Fantasy Football Dynasty 2017: Top Five Second Year Tight Ends

Following up on our Fantasy Football Dynasty second year wide receivers article, we’re now reviewing the top 2016 rookie tight ends for your dynasty/keeper leagues.  Grabbing a great young tight end from last season for your Fantasy Football Dynasty league, can be a great chip to build around for your fantasy football dynasty league championships for several years.

After only 30 targets, 23 receptions, 288 yards, but a solid three touchdowns in his rookie campaign, Tampa Bay Buccaneers second year tight end Cameron Brate quickly emerged as one of the top fantasy football dynasty tight ends to own during the 2016 season. 

With 81 targets from the first overall pick of the 2015 NFL draft, Jameis Winston, Brate piled up 57 receptions, 660 receiving yards, and eight touchdowns in only ten starts last year.  As we discussed in our Rookie Dynasty Tight Ends article, Brate’s targets may take a hit due to the Bucs’ drafting of Howard.  

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But he’s still one of the best tight end options in fantasy football, with an eight touchdown per ten game ratio, and over seven targets per game from Winston.  So, who are the top five 2016 rookie tight ends you should consider for this year’s fantasy football dynasty draft?  Let’s start with number five…

Fantasy Football Dynasty Second Year TE Pick: No 5

Admittedly, after the top three tight ends, returning from their 2016 rookie season, there’s an enormous drop-off of fantasy football production in this group.  The fourth and fifth best on this list should be considered hand-cuffs in larger leagues, and free agent pick-up targets in the case of an injury.

Starting with Seth DeValve, we’re already concerned about DeValve’s production in 2017.  As we addressed in our top rookie tight end article, the Browns drafted David Njoku late in the first round of the 2017 NFL draft.  Njoku immediately becomes one of the top ten tight end options in the NFL, assuming the Browns can get the quarterback situation figured out (big assumption).

Seth is right behind David though.  In his rookie season, DeValve only started two games, but played in twelve games.  Seth didn’t see his first target until just before Halloween, last fall, but he snagged ten of the twelve throws his way.

DeValve also had 127 years, or 12.7 yards per catch.  That’s decent production for a rookie tight end playing in only the second half of the season.  Seth also had two touchdowns, one in Baltimore and another in Pittsburgh.  We’re assuming Njoku will quickly adapt to the NFL and be a heavy target for the Browns to start the season, but if David struggles at all during the season, expect Seth’s production to rapidly climb.

Fantasy Football Dynasty Second Year TE Pick: No 4

The New York football Giants are another team who was clearly not happy with their tight end production last season, and grabbed a tight end in the first round.  Evan Engram is one of the best tight end options coming out of college, in one of the most talented tight end group we’ve seen in years.

But the Giants receiving corps is quickly beginning to look crowded.  Also, it remains to be seen how quickly Evan is able to adapt to the NFL, and we’ll see if he and Manning can jell during camp this summer.  In the meantime, Jerell Adams is an intriguing backup option to Engram.

The Giants waiting until the 6th round to grab Jerell, and he already seems like a potential steal. Like DeValve, Adams didn’t become active in the Giants passing game until late in the fall, getting most of his time on the field in November and December.

In 13 games and two starts, Adams saw 21 targets and grabbed 16 of them.  Jerell had 122 yards, only 7.6 per reception, and a touchdown in his rookie season.  Evan will likely eat into Adams’ production, but it’s yet to be known how prepared Engram will be for the NFL, and if he or Tye get get injured, Adams’ fantasy football productivity will spike.

Fantasy Football Dynasty Second Year TE Pick: No 3

After getting selected in the fourth round of the 2016 NFL draft by the Los Angeles Rams, Tyler Higbee played in all 16 of the Rams games and started in seven games.  Unlike Adams and DeValve, Higbee didn’t see a lot of receiving action in his rookie season.  Tyler had eleven receptions in 29 targets, with 85 yards (7.7 per reception), and one touchdown.

So why do we like Higbee more than Adams or DeValve?  Well, for starters, Tyler is actually a better developed receiver than Jerell or Seth.  Higbee originally played mostly receiver at Western Kentucky.  The bigger concern about Tyler heading into the 2016 draft was his frame and blocking ability.

But with Sean McVay at the helm for the Rams coaching staff, now, we can expect more targets to the tight end position.  And Higbee fits the mold McVay should be looking to target each game.  It’s still way to early to make comparisons to Jordan Reed, and that likely may never be the case.  But Tyler his significant upside compared to last seasons fantasy football results, and we know his ceiling is somewhere slightly below Reed’s results the last two seasons.  

Higbee is someone who should be on everyone’s radar for a late draft pick, or an early free agent pickup next season.  And he’s a potential keeper in dynasty leagues.

Fantasy Football Dynasty Second Year TE Pick: No 2

With the 81st overall pick of the 2016 NFL draft, the Atlanta Falcons selected TE from Stanford Austin Hooper in the third round.  NFL Scouts had some concerns about Austin heading into the draft.  Hooper is a tremendous athlete with the NFL prototype body for tight end. However, Hooper has a propensity for dropping passes, even in open space.

So we’re aware of the concerns, but man did Hooper have an intriguing rookie season.  Matty Ice targeted Hooper 27 times during the regular season, and Austin grabbed 19 receptions from those targets, a solid 70% of targets.  Austin also had 271 receiving yards, 14.3 per catch, and three touchdowns.

Heading into the start of the 2017 season, it’s clear the Falcons view Hooper as their lead pass-catching tight end.  Not many rookies could claim to have caught a touchdown pass from a potential future hall of famer against Tom Brady’s Patriots in the Super Bowl.  During the post-season, Hooper saw nine targets, grabbed six receptions for 65 yards and that Super Bowl touchdown.

In the 2017, we should see Ryan target Hooper more often.  If his catching ability looks anything like his rookie season, he has a high ceiling and Austin is worth a consideration as a fantasy football dynasty pick in deep leagues.

Fantasy Football Dynasty Second Year TE Pick: No 1

By now it should be obvious Hunter Henry is your top fantasy football dynasty target among last year’s rookie tight ends.  Henry immediately created light between himself and all other rookie tight ends last season.

Henry completed the 2016 season starting ten of the 15 games he played in for the, now Los Angeles, Chargers.  Hunter grabbed 36 of the 53 targets from Rivers last year, piling up 478 yards (13.3 per reception), and eight touchdowns.  Henry’s only blemish was a lost fumble.  But he also had a 54 yard reception along with five touchdowns in the last six games.

It’s already obvious Rivers is comfortable targeting Henry, and we have a baseline for Henry’s fantasy football value now.  The Chargers made some moves and get healthy at wide receiver to start this season, and that may grab targets from Henry.  But with Gates aging, it’s obvious Hunter is the next generation at tight end for the Chargers, and Rivers is already looking his way.  I expect Henry to take over the bulk of looks for Antonio this season, and certainly into next season, making Henry a great fantasy football dynasty tight end pick.

Next: Fantasy Football Dynasty Rookie Top 20

With the fourth of our four-part Fantasy Football Dynasty Second Year series, we’ll now turn our attention to the the top 25 second year fantasy football dynasty rankings.  In the meantime, follow us on twitter, @fantasycpr, for updates.