This has to be the most rookie tight ends ever taken in one of these right? Is that the 4th one?
I count ASJ, Amaro, and Ebron. I'd guess that Eifert, Ertz, and Kelce went in some PDSLs last year, but maybe not the WSLa.
Good crop of TEs this year. A few like Niklas and others can be productive too.
Rookie TEs rarely do anything fantasy noteworthy is my point I guess. Other than Dwayne Allen in 2012 (45 catches 542 yards 3 tds) and Gronk in 2010 (42 catches 546 yards and 10 tds) I can't think of many others that even registered a blip in the last 10 years. I get they are lottery tickets but as the 15th TE off the board I don't see much room for upside.
On the one hand I see your point. And agree with it, incidentally - and not just for TEs but for the rookies in general where they've been drafted. Which explains why I don't have any of them on my roster as of now.
On the other, how likely is Fleener to put up a bust-out TE1-type season? Or Cook, or Ertz, or most of the other TEs who went in that general range? If it's a lottery ticket you're looking for, might as well take a stab at someone who might be the next Gronk in year 1, rather than choose from a handful of guys who've already spent between 1 and 5 seasons demonstrating that they're not.
(Incidentally, I think Ertz *can* be that kind of bust-out candidate and would have taken him there over EE, but don't see anyone else on the board then who I'd say the same about.)