to is that his price is not. There's no real steal here happening with Sam Laporta. I think he's going to be a crucial part of the offense. Like, if you look at when it mattered last year, weeks 11 through 17, he's the tight end five, right. Like, he's outperforming the Mark Andrews run at the end of the year. David Najoku, he was that good. Better than Kelsey. Problem is he's being drafted as the tight end four right now in the fifth round. Maybe in part because a lot of the old heads, like people are letting those guys fly by Andrews and Kelsey, and Laporte is still exciting on a really good offense, but you know, I just think from a value perspective, it's not there. From a performance perspective, I think it will be there. I think It'll be around 10 fancy points a game. So if he slipped, if I could get Sam Laporta in the sixth, late sixth round, I'm all over it.
Andy Holloway
Yeah. I mean, I am the highest of the three of us statistically on Sam Laporta. Draft strategy wise, I'm probably the lowest of the three of us on Sam Laporta. And in fact, I'm not going to bring up too much now because we're going to talk a little bit more in depth about him on Monday's episode. A little tease.
Mike Wright
That is. That's a professional tease.
Jason Moore
Yeah. You want to tease it further. Is it going to be good stuff or bad stuff?
Andy Holloway
Well, it'll be cold.
Mike Wright
It'll be on.
Andy Holloway
It'll be on Tuesday a little freezing. Well, then on Monday I can tease it again. Mike, you don't understand how deep I tease. Number five.
Jason Moore
Travis Kelsey is number five, Mike.
Mike Wright
Yeah.
Jason Moore
And he is 60 years old or 60.1. No, he's. He is almost 36, though. That's wild. That's too close to my age. You know what I mean?
Andy Holloway
Yeah, yeah.
Jason Moore
It's just too close to my age to. I don't know what that means. I don't know if that means he shouldn't be playing.
Andy Holloway
I think it means you should be playing.
Jason Moore
I should be playing or should have been able to play. But this is. This is quite the run. And what's even more crazy right now is that I think I'm kind of becoming more into first half of the season. Travis Kelsey, because, you know, Rashi Rice.
Mike Wright
Which we still don't have word on.
Jason Moore
That about Rashi Rice. Yeah, we don't have. We don't have the suspension figured out. Hollywood Brown banged up again. Xavier Worthy would be fine. He has a concussion. But you just look at the offense and everything coming out about Travis Kelsey is that he's in much better shape. He definitely lost quickness last year. You can say what you want about the disappointing season. He was still better than Sam Laporta on a per game basis over the course of the year. Ended up at tight end six, but guess what? He's being drafted there now. Now he's a mid seventh round pick. So it's a whole new discussion.
Mike Wright
So how. Because I'm. He got a big bump when we're assuming that that Rice will get a suspension and a decent one. But here we are, you know, the at least at the time of this recording, we've not heard anything about it and it's still just an assumption that it's going to happen. What. I guess the question then becomes, what is your Kelsey outlook should the Rice suspension not happen?
Andy Holloway
The Rice suspension will happen. I think we need to approach it as it will happen. However, if it wasn't my Rice to me makes all the difference. What if it comes because they're in the same exact area of the field? They're the same like first read type of target that they offer. You look at the first three weeks when Rushy Rice demanded all those targets last year. Travis Kelsey comes out, scores 4.9 points as the tight end 14 next week, one fantasy point because Rice has the juice. The next week, five fantasy points. And then Rushy Rice gets injured right after that. Travis Kelsey's the tight end.
Mike Wright
5.
Andy Holloway
The tight end. 7. The tight end for the tight end.
Jason Moore
2.
Andy Holloway
The tight end one on a weekly basis. Like, it was like, oh, okay. Because that's where Patrick Mahomes throws the ball to. So I do believe that Rashi Rice will be suspended to start the year. It's not happened yet. I'm not the commissioner, so maybe it.
Jason Moore
Doesn'T happen, but I mean, six, seven games seems like it's an inevitability. Yeah, yeah.
Mike Wright
I'm not going to disagree with that. But it's like. Because that's the whole conversation to me. Like, if. Right when Rice would. It seemed like the suspension was getting pushed to next year. Travis Kelsey was off of my draft board.
Jason Moore
So that's why I'm just. I think it's better to presume.
Mike Wright
Right. But what if it doesn't happen until week four?
Jason Moore
Then everything, then everything we said before our show about Rice will just be the true stuff.
Mike Wright
Okay.
Jason Moore
But right now it's in a. It's not that situation.
Mike Wright
Like I'm saying. Are you drafting Travis Kelsey?
Andy Holloway
I am willing to draft, let's say.
Mike Wright
Our league of record. It drafted tomorrow.
Jason Moore
Yeah, tomorrow.
Mike Wright
Okay.
Jason Moore
That's.
Andy Holloway
I'm drafting with the large confidence that. That Rushy Rice will be suspended this season even if it happens to be Week 4 before the suspension comes. I think where Travis Kelsey is being drafted in the seventh round, it doesn't sound like much of a difference. You go, oh, the fifth round, the seventh round. It's not about what round number. It's about who are the players and where are those tear breaks at running back and wide receiver and the difference between who you're still able to get in the Fifth. And who you're able to get in the seventh is monumental. So I will take Travis Kelsey in the seventh and enjoy a first half run, and then I will trade him after a month or two.
Jason Moore
It's very weird to have him at this spot in fantasy drafts. So, yeah, if he slips there, if he's in round seven, that works for me. And I think it could work really, really well. Like, there's a world where if Rashi Rice, which he should be suspended and no Hollywood Brown like Kelsey could end up the tight end one. After the first five weeks, how many.
Andy Holloway
Targets do you think Travis Kelsey was on pace for weeks four through 17? Basically the weeks rushing, it had to.
Jason Moore
Be over 110, 158. Yeah, this is just. This is how they. They don't throw it down the field.
Andy Holloway
Yeah.
Jason Moore
And if he's in a lot better shape, I mean, he's not.
Andy Holloway
I don't care about that narrative.
Jason Moore
But you don't think he worked out with Luca?
Andy Holloway
I don't think that you get in the best shape of your life at 36 versus 35 when you are a professional.
Jason Moore
He definitely looked. He looked too heavy last year.
Andy Holloway
So you think maybe it was a swifty problem, like he let go?
Jason Moore
I think it was just, you win two Super Bowls, you have a few bruskies. That's all I'm saying.
Mike Wright
Yeah. Yeah. I think you get your behind whooped in the super bowl and it changes.
Jason Moore
And he's. He is a competitive dude.
Mike Wright
Especially when you're like after that super bowl, it's, hey, Travis, are you retiring? Like, maybe I feel like if you're not going to retire, you better get in. You better make this you come to.
Jason Moore
Chip on a shoulder season.
Andy Holloway
Do you think he's real narrative, but just genuine question. Do you think he's motivated to be better this year? Because, like, we're higher in sports podcasts than his podcast now.
Jason Moore
Oh.
Andy Holloway
Because last year, Travis, Kelsey, the Kelsey's were beating us in the rankings. Not this year. Not this year.
Jason Moore
You cannot control this man right now.
Mike Wright
More like it's just the truth.
Andy Holloway
I'm just saying.
Jason Moore
The truth.
Andy Holloway
You talk about old heights, get wrecked. Kelsey's. Oh, that's.
Mike Wright
I ain't scared of you. Kind of scared of your mom, but.
Andy Holloway
I'm not scared of you too. Full disclosure. I am scared of you. But yeah, I'm just saying he's more motivated now.
Mike Wright
That's all.
Andy Holloway
He's motivated for this season. Like an amazing competitive guy.
Jason Moore
Amazing time for an ad break. We'll be back with our top four. This is an ad by BetterHelp. These days it feels like there's advice for everything. We talk about this all the time. You look at the reels and all the social media, you got the cold plunges, gratitude, journals, screen detoxes. But the problem is you don't know it actually works. And the Internet is full of information overload about mental health, about wellness. And it's hard to know what will actually make a difference, what's true. And so you got to take action, but you don't know how. You want to use trusted resources. And BetterHelp has live therapists that can get you personalized recommendations and help you break through all of that noise. With over 30,000 therapists worldwide, BetterHelp is the world's largest online therapy platform, having served over 5 million people globally. And it's very convenient. You can join a session with a therapist at the click of a button and you can switch therapists at any time. As the largest online therapy provider in the world, BetterHelp can provide access to mental health professionals with a diverse variety of expertise. Talk it out with BetterHelp, our listeners get 10% off their first month at betterhelp.com footballers that's better. H E L p.com footballers this is an ad by BetterHelp. These days it feels like there's advice for everything. We talk about this all the time. You look at the reels and all the social media, you got the cold plunges, gratitude, journals, screen detoxes. But the problem is you don't know it actually works. And the Internet is full of information overload about mental health, about wellness. And it's hard to know what will actually make a difference, what's true. And so you gotta take action, but you don't know how. You want to use trusted resources. And BetterHelp has live therapists that can get you personalized recommendations and help you break through all of that noise. With over 30,000 therapists worldwide, BetterHelp is the world's over largest online therapy platform, having served over 5 million people globally. And it's very convenient. You can join a session with a therapist at the click of a button and you can switch therapists at any time. As the largest online therapy provider in the world, BetterHelp can provide access to mental health professionals with a diverse variety of expertise. Talk it out with BetterHelp, our listeners get 10% off their first month at BetterHelp. Footballers. That's better. H E L p.com footballers back into the tight end rankings number four. Do we remember how good this guy was? TJ Hawkinson comes in at number four. We're giving him the respect in the rankings and he is being drafted as the tight end five in the late fifth as of right now. You know, Minnesota, we're talking about J.J. mcCarthy, we're talking about this offense and T.J. hawkinson, you know, he came back last year, limited snap snap counts. Definitely didn't look like the player he was the previous three, four years. But I think we know what's there when you can have enough time to recover and how important he could be to this offense. You're going into the season just to lay the foundation. Addison likely to miss two or three games to start the year as a result of the DUI settlement.
Andy Holloway
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Jason Moore
No, no, it was DUI settlement which was settled as a. I mean, it's still a dui.
Mike Wright
Is it? I thought the whole point.
Jason Moore
You still do. I mean, he still. Well, I know I almost said performed.
Mike Wright
No, he performed a dui.
Jason Moore
No, it's still a dui.
Andy Holloway
I don't think. I didn't know that was. That was when he was pulled over. And yes, you could pled guilty to being wet reckless. Being wet reckless. Yeah.
Jason Moore
Was he driving under the influence, Jason?
Mike Wright
We'll never know.
Jason Moore
Okay. He's got. This is not the point. He's going to miss time. Jefferson's got the hammy first part of the year. Hawkinson should be a great best buddy to a Young quarterback in. McCarthy didn't score a touchdown last year. After returning. Do you. Do you throw most of last year's performance out and it seems like you do with your ranking.
Andy Holloway
Yeah. Hawkinson is a very valuable player, especially to a young quarterback. You know, the only downside to Hawkinson to me is I do think he fits kind of that Evan Ingram role where it's at this point in his career, coming off the injury, you're not going to be necessarily going super far downfield, you know, 14, 15 yards of reception or anything like that. So I don't know what he was last year. So he was. I guess he was at 11. Man, Evan Ingram sucks. But, you know, the issue is he.
Mike Wright
Did what he was asked to do.
Andy Holloway
You're still. I would have asked him to break a few more tackles, but if you don't want that, you don't want that. You know, the issue is just where you draft him. He's that comfort blanket that not only for J.J. mcCarthy, but for the fantasy football drafter. Like when those top guys are Gone. And you're like, ooh, I want, I still want someone good. You end up with laporta and Hawkinson, those in some order.
Jason Moore
You still have to spend a decent price and that's the issue. But there's a risk that comes with Hawkinson and just the fact that, you know, last year, I mean, to be fair to him, he only played about 60% of snaps his career. He's been an 80% snap guy at least. But you know, you, you have to expect him to be back in form, have a rapport with the young quarterback. These are things we don't know for sure. And that's part of the risk with the selection. It is nice that he's cheaper than where LaPorta is right now, but which.
Andy Holloway
Offset trust more like I think we're all bullish on the Vikings, but the risk for that is Detroit, you know.
Jason Moore
He ended up going. Hawkinson went 711 in our mock yesterday.
Andy Holloway
Oh, that's a great.
Jason Moore
But that was also a full 3 wide, 3 wide situation there. I'd expect him to drop a little bit Kelsey at 712 in yesterday's mock draft. So I guess the question is, do you just believe that Hawkins is going to be super important to the offense? I tend to think he will be.
Mike Wright
I tend to think that too. That's where my median projections ended up. But he makes me a little nervous. He feels like he's sitting right in that middle tier tight end who you're like, okay, I feel good. I got a guy I can just leave in there every single week. I don't have to go stream and you're just going to get disappointed over and over and over.
Jason Moore
He's played seven games when Jefferson missed time in the last couple of years and he was outrageous in those games.
Mike Wright
So like it makes sense if you.
Jason Moore
Don'T have Addison like those first three weeks or anybody goes down like he went up to like almost 10 targets a game, 76 yards a game, super valuable. But, but it is, you're still paying a price. And, and you're, you're choosing him over Teterom McMillan or George Pickens or, or even, you know, Pacheco in that round. Like you do have to pay quite the price for somebody you're not 100 on.
Andy Holloway
Tight ends are much less about the player than about the positional strategy. Like to me that's what you sacrifice. Where you take these guys. It means more than Nujuku.
Jason Moore
I don't think you like Hawkinson two rounds more than Ninjoku.
Andy Holloway
No Absolutely.
Jason Moore
So that's really what it comes down to.
Andy Holloway
I mean. I mean, the last 17 games rolling that Hawkinson played in. So that's. That's no injury. You know, it's pre injury for half of that. He's still a consistency ranking of ac. And if you're sacrificing a George Pickens at a position, you need multiple of to grab him. Like, I like hawk, I like LaPorta, but strategy wise, it doesn't make sense to take those guys.
Mike Wright
I had to look, Jason, because you're making so much fun of Evan Aggram and is forcing missed tackles.
Jason Moore
Oh, I'm so thankful for you, Mike.
Mike Wright
PFF has him charted at 5, which is 5 missed tackles, 5 forced missed.
Jason Moore
Tackles, which is not as high as I was hoping you'd say.
Mike Wright
It's the same as Travis Kelsey and Mark Andrews. But this is relevant to our discussion earlier because Ertz is lower than that. No. Tied for number one on that list.
Andy Holloway
Craft.
Jason Moore
Tucker.
Andy Holloway
Tucker.
Mike Wright
Not a manimal, apparently.
Jason Moore
Yeah. What do you want? What else do you want to see? You want to see him eat people on the field?
Andy Holloway
I would love that.
Jason Moore
15.
Mike Wright
15 for Smith.
Jason Moore
Tucker, Craft. I'm telling you.
Mike Wright
Tucker. Craft.
Jason Moore
You can unroll everything you said about him if you want, because he is a monster.
Mike Wright
Yeah. I mean, oh, Jason's right. We did it. We convinced him to move Craft.
Jason Moore
I think. I think that stat did the number one tackle breaker. All right, let's move on to the big boys.
Andy Holloway
Number three.
Jason Moore
George Kittle. I mean, if there was ever a George, that should just be one name only. This should be the guy that gets it. Not Pickens, but George Kittle.
Mike Wright
Yeah.
Jason Moore
I mean, right now, the best bargain at the tight end position.
Mike Wright
Yes.
Jason Moore
Fourth round, you'll have to spin the Bowers. McBride if he.
Mike Wright
If he stays in the fourth, he's probably the best. Like, it seems like the best value pick of the entire draft. Like, position agnostic.
Andy Holloway
Yeah. I said that. Najoku was my second favorite tight end target. Kittle is absolutely my favorite target because there is a genuine difference between a guy who can finish as the number one tight end points per game, which is what he did last year, and he's even more necessary to that offense this year and just got a gargantuan bag of money like he is. He is 100%. Along with Brock Bowers and Trey McBride as difference makers Weekly guys that are going to help you win your not just like Hawkinson or Laporta where it's okay, it's him and Han. It's like, this guy went out and won me a week because he's a center point of their offense, not just a good tight end. You know, that's their second or third or fourth option. And he doesn't cost you what the other guys cost.
Jason Moore
His ADP is depressed because he's almost 32 years old, but when you look at 38 games, really sad. When you look at 38 games played with Brock Purdy, six catches a game, 67 yards, 0.61 touchdowns, and guess what? Where are you drafting him? If you want to pull the trigger on George Kittle, the guys and the names around him in the in drafts right now are people with question marks. They could be great. They could be a boat. Kittle is a boat.
Mike Wright
You already know he's a boat.
Jason Moore
Like Devonte Adams. You want to take Kittle or Devonte Adams, like you can take Devonte Adams, that's fine. But you don't like the certainty that comes with Kittle is better than Devonte Adams. Alvin Camara, maybe on the worst offense in football. That could be a really good pick there. You know, Kittle's a good pick there. Amari and Hampton, same story. He could be awesome. It's just you're entering a tier in the fourth round where you're like, I think, I think this guy's great. Right? But, you know, Kittle's great, and that's, I think, what differentiates him.
Andy Holloway
And you've seen, you've seen in times where a wide receiver goes down for the Niners and Kittle's that much more important. And now you look at where they're entering this year earlier, starting at zero. Yeah. Earlier this episode you talked about, oh, is Christian McCaffrey is the big beneficiary. He will be a beneficiary, but I think the biggest beneficiary in the passing game is George Kittle. You've got, you know, Juwan Jennings and an unknown, Ricky Pierce, although hopefully takes a step forward. Brandon Iuk is not going to be there to start the game. Debo is gone. They need George Kittle.
Jason Moore
Where, Mike, where do you think Kittle rises in terms of production when McCaffrey finally goes down?
Mike Wright
No, it's not a poss.
Jason Moore
Or it's not possible, not impossible.
Mike Wright
That's the Freudian slip. The whole discussion on George Kittle is the value, though. So where does the value break? And it's no longer really exciting. Like, let's say it's front half of the third.
Jason Moore
Okay, so half of the third. Anything got to be back half 305 and beyond.
Mike Wright
Okay. I.
Jason Moore
If you're taking George Kyle got him at 309 yesterday.
Mike Wright
If you're taking Kittle at like 302 as opposed, you know, like. And a few picks earlier than that was Trey McBride then just value wise, that feels like it. You have kind of blown up the whole thing.
Jason Moore
All right, we have, we have two names I kind of want to talk about together, but number two, Trey McBride comes in at number two. We all have him at either two or three in our rankings right now. 25 years old, unbelievable season. Almost 200 fantasy points.
Mike Wright
Highest target share among tight ends.
Jason Moore
Yeah. 12.1 fantasy points per game. Absolutely dominant despite not scoring a pile of Mark Andrews touchdowns. I mean, that was kind of the running gag over the course of the whole year. I think he had like what he had a rushing or a fumble recovery touchdown. Like they could not connect in the end zone. And it kind of, it became one of those things where like the odds of connecting went lower and lower and lower because the pressure to get him a touchdown went up and up and up. And I think having that just clean slate this off season is going to make a big difference. The price for Trey McBride now is a second round draft pick. Are you going to be happy?
Mike Wright
It's expensive.
Jason Moore
This is Kyron Williams, jsn, Lamar Jackson, Chase Brown. That's where those guys are going.
Mike Wright
It is, it's nerve wracking, I think, because the, the advantage that some of those other second round guys can give you where I think Dre McBride will be a top three tight end like that, that is what should happen. It's just how, how big of a point gap is he giving you over like, like George Kittle or whoever's at number four. That, that's where at the end of the year you'll find out. And I did. I don't know. I don't, I don't know if it'll end up being worth it compared to those other players.
Jason Moore
Yeah, that's, that's the big question with the two guys.
Mike Wright
But when you draft him, you have a great player that's just going to be locked into your tight end position.
Andy Holloway
And if you, number one, you can.
Mike Wright
Figure out the other spots, then, then it's totally worth it.
Jason Moore
I thought you, I thought, I thought you had stopped talking.
Mike Wright
There's really nothing else to say about these guys. They're really good.
Andy Holloway
1.
Jason Moore
Brock. Brock Bowers.
Mike Wright
The thing about Trey McBride.
Jason Moore
Brock Bowers comes in at number one for all of us. It's going to be a really, really sweet year for Brock Bowers. There's no question about his performance on the field. He gets himself a real quarterback.
Mike Wright
Yeah.
Jason Moore
Absolutely outrageous production last year. He also struggled with getting into the end zone to the degree that he's probably capable of. What is the discussion to be had here? I mean, obviously taking him, it's him instead of Drake London, him instead of Bucky Irving, him instead of AJ Brown, him instead of Josh Jacobs. You might still be just a really happy person once you do it.
Andy Holloway
Yeah. I mean, I don't think Brock Bowers is going to let you down. I don't think Trey McBride is going to let you down. You do still. That doesn't mean you're not sacrificing something. You're sacrificing a really important running back or wide receiver to get those players. The reason Brock Bowers goes ahead of Trey McBride is because Brock Bowers was a clear cut generational prospect. He came in two years ago. We were talking about Brock Bowers before he was eligible to come to the NFL. We don't talk about like even when Kyle Pitts was coming out and he was supposed to be great. That was just that season. Brock Bowers from his freshman year on was this unbelievable talent in college. You know, he is the reason that lad McConkey never had a breakout age at Georgia because he soaked up all the, all the targets, all the receptions, like he was the dominator there at tight end. And so the hope when you draft Brock Bowers, is that what his rookie season was, which he finished number one, is nothing compared to what he can do because, you know, he scored 12 fantasy points per game. There's years where Gronk or Kelsey, they're up there scoring 15 fantasy points per game. And that's really. When you're drafting him in the second. You're going to be okay if he does what he did last year. But it's not necessarily the best fantasy pick. What you're really hoping for, that I don't think McBride can necessarily do that. I do think Brock Bowers could do is elevate into lapping the field.
Jason Moore
I don't know. As we wrap this situation up, all this countdown tight end countdown up. If you guys have sleeper tight ends on your mind, I want to throw out one name that I think will be a meaningful, productive tight end instantly.
Andy Holloway
Strange name.
Jason Moore
No. It is Mason Taylor of the New York Jets.
Mike Wright
Yeah.
Jason Moore
Who is firmly entrenched as a rookie atop the dub chart in New York on a team that really?
Mike Wright
Look, they don't know who the number two wide receiver is.
Jason Moore
Oh, they do, they do. It's Josh Reynolds. And that, that is why Mason Taylor is an amazing, amazing potential breakout candidate. I like the talent. So I think Mason Taylor starting, you know, I like Tyler Warren too. I think Tyler Warren could be outstanding. I do think you have a quarterback swap there. Colson Loveland could get heavily involved. I think Colson Loveland is going to be more hit and miss, but his hits are going to be really cool. Cool situations, cool games, cool plays, cool. I don't know. I kept saying that. Colston, Coolston, it's all cool. You have other late round sleepers.
Andy Holloway
Yeah, there's. I would say that this is an exceptional rookie tight end draft class and with what we've seen in the NFL, I would pay attention to all of them. Not necessarily who you draft, but if someone pops off week one, if Elijah Arroyo, who has the opportunity now that Noah fan is gone, if Terrence Ferguson who was a very highly drafted, you.
Jason Moore
Know, Sean the Seahawks and Terence Ferguson, the Rams.
Andy Holloway
Yeah. So I would pay attention to all the rookies. Obviously Warren and Loveland, very high first round draft picks. Those, those guys will be drafted in your, in your draft class. The only other tight end I would say you got to know, his name is Brenton Strange. Brenton Strange is the Evan Ingram role that honestly anyone could do from last year's Dolphins. So the weight.
Mike Wright
The Jaguars, it's a new offensive system though.
Andy Holloway
Yeah, but he is already in camp being talked about as like the clear. He is, he is the tight end one. He's.
Mike Wright
Yeah, that's. Yeah.
Andy Holloway
You know, and there's, there's a lot of vacated targets. So I think in a PPR league that's just a name that won't be drafted that you might want to pick up early and stream.
Jason Moore
All right, a reminder, you can see all of our rankings including those sleepers breakouts, busting values in the ultimate draft Kit at ultimate draft kit.com we've got quarterback and wide receiver ranking shows coming up. We got Ice and Fire, Ice and Fire episode coming up. Another mock draft on the horizon and looking forward to all of it five days a week. Click that follow button. Click subscribe over on YouTube. Stay with us for the entire season, Foot Clan, because it's going to be a lot of fun.
Mike Wright
Goodbye.
Andy Holloway
Thank you for listening to another episode of the Fantasy football footballers podcast. Join our fantasy football community on jointhefoot.com and follow us on Twitter the FFballers.
Fantasy Footballers Podcast Summary: Top 10 TE Rankings + Draft Strategy (8/1)
Released on August 1, 2025, the "Fantasy Footballers - Fantasy Football Podcast" episode titled "Top 10 TE Rankings + Draft Strategy" dives deep into tight end rankings, draft strategies, and pertinent NFL news to equip fantasy football enthusiasts with the insights needed to dominate their leagues. Hosted by Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike "The Fantasy Hitman" Wright, the episode offers a comprehensive analysis tailored for both seasoned and novice fantasy players.
As the NFL season kicks off, the Fantasy Footballers set the stage by highlighting the importance of early preparation and strategic drafting. Andy Holloway opens the discussion by emphasizing the shift from traditional talking heads to their expert trio's analytical approach. Jason Moore introduces the primary focus of the episode: the top 10 tight end (TE) rankings and the accompanying draft strategies essential for securing a championship-winning team.
Before delving into rankings, the hosts touch upon recent NFL developments that could impact TE performances:
Injuries: Jason Moore brings attention to Juwan Johnson’s groin injury, clarifying mixed up names in the conversation. The team discusses how injuries, like those to Brandon Aiyuk, affect depth and player availability.
Jason Moore [10:03]: “Juwan Jennings misses third consecutive practice due to a calf strain...”
Retirements and Trades: The retirement of Latavius Murray and the signing of Amir Abdullah by the 49ers are noted, highlighting their potential impact on TE dynamics.
Mike Wright [13:01]: “Amir Abdullah, the Abdullah Express himself, signed by the 49ers.”
Draft Strategy Tools: The hosts promote fantasychamps.com and the Ultimate Draft Kit, introducing tools like the Value Scout to help players make informed decisions based on projected player values versus Average Draft Positions (ADP).
The core of the episode centers on the consensus top 10 TE rankings, with each host sharing their perspectives and justifications.
Brock Bowers
Ranked unanimously as the top TE, Bowers is lauded for his exceptional performance last season, averaging 12 fantasy points per game. The hosts anticipate an even more productive year given his role as a focal point in the offense.
Andy Holloway [67:12]: “Brock Bowers was the tight end on my championship team last year.”
Trey McBride
Coming in at number two, McBride's dominant season with nearly 200 fantasy points solidifies his position. Despite concerns about his high draft cost, his consistent target share and touchdown potential make him a reliable choice.
Mike Wright [65:15]: “Highest target share among tight ends.”
George Kittle
Positioned as a bargain in the fourth round, Kittle's proven track record and integral role in the offense make him a coveted pick. The hosts discuss his potential resurgence, especially if Rashi Rice, another TE, faces suspension.
Jason Moore [61:19]: “Right now, the best bargain at the tight end position.”
Mark Andrews
Once a perennial favorite, Andrews slips into the top 10 due to last season's regression in yardage despite high touchdown numbers. The hosts express cautious optimism, anticipating improved performances should he regain consistency.
Andy Holloway [30:06]: “Mark Andrews was a touchdown machine last year with 11 touchdowns.”
Travis Kelsey
At number five, Kelsey’s longevity and competitive spirit are highlighted. The potential suspension of Rashi Rice could elevate Kelsey’s value significantly, positioning him as a top-tier TE if he steps up in the absence of Rice.
Jason Moore [46:46]: “Travis Kelsey is going to be a really, really sweet year for him.”
Sam LaPorta
LaPorta's rise to number six is attributed to his explosive rookie season and growing rapport with his quarterback. Despite a rocky start, his potential for high targets and touchdowns keeps him highly ranked.
Jason Moore [43:46]: “Sam LaPorta was sensational as a rookie and continues to impress.”
David Najoku
Najoku is praised for his physical prowess and established role within his team’s offense. The hosts note his resilience and importance, especially in PPR (points per reception) leagues.
Andy Holloway [39:11]: “David Najoku is the Titan Four and a crucial part of the offense.”
Evan Engram
Engram's position at number eight is debated, with discussions revolving around his target efficiency in PPR formats. The hosts acknowledge his potential but recognize fluctuations in performance, making him a borderline top-ten selection.
Andy Holloway [36:21]: “He should be getting five or six receptions a game in PPR leagues.”
Tucker Kraft
Kraft's dynamic play style and yard-after-catch ability earn him the ninth spot. Despite lower overall targets, his big-play potential makes him a valuable late-round pick with high upside.
Jason Moore [20:48]: “Tucker Kraft averaged 8.8 yards after the catch, leading tight ends.”
Brandon Aiyuk
Closing the top 10, Aiyuk's defensive improvements and increased targets bolster his ranking. The hosts emphasize his role in high-scoring matchups, providing consistent fantasy points.
Jason Moore [69:25]: “Brandon Aiyuk is crucial in high-scoring offenses.”
The discussion transitions to overarching draft strategies, particularly the investment in the TE position versus other key positions like quarterback. The hosts debate the opportunity cost of drafting an elite TE early, weighing the benefits of secure high-point players against the flexibility of streaming TE positions.
Early Investment vs. Late-Round Upside: Investing early in a TE like Bowers or McBride can provide consistent points but may limit flexibility in drafting other positions. Conversely, waiting and selecting TEs based on week-to-week matchups can offer strategic advantages but carries the risk of uncertainty.
Jason Moore [15:07]: “If you invest early in a TE, it's at the expense of another valuable position.”
Strength of Schedule Considerations: Andy Holloway and Mike Wright discuss how the strength of a TE’s schedule can impact their performance, especially in the early weeks. Utilizing tools like the strength of schedule from the Ultimate Draft Kit can aid in making informed decisions.
Andy Holloway [06:34]: “I like looking at the first three weeks’ strength of schedule to identify favorable matchups.”
Value Scout Tool: The Value Scout tool is highlighted as a means to compare player values against ADP, allowing drafters to exploit market inefficiencies and secure high-impact players at lower costs.
Jason Moore [03:30]: “The Value Scout tool gives you the ability to compare what we consider a player's true value.”
Beyond the top 10, the hosts identify sleepers and late-round picks that could provide significant value:
Mason Taylor (New York Jets): Positioned as a breakout candidate, Taylor's integration into the Jets' system and his established rapport with quarterback Josh Reynolds make him a prime sleeper pick.
Jason Moore [69:25]: “Mason Taylor is an amazing, amazing potential breakout candidate.”
Tyler Warren and Colson Loveland: Both are highlighted for their high upside and potential to produce explosive plays, especially in PPR formats.
Andy Holloway [70:11]: “Tyler Warren could be outstanding, and Colson Loveland has great hit potential.”
Brenton Strange (Jacksonville Jaguars): Mentioned as a viable option for streaming TE positions due to his role as the primary target in the offense.
Andy Holloway [71:20]: “Brenton Strange is a clear tight end one with a lot of vacated targets.”
As the episode wraps up, the Fantasy Footballers reiterate the importance of strategic positioning and leveraging tools like the Ultimate Draft Kit to refine draft approaches. They encourage listeners to consider both the median projections and the upside potential of TEs to build a balanced and competitive fantasy team.
Andy Holloway [71:47]: “Join our fantasy football community and stay tuned for more expert analysis throughout the season.”
The hosts urge fantasy managers to remain adaptable, stay informed on player news, and utilize available resources to maximize their draft strategies and in-season maneuvers.
Conclusion
This episode of the Fantasy Footballers Podcast offers an in-depth exploration of tight end rankings and draft strategies, enriched with expert opinions and actionable insights. By navigating player performances, potential sleepers, and strategic investments, the hosts equip listeners with the knowledge to make informed decisions and enhance their fantasy football prowess for the upcoming NFL season.