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Lets rank some TE's (1 Viewer)

zilladog

Footballguy
So for me this year, getting a handle on the tight end landscape has been the toughest part of my rankings this offseason. I, like many others, was a Hernandez owner and am now left scrambling to make sense of all of the prospects after Gronk/Graham, who are virtually ungettable. There are a lot of hopeful TE 1's this year but its been difficult deciding who to gamble on.

This is geared more toward dynasty but works in redraft as well.

Graham is obvious #1

Then Gronk is obvious #2

V. Davis definitely has risen up to the consensus #3, thanks To Crabtree and the whole lining up as a wr in camp thing.

Here's where it starts to get tough. In this next tier you gotta figure Gonzo has one last hurrah in him and Witten will continue to do what Witten does.

Then it's an absolute free for all IMO. I put Rudolph alone at the top of this tier due to his upside and nose for the end zone. He could be the #2 receiver for the Vikes this year.

After that IMO it's anyone of Bennett, Cook, Cameron, Gates, Olsen, Pettitgrew, Finley and Daniels. This is the tier that I believe needs more sorting out, for both me and the rest of the fantasy world.

Looking for clarity from the Pool. Any glaring omissions? How would you rank these guys and why?

 
1. Graham
2. Gronk
3. Witten
4. V. Davis

T5. Olsen

T5. Bennett

T5. Myers

T5. Pettigrew

9. Eifert

T10. Gresham

T10. Finley

 
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1A. Graham

1B. Gronk

.

.

.

.

3. Witten

.

4. Vernon

5. Olsen

6. Gonzalez

.

.

7. Gates (I think he has one last hurrah in him)

8. Finley

9. Daniels

10. Rudolph

 
I think Graham, WItten, Gronk would have to be the universal top 3 and probably in that order just because we pretty much know that Witten will be productive and will likely not miss time as where Gronk easily might.

After that, I think you can go Gonzo and Vernon and you'll be pretty much dead on.

After that, I think you can start talking Bennett, Finley, and Fleener (I know this will be wildly unpopular but I think in reality, all three of these guys are "right place, right time" situationally and I think the Olsens, Rudolphs, Cooks, etc have "what if scenarios that could hurt them).

 
I know he's the flavor of the week right now, but what about Dickson? Among the non-top 4, I think Jared Cook makes a tremendous leap this year. I dare say he could be in the Witten/Davis tier next year.

 
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I know he's the flavor of the week right now, but what about Dickson?
Standard 10-12 team redraft league where you're only required to start 1 TE, I'd consider Dickson WW material / bye week filler.

I personally won't be using a draft pick on him

 
Man, did Gates have one of the quietest low TE1 seasons EVER last year?

I didn't even realize that he finished TE13 last year...

 
Cook is a top 10 TE for me, and Brandon Myers is a TE2, as is Brandon Pettigrew! That said you could probably fit 15 guys in the 45-70 catches, 500-800 yds, 3-7 TD window, so it's basically a pick your favourites after the top 5 (Graham, Gronk, Witten, Gonzo, Davis) are off the board!

 
Graham

Gronk

Witten

Olsen

Gonzalez

Daniels

Cook

Davis

Bennett

Finley

Rudolph

Dickson

Cameron

Gates

Housler

Pettigrew

Myers

Fleener/Allen

Gresham

Keller

For me, once you get past Olsen and maybe Gonzalez, every TE has plenty of concerns. That big group is ranked roughly in my order of preference, but I consider them one large tier. The differences in how I evaluate them is worth much of a difference in draft cost. I might drop Dickson to the next group if Shiancoe actually looks like he's going to have an impact.

 
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Graham

Davis

Gronk

Witten

Gonzo

Olsen

Gates

Rudolph

Allen

Housler

Dickson

Cameron

Ausberry

Eiffert

Pettigrew

Also if Julius Thomas starts he will be in the 2nd tier some where.

 
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i do not see a lot of finley love in this thread but i think that the old guy whose name is like a shark fin will be pretty good and have a breakthrough year finally you heard it here first brohans because i think the running game will be better and that will eat up some lb attention so he will get open more take that to the bank brohans

 
Graham

Davis

Gronk

Witten

Gonzo

Olsen

Gates

Rudolph

Allen

Housler

Dickson

Cameron

Ausberry

Eiffert

Pettigrew

Also if Julius Thomas starts he will be in the 2nd tier some where.
Not sure any Broncos TE will be doing anything but picking up the pass protection with all the mouths to feed in DEN this year.

 
I'm surprised there's more love for Witten over Davis. I think Davis is in for a monster season with ridiculously high target numbers coming his way. I think more td's than Witten is also a given

 
I'm surprised there's more love for Witten over Davis. I think Davis is in for a monster season with ridiculously high target numbers coming his way. I think more td's than Witten is also a given
Any reason why? I think Davis is one of the best TEs in the NFL, but he is a blocker first and a receiver second, and he has a mediocre QB. They keep saying he will be a bigger part of the offense, but its always honey and lies.

 
Gresham might be on all my redraft teams if people are really ranking him as a TE outside the top 12.
Tyler Eifert can't be ignored. It's going to take a terrible camp from him--and he's looking like a star so far--to put Gresham on my board in anything but the deepest leagues. Eifert is better suited to being the move/WR-style TE on that offense and is definitely going to be part of the gameplan from the jump, putting a pretty tight ceiling on Gresham's opportunities. I would be surprised if Gresham cracked 50 receptions this year.

If the Bengals hadn't drafted Eifert, then I would have had Gresham around TE5 or 6.

 
1. Jimmy Graham

2. Rob Gronkowski

3. Vernon Davis

4. Jared Cook

5. Jason Witten

6. Tony Gonzalez

7. Ed Dickson

8. Antonio Gates

9. Greg Olsen

10. Kyle Rudolph

11. Jermichael Finley

12. Owen Daniels

13. Jordan Cameron

14. Martellus Bennett

15. Brandon Myers

I am obviously high on Cook this year, probably more so than anyone else. When you get to the bottom couple tiers, a lot of them are projected extremely close to each other for me.

 
1. Jimmy Graham

2. Rob Gronkowski

3. Vernon Davis

4. Jared Cook

5. Jason Witten

6. Tony Gonzalez

7. Ed Dickson

8. Antonio Gates

9. Greg Olsen

10. Kyle Rudolph

11. Jermichael Finley

12. Owen Daniels

13. Jordan Cameron

14. Martellus Bennett

15. Brandon Myers

I am obviously high on Cook this year, probably more so than anyone else. When you get to the bottom couple tiers, a lot of them are projected extremely close to each other for me.

same here. I love Rudolph this year too. Those 2 are going to be my TE and Flex players, hopefully.
 
I think Fleener/Allen are best used in optimum scoring leagues.

Here is my top 12:

Graham

Davis

Witten

Cook

Gronkowski

Olsen

Rudolph

Finley

Myers

Bennett

Daniels

Gonzo

I think Gates is done. I believe there are about 8 closely bunched in the next group.

 
Cameron should be ranked higher. I hate to call anything a lock, but with the history Chud and Turner have with TE's, I would think Olsen's 2012 numbers is at least close to a lock right?

 
Cameron should be ranked higher. I hate to call anything a lock, but with the history Chud and Turner have with TE's, I would think Olsen's 2012 numbers is at least close to a lock right?
I dunno that I'd call anything a lock when it's the Browns. Cameron's potential is why I put him in my cloud of guys from 5-12. Cleveland's second receiver by yardage last year only put up 647. Cameron's potential to be Olsen v2 with Chud in town gets him to the dance, but even a modest line of 55/650/5 would be an impressive jump.

I'd love to pair Cameron with Bennett or Daniels this year. I usually prefer to roster just one TE, but what I see as a large cluster of "maybe" guys means that burning an 11th and 12th rounder to get two shots at good numbers might be worth it.

 
I'm surprised there's more love for Witten over Davis. I think Davis is in for a monster season with ridiculously high target numbers coming his way. I think more td's than Witten is also a given
Looks like Witten will finally get more red zone looks again in addition to his usually high receiving yards.http://cowboysblog.dallasnews.com/2013/07/cowboys-day-10-team-finds-te-jason-witten-in-red-zone-s-barry-church-better-not-be-out-long.html/
Thanks for sharing that 3nOut. HUGE piece of news there. Witten regularly tops 90 rec. and flirts with 1,000 yds. The only thing keeping him from the Gronk/Graham tier has been the TD's. Look out if he starts getting some red zone love.

 
I'm surprised there's more love for Witten over Davis. I think Davis is in for a monster season with ridiculously high target numbers coming his way. I think more td's than Witten is also a given
Witten is a top PPR TE machine every year. What's not to love? Vernon Davis is awesome, but they underuse him a lot. Sure, there is all of this talk about how they will use him more this year, but I am guessing I am one of many who is taking the "I'll believe it when I see it" approach. Remember how so many thought Davis would go nuts last year after his beastly 2011 playoff performance? Then he came out and had a whopping 41-548-5.

 
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We Tigers said:
zilladog said:
Cameron should be ranked higher. I hate to call anything a lock, but with the history Chud and Turner have with TE's, I would think Olsen's 2012 numbers is at least close to a lock right?
I dunno that I'd call anything a lock when it's the Browns. Cameron's potential is why I put him in my cloud of guys from 5-12. Cleveland's second receiver by yardage last year only put up 647. Cameron's potential to be Olsen v2 with Chud in town gets him to the dance, but even a modest line of 55/650/5 would be an impressive jump.

I'd love to pair Cameron with Bennett or Daniels this year. I usually prefer to roster just one TE, but what I see as a large cluster of "maybe" guys means that burning an 11th and 12th rounder to get two shots at good numbers might be worth it.
I'm skeptical of Cleveland's TE Jordan Cameron for one very specific reason, his ability to stay healthy.

The reason you state is bogus that everyone should automatically discount or downgrade every player from the Browns simply because they are on the Browns, what an idiottic take and one I take exception with.

Last year, in Pat Shurmer's West Coast Offense, the Cleveland Browns TEs lined up in the slot 61 times while at the same time the San Deigo Chargers TEs, coached by new Browns Offensive Coordinator, lined up their TEs in the slot over 300 times.

The Cleveland front office didn't sign any high priced TEs in free agency or take any TEs in the draft so the plan is to use TE Jordan Cameron as the starter and he has the, size, speed, atheleticism, etc, to handle the full-time job but his problem in the past was simply staying healthy enough to line up consistently.

We've heard the moronic statements like RB Trent Richardson won't amount to anything because he was taken by the Browns or you can write off WR Josh Gordon because he is going to the Browns, so don't peddle the BS that TE Jordan Cameron won't amount to anything because he's playing on the Browns. I think its reasonable to question whether or not he can remain healthy because that has been his issue for the last couple of years.

If anything being the primary TE in a Norv Turner offense without top-notch competition and a workhorse RB like Trent Richardson and young WRs on the outside and a top-flight offensive line protection an inexperienced QB would put Cameron's name up much higher but already he's had nagging injuries so the biggest issue is whether or not he can consistently stay healthy.

If he can consistently remain healthy then he should produce top-ten fantasy numbers but I question his durability.

The fact he plays for the Browns right now with everything pointing to huge numbers for the starting TE is by itself a huge positive not a negative. I'm responding to that specific argument which is bogus and no relevancy whatsoever. Cameron's primary issue is durability.

 
Gresham might be on all my redraft teams if people are really ranking him as a TE outside the top 12.
Tyler Eifert can't be ignored. It's going to take a terrible camp from him--and he's looking like a star so far--to put Gresham on my board in anything but the deepest leagues. Eifert is better suited to being the move/WR-style TE on that offense and is definitely going to be part of the gameplan from the jump, putting a pretty tight ceiling on Gresham's opportunities. I would be surprised if Gresham cracked 50 receptions this year.

If the Bengals hadn't drafted Eifert, then I would have had Gresham around TE5 or 6.
Dalton isn't Brady and Eifert and Gresham both aren't Hernandez or Gronk - but they are the closest thing in this league. Its entirely possible and I expect Gresham and Eifert to be on the field at the same time. Those miss matches with Green, Hawkins and Sanu can't be ignored. Kind of bold at this point but as I suggested above, I like both of their chances to finish in the top 10.

 
We Tigers said:
zilladog said:
Cameron should be ranked higher. I hate to call anything a lock, but with the history Chud and Turner have with TE's, I would think Olsen's 2012 numbers is at least close to a lock right?
I dunno that I'd call anything a lock when it's the Browns. Cameron's potential is why I put him in my cloud of guys from 5-12. Cleveland's second receiver by yardage last year only put up 647. Cameron's potential to be Olsen v2 with Chud in town gets him to the dance, but even a modest line of 55/650/5 would be an impressive jump.I'd love to pair Cameron with Bennett or Daniels this year. I usually prefer to roster just one TE, but what I see as a large cluster of "maybe" guys means that burning an 11th and 12th rounder to get two shots at good numbers might be worth it.
Big straw man rant about Cleveland
Whoa, there. I use "the Browns" as shorthand for them being an awful team last year, the year before that, and the year before that, which is not exactly a controversial point. I don't think Brandon Weeden is even an average NFL QB and thus remain skeptical about the upper limit of this offense, even with two new coaches. I don't ascribe some magic quality of "lol Cleveland" to the reason they're a bad team; it's all right there in the past 48-64 games.Remember, I believe Cameron's going to have a very nice season, and Josh Gordon, too, but calling anyone a lock for anything involving Brandon Weeden, he of the 6.55 YPA (27/32 last year), is perhaps an improper assessment of risk.

 
We Tigers said:
zilladog said:
Cameron should be ranked higher. I hate to call anything a lock, but with the history Chud and Turner have with TE's, I would think Olsen's 2012 numbers is at least close to a lock right?
I dunno that I'd call anything a lock when it's the Browns. Cameron's potential is why I put him in my cloud of guys from 5-12. Cleveland's second receiver by yardage last year only put up 647. Cameron's potential to be Olsen v2 with Chud in town gets him to the dance, but even a modest line of 55/650/5 would be an impressive jump.I'd love to pair Cameron with Bennett or Daniels this year. I usually prefer to roster just one TE, but what I see as a large cluster of "maybe" guys means that burning an 11th and 12th rounder to get two shots at good numbers might be worth it.
Big straw man rant about Cleveland
Whoa, there. I use "the Browns" as shorthand for them being an awful team last year, the year before that, and the year before that, which is not exactly a controversial point. I don't think Brandon Weeden is even an average NFL QB and thus remain skeptical about the upper limit of this offense, even with two new coaches. I don't ascribe some magic quality of "lol Cleveland" to the reason they're a bad team; it's all right there in the past 48-64 games.Remember, I believe Cameron's going to have a very nice season, and Josh Gordon, too, but calling anyone a lock for anything involving Brandon Weeden, he of the 6.55 YPA (27/32 last year), is perhaps an improper assessment of risk.
Jordan Cameron will make it or fail based on him.

Your take is don't take him due to your false assumption that past Browns teams automatically dictate his current situation and production.

Bad QBs or bad teams automatically dictate TE production? Talk about a straw man argument.

http://www.waitingfornextyear.com/2013/07/worrying-about-the-browns-tight-end-position-after-week-one-of-training-camp/

At Monday night’s practice in Berea, Kellen Davis, Jordan Cameron and Gary Barnidge all caught touchdown passes in 11-on-11 red zone drills. It may have been the first sign of life for the group since training camp began. When asked if getting the tight ends involved was by design for the evening practice, Rob Chudzinski said it was not the case.

“Not intentional,” he said. “Those guys are good threats and real good targets down there in those tight spaces. We have a couple guys that have good hands and are weapons down there that we can utilize. It just came up that the coverages and the routes matched. Those guys got the opportunities today.”
Actually Jordan Cameron caught 2 TDs in practice but my concern of him being durable will have to be proven or disproven over the course of the season.

Early camp practices are difficult to judge for interior line assessments but the play of other positions with indivual matchups such as DBs and WRs/TEs or indivual talent such as how the QBs are throwing are easier to begin to see.

You can see who is being lined up in certain positions and how the depth chart is shaping up.

Weeden was a rookie last year, anyone who has already written him off based off his rookie season where he set a club record for passing yardage and highest QB passer rating for a single game has an issue just as people who would automatically write off a player due to them being from a certain team who they don't follow and really don't know about.

Jordan Cameron is looking really good in camp and reports are that Weeden is looking good too but Cameron has a lot to prove specifically that he can hold up over the course of the season. That is the primary thing he needs to prove IMHO and that is the reason why I'm skeptical about him and why I haven't jumped on his bandwagon.

 
I don't know whose posts you're reading, or why you're ascribing to me arguments I haven't made. As stated, I am firmly in the "draft Jordan Cameron!" camp, but I don't think that makes him a "lock" for TE5.

Weeden was a rookie last year, anyone who has already written him off based off his rookie season where he set a club record for passing yardage and highest QB passer rating for a single game has an issue just as people who would automatically write off a player due to them being from a certain team who they don't follow and really don't know about.
I don't really care about anomalous metrics like "best rookie QB rating in a single game for this franchise" when evaluating a player. I think he may improve in his second year, especiallynwitj better coaches, but I also think he's closer to a finished product than other 2nd year players due to his age, and I haven't been impressed with him.(As a sidenote, I don't know what passer rating stat you're looking at where Weeden has the best of anything. Just looking at recent history, Colt McCoy had a better overall passer rating his rookie year, and a better single game, too. I don't think he was a very good pro QB either.)

 
We Tigers said:
I don't know whose posts you're reading, or why you're ascribing to me arguments I haven't made. As stated, I am firmly in the "draft Jordan Cameron!" camp, but I don't think that makes him a "lock" for TE5.

Weeden was a rookie last year, anyone who has already written him off based off his rookie season where he set a club record for passing yardage and highest QB passer rating for a single game has an issue just as people who would automatically write off a player due to them being from a certain team who they don't follow and really don't know about.
I don't really care about anomalous metrics like "best rookie QB rating in a single game for this franchise" when evaluating a player. I think he may improve in his second year, especiallynwitj better coaches, but I also think he's closer to a finished product than other 2nd year players due to his age, and I haven't been impressed with him.(As a sidenote, I don't know what passer rating stat you're looking at where Weeden has the best of anything. Just looking at recent history, Colt McCoy had a better overall passer rating his rookie year, and a better single game, too. I don't think he was a very good pro QB either.)
You brought up the history of the team as if it had bearing on the player TE Jordan Cameron. It doesn't.

Then you shift to QB Brandon Weeden and bring up a stat on average per pass play as if its written in stone, its not.

In Weeden's first game he had the lowest QB passer rating in club history and many wrote him off after that first game. The next week? He had the highest rookie QB passer rating in club history so those who lept off the ledge looked foolish for their knee-jerk, premature, over reaction.

If you think Weeden's low average per pass is significant then you are discounting the following which lead directly to that statistic that you feel is not anomous.

Last year's HC Pat Shurmer was hand-picked by former team president Mike Holmgren because he was a West Coast deciple. Shurmer's WCO is built on short-horizontal dink-and-dunk passing plays. Weeden is a big strong armed QB. His skill set did not it fit. The Browns O-Line has the best OLTs, C, ORT, and two solid guards, it is one of the best pass protecting offensive lines in the league so their strongest attribute of pass protecting was wasted in a WCO with quick drops and short passes. Not only did the WCO fail to take advantage of Weeden's and the O-Line's strongest skill it failed their big-tall-athletic WRs like Greg Little (6'2 215 lb) and Josh Gordon (6'3 225) who fit the vert-stretch routes better where their height and speed and athleticism are tailor made for that system.

Add that Weeden was a rookie, RB Trent Richardson was a rookie (first time in the NFL that both the QB AND the RB started their carreers in the same game) add RT Mitchell Schwartz was also a rookie starting his very first game. Then factor in that WR Josh Gordon started after the first three games and that WR Greg Little was in his second year as a starter which meant the entire skill positions of the Browns were manned by rookies or second year guys.

The position hampered the most by rookie skill position mistakes would be the QB adding to the difficulty of his own rookie learning curve. The cherry on top is the team was transferrring ownership which meant the coaches and the front office were all lame ducks and that pressure and uncertainty trickled down to the players especially after Team President Mike Holmgren left the team in the middle of the season after the ownership was approved by the rest of the NFL.

New owner Jimmy Haslam brought in Joe Banner who fired the entire staff and top personnell people the minute the season ended and they hired new coaches, GM, OC, DC, etc. The guy they hired to revamp the offense is Norv Turner whose philosophy is the polar opposite of Holmgren/Shumur's WCO..

Norv Turner is one of the best OCs in recent NFL history and he runs a vertical-stretch offense which fit the personnel of the Cleveland Browns to a T.

TE Jordan Cameron came in three years ago as a very raw rookie TE making the transition from a college basketball who only had 12 college receptions. He had low production his rookie season and many thought he was learning and that he could make a leap last year but last year he was overshadowed by veteran TE Ben Watson. Jordan did improve on is production but faded into the background and never really stepped up. Some saw his low production as a sign he was not being aggressive enough but I observed he would make a great play and the trend was soon thereafter he'd come up limping or strain something and be limited for a few weeks until the cycle would start over.

Already in mini-camp he pulled up lame with a hammy. Not a good sign IMHO.

My take is Jordan Cameron has to prove he is durable. He might step-up since he's got the skill and now he has a golden opporunity but from my perspectie as someone who closely follows the team and knows the player and his stiuation the major obstical that I've seen holding him back from him having solid production is durabilty.

 
Assuming no Gronk;

Graham, Witten, Davis and then everyone else, seriously. :)

I'd wait to grab a te flyer if I did not land any of the above.

PPR

 
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