Fantasy football: Five tight ends to keep a close eye on in 2020

Jared Cook – New Orleans Saints

Jared Cook‘s start to the 2019 season was a nightmare and it appeared he would have been a major flop for anyone who had drafted him on their rosters.

During the first month of action, he was TE33 and averaged a paltry 3.3 fantasy points per contest. A part of that can be attributed to the fact that starting quarterback Drew Brees had gotten injured in the early part of the season, but he wasn’t initially playing well even when Brees was healthy.

It wasn’t until Week 5 when Cook found his stride and began to turn things around. Whether it was Teddy Bridgewater or eventually Brees throwing him the rock, Cook quickly climbed the ladder and became one of the top tight ends in the league last year.

While his total number of receiving yards experienced a slight drop-off from 2018 (896) to 2019 (705), he did manage to score the most touchdowns in a single season of his career with nine.

Between Week’s 5-17, Cook was the third-best tight end in fantasy as he averaged 13.3 points per contest and racked up 35 receptions for 615 yards and nine touchdowns. As a result, his strong performance for the last three-quarters of the season landed him as TE7 in fantasy rankings.

Cook was one of the top targets in the New Orleans’ passing attack as only Michael Thomas and Alvin Kamara had more last year with 185 and 97 respectively. Cook was third with 65 passes that came in his direction in 2019.

The one knock Cook has had against him since entering the league in 2013 is his ability to catch passes consistently. He only had a 66.2 completion percentage last season which can make some a bit leery selecting him. Regardless, the Saints are still a pass-heavy team especially with Brees under center for another season and he should have plenty of chances to be productive in a fairly thin receiver corps outside of Thomas and Kamara.