Welcome back to the Rookie Report! We're just a few hours away from the draft when we can finally put all of the speculation behind us, but that means we still have a few hours to do more speculating! I've spent a lot of this week putting together the puzzle pieces to match the incoming fantasy rookies to the teams that would make the most sense for both them and the team. Today I turn my attention to the tight ends. Mind you, these landing spots ARE NOT predictions for where the players will be drafted. They're merely my thoughts on what the best landing spots are for all of the tight ends to maximize scheme fit, career development, and fantasy upside. Let's jump in and see who fits where.
(Player, College - Landing spot)
Mike Gesicki, Penn State - New Orleans Saints: Gesicki won't provide much as a blocker early on, but the Saints have managed to work around that in the past with Jimmy Graham and converted tight end Marques Colston. Gesicki is a freak athlete for his size, and he'll cause huge matchup problems in the red zone. He may be able to provide what the Saints hoped they were getting in Coby Fleener.
Dallas Goedert, South Dakota State - Seattle Seahawks: The Seahawks are in need of a starting tight end with Jimmy Graham off to Green Bay, and Goedert is the best option available to them. Goedert is a better blocker than Mike Gesicki, which will be critical with Seattle's perpetually poor o-line play, and he's a more dynamic receiver than the other top TE option Hayden Hurst. If he does end up in Seattle, Goedert would have low-end TE1 upside as a rookie.
Hayden Hurst, South Carolina - Detroit Lions: Speaking of Hayden Hurst, The Gamecocks' TE would do well to end up in the Motor City. The Lions are in need of a new tight end after letting Eric Ebron go to Indy. Hurst isn't as good an athlete as Ebron, but he's a better blocker and isn't as prone to the drops that have driven Lions' fans nuts from Ebron. Detroit did bring in Luke Willson and Levine Toilolo as free agents, an still have Michael Roberts as well, but Hurst would likely leapfrog all of them on the depth chart quickly.
Mark Andrews, Oklahoma - Carolina Panthers: Andrews could be a great fit as the heir apparent to Greg Olsen in Carolina. Olsen just re-signed with the Panthers on a 2-year deal, which is plenty of time for Andrews to work on his craft as a blocker. Andrews is a much better receiver than blocker at this point and could be a dangerous weapon in 2-tight end sets while Olsen is still around, or as the starter if Olsen were to get hurt again. The Panthers feature a fair amount of vertical passing to the tight end position in their scheme, which would give Andrews nice upside if he is eventually able to take the starting role.
Jaylen Samuels, NC State - New England Patriots: Samuels is a versatile, dynamic player and the Patriots are a team that has always been adept at finding ways to use those. Samuels was used all over the place at NC State - at tight end, as an H-back, as a regular halfback, and split out wide. He managed to post 1,000 scrimmage yards and 16 TDs in his final year with the Wolfpack as that jack-of-all-trades kind of player. Both Philly and New England stand out as good landing spots for Samuels, but I think he'll find a role more quickly with the Pats, and they're more likely than Philly to take full advantage of his versatility.
Ian Thomas, Indiana - Dallas Cowboys: Thomas is a good athlete for the tight end position, but he likely needs a year or two to fine tune his craft as both a blocker and receiver at the NFL level. Sitting behind the ageless Jason Witten would be a good place to do this from. It feels like Witten is never going to retire, but the end is coming, and the Cowboys need to be prepared for that eventuality.
Durham Smythe, Notre Dame - Baltimore Ravens: Smythe is a good blocker who is skilled in the short passing game as well. He won't have a ton of upside to be a top fantasy tight end and will likely spend most of his career as a grinding fantasy TE2 who can fill bye weeks. Think of Brent Celek or CJ Fiedorowicz. He'd be a good fit with the Ravens, whose current starting TE is Nick Boyle, but probably not a great fit with your fantasy team.
Jordan Akins, UCF - Miami Dolphins: Akins is a converted wide receiver who has the skills to be a dangerous receiving threat, which is something Adam Gase likes from his tight ends. He needs to improve as a blocker, but most rookie TEs don't produce anything in year 1 anyway and he can sit for a year and learn from veteran Anthony Fasano. As long as the Dolphins aren't awful this year and Gase is still there in 2019, Akins would have a chance to start making good on his potential in year 2.
That's all I've got for this year's rookie crop. Make sure to go back and check out the landing spot articles on the QBs, RBs and WRs as well. I also want to give a special shout out to Matt Waldman and the Rookie Scouting Portfolio. If you don't know what that is, go to mattwaldmanrsp.com and check it out. I watch a lot of football and gather info on the incoming players in a lot of different ways, but I'm far from a professional scout and the RSP consistently makes me feel more knowledgeable about the players coming into the league and the game of football in general. It's worth much more than the price Matt charges for it. If you have any qualms with any of the landing spots above, don't be a stranger. Reach out on twitter and let me know (@Shawn_Foss). Thanks for taking the time to read this and enjoy the draft!
Welcome to Statistically (in)Significant, the place to find great stats that probably only matter at the water cooler (or bar). Each week I'll dig through the stats of the week gone by and deliver you some choice conversation starters. All fantasy stats are standard Yahoo scoring, unless otherwise noted.
2 Players over 30 points
This week, we had just two players break the 30-point mark. As I write this during the MNF game, I don’t expect anyone else to join this club. Everyone, however, expects Patrick Mahomes to be a prolific fantasy player, but they probably didn’t think all of his action to come in the second quarter. Meanwhile, Lamar Jackson has been better than anyone expected this year. Following up a huge opening game with another big fantasy performance, he went to the ground this time. Jackson racked up 120 yards rushing on 16 carries, after just 6 yards on 3 caries last week. Jackson’s passing numbers weren’t as gaudy as Week 1, but perhaps the most important number is zero turnovers. We’re the real winners here though, these guys will match up in Week 3.
1 Player from the Top 10
After last week saw tons of no-names find their way to the top of the fantasy charts, this week only saw one player owned in single digit leagues make their way into the top wide receivers. Demarcus Robinson did his best Tyreek Hill impersonation, catching 6 balls for 172 yards and 2 TDs. Robinson’s 29.2 points was the third highest of the week, and he was basically a statistical error, having been started in “0%” of Yahoo leagues. I’m sure that number is going up for next week, especially since there weren’t a ton of really high scoring WRs. Only Julio Jones at 22.6 broke the 20-point mark, and Robinson more than doubled up the #10 WR, Marquise Goodwin. Again, while watching the MNF game, I don’t see anyone surpassing Robinson, or Goodwin for that matter. (Late edit: Odell Beckham Jr. did manage to join the 20-point club.)
34 Fantasy Points
Through 2 weeks, Mark Andrews is leading all tight ends in fantasy points, having put together two excellent games in a row. He’s caught 16 of his 17 targets, which has really helped out his QB, the aforementioned Lamar Jackson. His 220 yards are 6th in the league so far this season. With an ADP in the 14th round, he was a really great value for anyone who was planning on streaming tight ends this season. Travis Kelce is the only one of the big three drafted who is playing well. In fact, he’s got more points than George Kittle and Zach Ertz combined.
0 Points Allowed
The Patriots somehow improved on their 3 points allowed in Week 1 by pitching a shutout down in Miami. The hapless Dolphins could only manage 11 first downs in 13 drives, while giving up 43 points. On the season, the Patriots have now scored 76 points compared to just 3 given up. The Dolphins are on the opposite end of that spectrum, with just 10 points scored compared to 102 allowed. The Patriots D/ST managed 2 pick-sixes on Sunday, got the rare shutout bonus and tallied 7 sacks. The 37 points they scored is more than the season total for any kickers or tight ends, and led everyone in Week 2, technically.
2 QBs with 300+ Yards Passing
In Week 2, two QBs managed to throw for over 300 yards without throwing a touchdown. One is a QB on his way up, the other is a QB that could be on his way down, and at least along the way, they didn’t throw any picks. Cam Newton just didn’t look right on Thursday night, in this week’s first Heisman Trophy winner matchup. Newton disappointed owners with a piddly 11.32 points in a game that many had him pegged to do much better. There’s now whispers that Cam could be done in Carolina, as he just doesn’t look right. Meanwhile, Kyler Murray, who played in the second battle of Heisman winners, is still working things out by throwing the hell out of the ball. He has 94 pass attempts through 2 games and has passed the 300-yard mark in each of those games. Murray is looking decent to start the season, but he needs to put together 4 good quarters in a game and throw some TDs for us fantasy players.