Fantasy Football: Tight end PPR redraft rankings
By Kevin Scott
We finish our early 2019 positional rankings series with tiered tight end rankings for leagues with PPR scoring.
In our previous articles with early positional rankings for PPR leagues, we looked at each of the other major positions for fantasy football: quarterback, running back and wide receiver. Our final position, tight end, is here.
For each of these articles, we have provided a ranked list of the players at each position, and also broke them down into tiers. Tiers are helpful when you are on the clock in your draft, as you can see when there may be a limited number of players left in a tier at a particular position, versus plenty of options in a tier at another position.
To put it kindly, tight end is an interesting position this year. Outside of the top few tiers, it is a minefield. You might strike gold, and you might have a wasted pick. However, hopefully these tiers will help identify some players with the potential to make a jump up in value, similar to how George Kittle jumped from a middle-of-the-pack tight end last season to an elite option.
Let’s begin with the first three tiers.
Tier 1
Travis Kelce, Chiefs
That’s it. Travis Kelce is head and shoulders above any other option at tight end. He is elite at everything: route running, blocking, hands, intelligence and dance moves. Not only is he that good, but he is on arguably the best offense in football, with a stud quarterback. I think he is worth grabbing in the back half of the first round if you have tight end premium scoring, or early in the second round of all PPR leagues.
Tier 2
George Kittle, 49ers
Zach Ertz, Eagles
These players are close in value to Kelce. The difference is that they are not quite as elite in their skill sets, and that there is more risk. For George Kittle, there is the risk that with the increased number of receiving options in San Francisco, he will see far fewer targets. With Zach Ertz, the Eagles are known to spread the ball around and Dallas Goedert has been hyped a lot this offseason. He also may lose many of his targets. Still, they are worthy of being selected by the end of the third round.
Tier 3
O.J. Howard, Bucs
Hunter Henry, Chargers
Evan Engram, Giants
David Njoku, Browns
These are players with huge talent and huge upside. To this point, they have not reached their potential, either because of injury or competition or inferior offense. But all are physically gifted athletes who could make the leap if they continue improving and are given the opportunity. This tier almost certainly has one Kittle-type in it, a guy who will reach new heights this year.