Tight Ends...The new PK/Def (1 Viewer)

[NFL-ons]

One lesson I learned my first year playing ff was to reserve your last two picks in a draft for picking up a Def and a PK.

This year was the year of the TE ... the deepest TE class yet. There was no reason to draft a projected top 4 TE early because there was so much quality available late .... BAH! One league this year Witten was sitting there @ 6.07 so I traded up to get him. I never draft a TE early but have been and will be riding him all the way to the bank! In all my other leagues I am scouring the waiver wire for a weekly TE like years past. Not that there is anything wrong with that, I was just hoping I would not have to spend that energy this year.

Just like Team Def/St and Pk, TE is an intergral part of football and as such demands a role in FF. However, when it comes to drafting for the position, I am beginning to think I should not use any pick let alone a 8th, 9th, or 10th rounder on a TE but wait until the 3rd to the last round and just flip a coin like I do with my PK.

Who's on board with me?

 

[beto]

I don't think so. Guys like HMiller and ODaniels were available pretty late.

Unless you had a guy like Fasano pegged as a sleeper. ;-)

Not a great year for TEs so far other than Witten.

 

[chuckmorris]

Count me out, at least if your league gives points for receptions (like mine does). Elite WR's and RB's have to be given top priority, but serviceable WR's will still be available later. Once the TE's start to go though, those worth grabbing disappear quickly, leaving only the dregs. Last year, Witten/Winslow gave me reliable production at TE which most lacked, and that was a huge advantage that helped me win the title. This year, seeing Witten still on the board at 04.07, taking him was a no-brainer, and his production so far (avg. 18.2/week) justifies the pick easily. Daniels at 12.07 was also worth the pick based on his production (avg. 10.7/week), but he will sit on my bench except as a bye/injury replacement. If I had to depend on the TE's available on waivers week to week, odds are I'd never get more than low single digits out of the TE slot all year.

 

[bshell27]

Depends on format but for my league Non PPR 10 yds per point rush/rec, I wait until 12th or later for a TE. Helped me win both my leagues last year. There is not too big of a dropoff of Fantasy points to warrant a 4th or 5th round pick. Stock up on RB's and WR's. That way if there is a bust, you are covered. Unless you like the extra 5 points max extra per week.

 

[Skilo]

Depends on format but for my league Non PPR 10 yds per point rush/rec, I wait until 12th or later for a TE. Helped me win both my leagues last year. There is not too big of a dropoff of Fantasy points to warrant a 4th or 5th round pick. Stock up on RB's and WR's. That way if there is a bust, you are covered. Unless you like the extra 5 points max extra per week.

Unless you grab the Top 2 TE early, I wait until after I pick a Def. Def scores me more points than a TE everytime unless I had the likes of Witten. And I dont grab a Def until really late, maybe 9th at the earliest. I was able to grab Tenn and Buffalo this year and Daniels, while everyone else grabbed the sexier picks earlier in the draft. Those positions arent the crutch to my team, but they're not killing me either.

 

[Bluesbomber]

I ussuallly draft a Te late unless value presents itself like at all positons. I have been a VBD proponent since I first ran across it in a magazine and found the predecessor of this board.

This year was extremely deep at TE and was going to do almost exactly what you proposed unless but I got timed out looking for Brandon Marshall who was picked and I must have forgot to highlight him. The MFL prepick gave me Gonzo. Not bad but I was still loading on wr's and rb's at the time and my TE target is still on FA going in to week 6.

I digress.

Anyway fanatasy football success is based on preparation, getting value in your draft and luck in my opinion. You must put yourself in a position to succeed (skill and preparation) by drafting wisely and hope your players stay healthy (luck) and play comparably to your expectations or exceed them.

To limit how you draft by set rules can limit your potential by allowing Championship level difference makers to fall to other teams at any positon even D, K or TE.

K is a crapshoot due to many variable such as good high scoring teams getting more ep's than fg's and meiocre teams getting more fg's due to an inability to seal teh deal in the red zone.

D's can have a huge impact when you have ST guys like Devin Hester et al on a team that promotes TO's and D Td's to pass one up for a player who is iffy is not always the best thing either.

TE is actually a position on the offense and if you can get WR procuction at a position while your opponet's are not it is a huge factor in winning championships.

Going into this season, yes I agree TE was so deep and I was going to employ the strategy you propose FOR THIS SEASON but once this season's wealth of TE's shake out their might again be a bucket of difference maker's sitting at the top of the heap to target earlier than the last roster spot IF THEY PROVIDE VALUE.

In summation don't be so locked into a style of drafting that may limit your success. Good Luck.

Sorry for a little shouting but I wanted my main points to stick out due the length of this post. Go Bears.

 

[packersfan]

Going into this season, yes I agree TE was so deep

I thought the position was deep before the season too. Turns out I was wrong. Very wrong. This is a position where there's very little value with the lower-rated guys and huge value with the higher-rated ones. Witten is the best guy but even someone like Dallas Clark is a gigantic improvement over the lower-rated guys. Going forward, I very well may alter my strategy and take one of the top guys. There's comfort in knowing they'll produce most weeks instead of waiting and hoping a sleeper like Zach Miller produces (which he hasn't) or playing the WW and hoping you get Heath Miller in Week 5 and not Week 4.

 

[Bluesbomber]

I am in an 8 team league and a 3rd of the way into the season 6 of 12 top te's are FA and the difference between te 30 and 9 is 2 pts. This is a TD heavy league without ppr. average good score is 30 to 40 points. Difference between the 8th and top TE is about a 1.5 a week and difference between 4th and 8th is a little over .5 a week. To me this is pretty deep TE production. We charge 5 bux a pu for FA pickups so there is strong considereation to who you pickup and not weekly lineup adjustments via FA and waiver wire .

 

[packersfan]

One thing that jumps out at me is how several TEs are ranked high because of one big game. Heath Miller, for example, did nothing in the first four games but was great in Week 5. So what if you started him in any of the first four and got zip and didn't start him in Week 5? The position isn't looking so good to you if that was the case. Same with Zach Miller. Decent in Week 1. Worthless in Weeks 2 and 3 and then went gonzo in Week 4. It's great if you started him that week, but if you started him in Weeks 2 and 3 he killed you. Rosario hasn't done anything since the first game so those owners who grabbed him off the WW after his big Week 1 got zip out of the TE position whenever they started him.

 

[cvnpoka]

usually there are 2-3 te that are leaps ahead of the pack. if you can snag witten or gates at spot you deem worth it then go ahead. in previous years winslow, and dallas clark fit into this category too. shockey and cooley have fallen in between the elite and the pack over the last few years too.

as for draft postion, i think gates and witten have in general been drafted at the proper spot. cooley has been of value in past drafts, but i think he went too high in most leagues this year. likewise clark and winslow but injuries and poor team play have hampered them. i think shockey has been consistently drafted too high.

drafting a guy like vernon davis, or owen daniels or heath miller, or alex smith in mid rounds is a bad play.

 

[Bluesbomber]

I totally agree with everything being said pretty much. I was planning on taking a late round te since we are so td heavy and yardage isn't much of a factor. At this point I just might get a TE for my bye week this week since there are some very good ones. I accidently got a upper tier TE rather than more depth at the TD heavy skill positions. The up and down scoring of the other TE's would have been appropriate for a 14th 15th or 16th round pick.

Getting Witten I would have probably had to draft before my 3rd RB and 1st Qb which I wasn't going to do. I think I stumbled into Gonzo in about 10th or 11th round and my top positions already had solid depth established. I still was not planning on drafting a TE until very late but per above post.

edit to add italicised phrase