Mark Andrews, BAL 

Mark Andrews to me has the next best odds of being the TE1 in fantasy after Travis Kelce. And that’s coming from a guy who loves Sam LaPorta, Trey McBride, and Dalton Kincaid. Mark Andrews has a top five tight end season of all time on his resume and he’s still 28 years old.  

Zach Ertz was 28 years old when he had his first 1,000-yard season. Travis Kelce was 27 when he had his. There’s a reason the Ravens didn’t do much at WR and that’s because this guy plays 85% of his snaps at wide receiver. He’s a wide receiver that blocks better than wide receivers. And he has the right mix of upside and ADP at TE4.

Dalton Kincaid, BUF

The success of Sam LaPorta last year overshadowed the fact that Dalton Kincaid, as a rookie, recorded the most receptions a Bills tight end has ever recorded in a season. We don’t just take “vacated targets” and hand them out to the other players but each year we need to look at the team and estimate how the ball is going to be spread around. 

Normally we’d allocate ~150-160 targets to Stefon Diggs as that’s what he’s gotten about four years in a row, but he’s gone now. The rookie Keon Coleman is not going to pick up numbers like that year one but, even if he somehow does, Kincaid has a pretty clear path to being a top two target on the team. All we need in this world is 90 targets. 

Kyle Pitts, ATL 

Folks said we were crazy to continue to draft Evan Engram in 2022. But I watched him have a top five TE season with Eli Manning then struggle with Daniel Jones. The story here is no different. Kyle Pitts had over 1,000 yards as a rookie with a washed Matt Ryan. And has had brutal quarterback play the last two seasons.

We just mentioned above how Kelce didn’t have 1,000 yards until he turned 28. No other tight end ever has done it at 21, like Pitts did. Now at 23 years old the gunslinger Kirk Cousins comes in to save the day. Pitts has as high of upside as anyone. 

Evan Engram, JAX 

Speak of the devil. To say Evan Engram led all tight ends in receptions last year would be underselling it. He led them all by NINETEEN receptions. He had the fourth most receptions of any player. And one key component to that was screens. No other TE had more screens than his 21. 

That creates a tremendous floor for him, and he has the ceiling of potentially scoring more touchdowns this year. Sure, Christian Kirk missed some time last year, but they are going from Calvin Ridley to a rookie wide receiver and Gabe Davis. Engram should once again be a rock solid option and he's oddly affordable given what he did last year.

Pat Freiermuth, PIT 

Last year Pat Freiermuth was a fade for us. And rightfully so. But this is a new year, a new team. Diontae Johnson was garnering NINE targets a game over the last four years - he’s been traded to CAR. Kenny Pickett is out, and Russell Wilson is in. Folks saying that Wilson “doesn’t throw to the TE” need to look at the rosters he had. He’s virtually always had at least two good WRs and mediocre at best TE. 

With the Seahawks, Shane Waldon used a nightmare TE rotation and Greg Dulcich missed the entire season last year with the Broncos. The best tight end he’s had was a washed Jimmy Graham coming off a torn patellar tendon - he got nearly 100 targets and scored 10 TDs. Pat Freiermuth could easily be a top two target on that team.