No man is an island, but at tight end, one man can be his own tier. That's how it is for the first three, where I view Travis Kelce, Mark Andrews, and Kyle Pitts to be separated from both each other and the rest of the position. I'm willing to take all three in the first two rounds if I really want them, whereas I think George Kittle and Darren Waller are more like even fifth-rounders this season, with another multi-round drop after those two. And, honestly, the more I think about it, the more I think Waller and Kittle might be overrated even in the fifth round.
I'm not buying the idea that tight end will be different this year. We say that every year, and every year, there are like three tight ends who actually matter and then everyone else wouldn't be worth starting if you didn't have to have a tight end in your lineup -- to be more specific, the TE7 has scored fewer points than the WR30 in each of the past five seasons. That doesn't mean I don't like T.J. Hockenson or Dallas Goedert (or even lower-end guys like Albert Okwuegbunam, Noah Fant, or Irv Smith). I'm just not going to reach for any of them except for the guys I know will be difference makers. This year, that only includes the top three.
- Travis Kelce*
- Mark Andrews*
- Kyle Pitts*
- George Kittle
- Darren Waller*
- T.J. Hockenson
- Dalton Schultz
- Dallas Goedert*
- Mike Gesicki
- Zach Ertz
- Pat Freiermuth
- Albert Okwuegbunam
- Noah Fant
- Irv Smith
- David Njoku
- Cole Kmet*
- Gerald Everett
- Tyler Higbee
- Austin Hooper
- Dawson Knox
- Hunter Henry
- Evan Engram*
- Logan Thomas
- Robert Tonyan*
*End of a tier
