Target These Second Year TEs ✅ 2026 Fantasy Football

It's not hyperbole to say that a few of the names that we'll talk about today could define, could define the entire fantasy football season. A whole new wave of tight ends is among us. Hayden, they are taking over the league. Out the UNs and Travis Kelce and Mark Andrews in fresh blood, new blood. And uh, as you said, prior to us hitting record, this is an awesome group of second-year titans.

>> Yeah, it kicks ass. There's some potential absolute superstars at the top, and then even that next cohort of players, I think are going to be really quality uh, role players with a chance to kind of blossom. Maybe not necessarily this year, there's some guys that are getting in the way, but long-term, there can be some real receiving weapons out there. And you mentioned Kelsey. I think one of the guys at the very top really reminds me of Travis Kelce, which is insane to say, but I think he's here to come.

>> This is breakouts week. We've already talked about the quarterbacks, which was an also fascinating group. We have running backs and wide receivers either already up on the channel that you can watch right now or coming here in the next few days. So, this is the time for all of you to get ahead in your fantasy leagues, and the best way of doing that, totally free. Hit that subscribe button and uh, tune in to the show the rest of the summer.

Now, many of you are also going to say that two of the 10 most productive rookie seasons at tight end means that these players have already broken out. Uh, and that doesn't even include the tight end one that's being drafted from this class in your drafts right now. But I also think there's like a tick that these players can even reach even more than they put out during their rookie year. So, we're going to include all the names, all of them here in this second-year tight end breakout show.

And we'll kick things off with Coulson Loveland, who already being selected as the tight end three in the NFL right now, the 10th pick of the fourth round. What did you see when reviewing his rookie tape?

I think Coulson Lovelin's on pace to be an all-pro player. I think that he is easily the best tight end in this draft class. He's the one that reminds me of Travis Kelce as a receiver, and I will not discredit what he does as a run blocker, which is to me, very underrated. He can play the inline stuff. They have Cole Kady as the the other tight end here. They're going to have a third blocking tight end. Coulson Loveland moves like a wide receiver, and that's what makes him so special. He's fast. There were moments against it was Quay Walker on an out route, uh, just runs right by him in man coverage. Kyle Dugger, right by him. Kyle Dugger's one of the most athletic uh, safeties out there. Same thing with Quay Walker at linebacker. He'll run down the seam, catch passes, yards after the catch-wise, bouncing off uh, Bengals defenders for long touchdowns. Uh, and then I also think that he can get in and out of his breaks with that wiggle that we see with Travis Kelce. I thought he had a really good connection with Caleb Williams in the scramble drill. There was one play where it was offsides. He knew that, okay, now I'm going to run my downfield route. Caleb Williams was running to the right. He breaks off his route, goes back to the route uh, right side for a long touchdown. On top of that, I was trying to find negative notes on the Coulson Loveland film, and I really couldn't find them. And once he started playing in the back half of the year, he was the Bears' best skill player. I'm expecting that to be the case. Coulson Love's too cheap. Every single time he's in the fourth round, I want to draft him.

>> As you said, he was really eased into the lineup until about week seven. And then from week seven to 17, he was the tight end six in points per game. And he was our tight end one heading into last NFL draft, despite so much conversation being around Tyler Warren. And it's because, I mean, he makes you so multiple and versatile on offense. I mean, he gives you a numbers advantage on any given snap. And that means you can go, you know, gun four wide with him and empty also. And then he can be the full speed man in motion into a stack like you see with wide receivers. He moves like a wide receiver. But then what really gets you going is when you get into these heavier personnel groupings. And sure, that's what all the conversation has been all this offseason, all the NFL draft, and will be this summer. But the Bears have already showed you sneak peeks of what they can do. And in those moments, he is the featured player. I mean, there's a 13 personnel look again with shifts and motions against the Dallas Cowboys. He goes to the right side. Cole Kady goes to fullback. Darnell Washington runs off the coverage on a pure vertical clear route. Level the game route. And that opens up space for a 31-yard corner route. Uh, then red zone 3x1 set, down by three, third down. You can also isolate him versus a cornerback. He just shoves him off and catches a touchdown easily into the heart of the defense. And it's not just these three tight end looks. It can also be two tight ends plus a sixth offensive lineman. I mean, you pair someone with like Coulson Loveland with this size, this movement, and a willingness to play with some power and strength to his game, too. Attached to a mad genius in Ben Johnson, that's just cooking up ways to accentuate a player like this, and it's a match made in heaven that gives us like, I'm not going to say an unlimited ceiling here when it comes to tight end production, but a real out that is rare that the tight end is the most productive pass catcher on an NFL team.

>> From week eight on, he, that was the first game when he had over 75% of the snaps, he was averaging 64 yards per game. He was the tight end four on tight end three expected points. That includes, includes the playoffs. And then including the last four games with the playoffs, 97 yards per game, 18.2 expected half PPR points. Remember, he is a 21-year-old doing this. He's going to be 22 out there. So, this is not some later breakout guy. This is somebody that's really young, was supposed to be a baller, and was easily the best Bears pass catcher when all of the games match. You just see his last four or five games of the season, including those playoffs, was just outstanding stuff. So, if you look at like the projections on Underdog, those yards and those touchdowns, six and a half touchdowns, almost 900 receiving yards, almost identical to what we have with Brock Bowers and then Trey McBride here. He just gets priced 20 spots lower than those guys. And that's where I think he becomes the bargain of the three. I really appreciate all three of these guys. I think they're the three best tight ends in football, assuming Kelce is recovering from his injury. Coulson Loveland is going to be an all-pro, and I think that's going to happen as soon as this year. I don't love the running backs as we have talked about in round four. I do like a number of these wide receivers. Uh, but Coulson Loveland here as a fourth-round pick makes total sense. I mean, you can draft him easily as a cornerstone piece of your fantasy team in a onesie spot where only you know, one quarterback is being selected in these top four rounds. Uh, and I think have extreme, extreme confidence in it. Hopefully, you all tune in to the show that I did with Ryan Heath last week where we talked about how these personnel groupings funnel targets to premier pass catchers. Um, go and watch Coulson Loveland's rookie tape and you see it. It is personified. It is exemplified in that because a lot of these heavier personnel, either 13 or 12 plus six offensive linemen stuff, turns into just two-man routes down the field, and one is a clear out, and then one is an over or some type of breaking route. And oftentimes the wide receiver is the clear out, and Loveland is the one that is running away from coverage behind him. So these plays are set up for Coulson Loveland to have success. And again, you can utilize him and change the formation and change the numbers however you want to. It's just an uncommon pairing of fluidity and and strength. And it's uncommon underlying metrics that that produces, too. I mean, Ryan pointed out that when the Bears had three tight ends on the field, which they have an even better three tight end set this year with Sam LaPorta involved, he averaged an absurd 4.66 yards per route run and 53% market share. Now, that might only happen about 15% of the time this year in 13 personnel. But >> sure, >> that 15% of the time statistically is better than anyone else out there in the NFL.

>> Yeah. And the way that they use him in those three tight end sets is he's standing up, operating as a wide receiver. So, it's only like three tight end sets by name, he's moving like a wide receiver out there. Also, really quick, if you want to turn on the Saints game, just completely pancakes Carl Granderson. He's like a 265-pound defensive end. Uh, isolated. So, the the ground game, he's very, very strong down there. Uh, and he, this was him coming off of an offseason, remember, where he had the draft, was not able to participate because of a shoulder injury, shows up to training camp, and that's why the first month of the season felt slow. Now we got an entire normal offseason where he's not participating in the draft, not recovering from from surgery, and you removed AJ Moore, and now Ben Johnson, who's the guy that drafted Coulson Loveland, top 10, has the foundation in the tape to be like, "Yeah, this guy looks like a top 10 overall pick at tight end." So, I I'm really expecting Coulson Loveland to lead the Bears in all receiving categories this year. And I would not be surprised if this year's Trey McBride, somebody that we know is very good at football, that takes that next leap. I would not be surprised if Coulson Loveland kind of reaches that tier.

>> We'll put a pin in the Coulson Loveland versus Darnell Washington conversation because the Bears love having both, but you on your fantasy roster almost certainly can only have one because they're about five picks apart there in in the middle of the fifth round. I posed this question to Brian and I'll pose it to you after you went back and watched all the Bears stuff. You know, we rarely see a team live out of 12 personnel or live in heavier sets and be above a 50% mark. You mentioned that, you know, TJ Moore is gone. They did not replace him with really any semblance of a third wide receiver on this team. Do you think the majority of the Bears plays this year will be out of these heavier personnel sets?

>> Yeah, I've done the like projections myself. I I think around 50% would make sense. That's like 12 personnel plus 13 personnel uh together there. Six offensive linemen and two tight ends and all that stuff.

>> Right? And I think the most important part, and we both posted clips on this, is that when he's in that, he's running his route 15, 25 yards down the field. Like, this is not him.

>> 31-yard games, like back-to-back 31-yard games when it's out of, you know, heavier sets.

>> There's dink and dunk, I'm in the flats tight ends, and then there's the Coulson Loveland types, the George Kittle's who are working way down the field. There's different levels of this play action stuff, and Coulson Loveland is on the fun side. And like when you talk about red zone and those areas of the field too, like this play against the New Orleans Saints stands out to me where they show six and a pressure. So it's hat on a hat on the outside, and all he simply does is run at a defensive back, use his size two yards beyond the sticks on a third down play and just, you know, seamlessly picks up a first down. He can be, I think, more and more trusted in that area. I'm trying to pull up his red zone numbers this year. Yeah, I mean, he was only targeted only 14 times inside of the red zone this year. That's the same number as like A.J. Brown, the same number as DK Metcalf, the same number as like Quentin Johnston this past season. And so, as you said, what really unlocked the Trey McBride ceiling was, you know, his quarterback actually targeting him and throwing him accurate footballs inside the 10 and inside the 20-yard line. And I think that's not just a volume thing, but also what we can get an outcome here where, you know, he doubles his red zone touchdowns from four last year to eight this season.

>> Yeah. And to be clear, like Trey McBride's stats are going to be almost impossible to replicate here just because everything kind of fell into place here. The Bears are going to be too good. There's too much competition around Coulson Loveland for him to like, you know, have that level of season. But just like on tape and like what they're providing for the offense, I do think is very similar. And compare that to Trey McBride last year, 32 targets inside the red zone, 19 catches, 10 touchdowns in that area. Sweet.

Okay, the next tight end in your fantasy drafts is actually also a rookie, but it is two rounds later, and that is Tyler Warren, the tight end four, 65th overall, the fifth pick in the sixth round. What did you see? What were your takeaways after watching his rookie season stuff?

Very clearly a quality player. He's 256 pounds, and there's some moments where he just looks way more athletic than somebody at that size. Like there was a couple times where he's more of the leak him out, catch the ball and make somebody miss initially type rather than like winning with like true speed. Though he's not slow by any means. He's kind of a creative player that Shane Steichen and I definitely very obviously was scheming up plays for, as they should, because he's that type of player. And then second to all that, he is a decent enough blocker. He's got a lot of mass. I thought that he was maybe a little bit overrated in that department, but because he's 256 pounds, he's not going to leave the field. So, for fantasy purposes, he has the two skill sets where he's getting manufactured touches and he's not coming off the field. That gives him a tight end one floor. We saw that especially early on the season when uh, uh, he had Daniel Jones healthy for the first 13 weeks, 54 yards per game. He was the tight end six on tight end three usage during that span. Those last five games with Daniel Jones, he's playing through that injury, only 41 yards per game, and then without Daniel Jones, that dropped to 30. So, we have these crazy splits with Tyler Warren that we should care about. And then on top of that, they lose Michael Pittman, who operates in the same exact place that Tyler Warren does. There's less downfield stuff with Tyler Warren than we see with Coulson Loveland. A lot of it's really within the first 10 yards. And that's really how he was used at Penn State, too, where I thought he wasn't the greatest route runner. He was just so physically gifted. uh, and unique that you can just keep uh, uh, scheming him the ball up. I don't see how that's going to change with the Colts. Like I think they're just going to double down on that, and I feel very good about him.

I'm not going to rank Tyler Warren any higher than the tight end four with how everything is standing right now. But you could easily make an argument, and I would make one, that he might be the best value in terms of in the sixth round for what I think the opportunity he's going to have and how much that really can expand. And already as a rookie, how much he was a focal point of what the Colts want to do. Just from an individual standpoint, he is fearless. You know, he's strong, he absorbs contact, he wants to be the hammer after the catch, too. I would say he's probably their best screen guy. It's what you pointed out with his yards after catch and his fluidity. I mean, there were multiple times against the Denver Broncos where he made linebackers in space just grab air and just totally whiff. It's not necessarily like the pop-off-the-screen athleticism that you see with him. It's it's more that it's compact movements. Um, and again, he just gets north and south. And I think he has a pretty nice feel for for the position, too. But what I love that Shane Steichen did was, you know, you motion him into fullback, or you insert through the line of scrimmage with him. There were tons of plays where he was like the chip and release guy, where the momentum of the play on heavy play action was going in one direction, and he was the only pass catcher going in the opposite. Now, sometimes it was the A-dot on that like two or three yards, sure. But there were so many plays where three downfield routes were going to the right, and he was the only player going to the left, and everything was designed for him and just getting him on those gimmies. The hey, the ball is going to you on this play, and we can line you up in a whole bunch of different directions. And that was with the three-plus wide receivers that they had on the team last year. And now you remove Michael Pittman Jr. Uh, Tyler Warren, again, already has a top 10 rookie season from a production profile under his belt, ever in NFL history, but, you know, 76 catches for 817 yards and four touchdowns. I can see the touchdowns going up to eight, and I can see the receiving yards going up to at least a thousand this year.

>> Yeah, all that chip and release, leak him out, screen stuff. I think he was second or he was first in first downs on screens with eight of them and only trailed Trey McBride in yards off of screens uh, at the position. I think it's just like simply like he's just a pain in the ass to tackle, 256 pounds, and he can get his foot in the dirt just enough where he's kind of bouncing off guys. Like I think it's almost as simple as that. It's nothing like crazy like Brock Bowers after the catch, you're like, wow, like this is this is remarkable stuff. Tyler Warren, it's like a tier below that, but still very effective. And then I think that as a route runner, I would put him more solid than elite. He talked about this in an interview that the number one thing he's looking for is he needs to have more uh, speed and explosiveness coming out of his breaks. And I think if you, when we went back and watched the tape, there was very few like ins and outs on his tape and slants where he was creating a bunch of separation. Like we said, all of his, not all, but a lot of the production is the manufactured touch variety. I still think that's that's totally fine, but I do think there's a difference. And this is how we saw it as prospects. Coulson Loveland out in like the real route is just operating at a different level than Tyler Warren. And that's totally fine. We don't have to compare him to Coulson for the rest of their careers. Coulson Love just might be that big of a freak.

>> Yeah. I mean, I feel like you and I were fighting against the narrative that Tyler Warren was the clear-cut tight end one entering the class. And so, we spent so much time talking about Coulson Loveland, where I don't want that to overshadow in my mind how good, how solid Tyler Warren was from, you know, week one of the preseason until the final week of the regular season of his rookie year. Because while, you know, it was a slow buildup a bit for Coulson Loveland, Warren was an integral piece of this team from, you know, snap number one to the final snap of the season. You mentioned Michael Pittman, and I did too. Um, the Colts last year were top six in RPOs across the league. Michael Pittman, if I did the numbers correctly, was also top six in RPO targets across the league last year. And we've also seen that with other quarterbacks, not just Daniel Jones, with like Anthony Richardson, for example, with the Colts, too. Who are those going to go to this year? Not Alec Pierce, you know, that's not his game. He's also been injured all summer long. Josh Downs, are we even sure that he's going to be out there in two wide receiver sets? That's not 100% certain. Those are probably going to go to Tyler Warren. And you can split him out in that same section of the field. They have enough like at least tight end bodies out there, too. And look, I'm not expecting his route participation to climb infinitely compared to these other second-year elite tight ends. He was already tight end three in route participation last year at 84%. Um, it could go up. I mean, he shouldn't come off the field at all. He also had the 11th most red zone targets of any wide receiver and tight end. And we know how there were long stretches of the season that the Colts offense was among the best in the league. So, it does give me concern that if that drops down, then some of these numbers do have to climb up in order for him to like, you know, be awesome. But I I really just right want to hammer home how important he is to the scheme, to the system. And it's so clear that Shane Steichen loves this bully of a man that he already drafted.

I think there's a couple underlying stats I think are positive regression candidates for him. Uh, they're both in just like the completion percentage world. He had the second worst completion percentage over expected uh, among tight ends, and then the third worst catchable target rate. So, I don't think that was necessarily a Tyler Warren problem. I do think at the end of the season, he was getting a lot of volume that just had like no chance because of the quarterback play. And then I think uh, when Daniel Jones was healthy, you can see that his efficiency really took a step backwards. Daniel Jones coming off of literally a torn heel to his right foot. Like that could be an issue here. Absolutely. But if that gets sorted out in a in other ways, I do think that there is some positive indicators that Tyler Warren could have a little bit better of a season than he did as a rookie. He, he's one of these guys I don't see him really busting at this ADP, and there's a lot of tight ends I think like are appropriately priced without a ceiling. I think Tyler Warren's appropriately priced with a ceiling to chase on top of it.

Totally agree with that. And also third and two against the Denver Broncos, ISO win against Patrick Surtain on an outbreaker. Now again, not necessarily routing him up, but it was kind of more bully ball, push you off and uh, create a sliver of space on top of it. So, yeah, he's one of my favorite targets right there in in the sixth round. Uh, I am drafting him a lot at this moment despite, you know, that round right now being heavy and I mean heavy in terms of quarterbacks and onesie position stuff. And there's also other players I want to chase like Tutu Atwell right now based on, you know, the buzz with the Jaguars and Parker Washington, I want to chase, you know, what he put out last year too. But I feel confident in selecting Tyler Warren for the very reason that you said, just like the gimmies that he gets, the bluff blocks, the slip and releases, all that type of stuff.

It's uh, it's easy production on a weekly basis. Next up, Harold Fannon of the Cleveland Browns. Just to put that in perspective, both names we talked about already were first-round selections in the NFL draft. Harold Fannon, the 67th overall pick in the third round, but goes on to post 72 catches, 731 yards, and six scores. So, lots of overhaul redevelopment for the Browns this offseason. What are your expectations for him in his second year?

I know Harold Fannon's a very good football player. So, it really just comes down to how much all the Browns overhaul, like you said, is gonna h uh, matter for his fantasy. Just last year though, do want to hit what you just said. He had the most receiving yards by a rookie tight end picked after 34th overall in NFL history. The reason why it's 34th overall is because that was Sam LaPorta. I think Sam LaPorta and Harold Fannon share a lot of similar traits in that they're not necessarily the best inline guys. You can probably tinker with your offense to to kind of hide them or use them in in certain ways or, you know, just run the ball to the other side. But as receivers, these guys offer a ton. I think the trait that makes Harold Fannon so good at is when he breaks, whether it's after the catch or at the top of his route, he is exploding out of there. And I don't know if it's because his feet are all positioned outward and it's easier for him to, you know, cut out field, but whatever it is, it's certainly working. I thought his yards after the catch stuff was really fantastic. I showed I thought he had a lot of heart. Even though he's he's very small for the tight end position, I do think that he at least really tried as a blocker on more of the movement blocks, not like the just down base blocks that you would see from an inline guy. That's like the big question that I have is I looking up and down the roster on the Browns, they don't have one. Like the other guys that are behind him are also Harold Fannon types. And I know Todd Monkin, he's a very traditional uh, guy. So that's where I'm trying to figure out this Browns offense. Is it six offensive linemen? What are they going to do? All I know is when it's third and eight, the ball should be going to Harold Fannon, and I really trust him.

Let's put a pin in the blocking stuff because one, I want to start with positives here with Harold Fannon. And two, I think he's if he was on a different team, I'd be a bit more nervous about his playing time because he might have a true inline competition, but as you said, he doesn't on this roster. I mean, it's Blake Whiteheart and Joe Royer and Jack Stoll as the next three tight ends on the >> who are smaller types.

>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm It does make you wonder. It does make you wonder. Okay, put a pin in that. Let's go back to the lower center of gravity stuff because that's a big asset for him. Uh, he tries to get these hidden yards constantly. Like he shrugs off tackles. Uh, he ducks under them. He really fights on final contact to make those hidden yards like part of the offense and part of his game. And that helps on shorter patterns. And then as you said, as the season went along, I thought, you know, Kevin Stefanski got a bit more respect and trust in him as more of like a bit of a downfield intermediate player. Uh, they did some out and ups and some leaks and some fake screens and some of that type of stuff, but at the same time, you see him matched up against linebackers and creating legit separation on that. So, he is 100% going to totally outperform his draft slot. He's also incredibly young and already doing that in the league, which is, you know, very different than like George Kittle coming to the league as as an older prospect, too. So, yeah, he is the only tight end on the roster and he is the most productive pass catcher really on the roster other than Jerry Judy. And you add a whole bunch of rookies onto it. So, we are imparting a big opportunity and workload onto him. It's always not stressful, but maybe uncertain when new minds and new head coaches and new play callers come into that because they might have a different view of him, but in this case, I don't think you can have a different view on him that he has to kind of be a critical piece of this offense.

And at least with Todd Monkin, he was with Brock Bowers at Georgia, and Brock Bowers, for as amazing as he is, he is a unique uh, tight end that you have to, you know, like either deal with some of the blocking, like we talked about that with Vlad Mikkelsen, was doing more of the intermediate and downfield stuff, and Brock Bowers was the one that was racking up all these gimmies and all these screens. I would love for Fannon to get those.

>> Yeah. And then since the Georgia days, he goes to the Ravens, when you have Isaiah Likely, and I think that Harold Fannon's just like the way better version of Isaiah Likely or like with Mark Andrews, even. So, there's at least a history with Todd Monkin of like getting the best out of his tight ends. Harold Fannon does not turn 22 for another month. He's 21 still. Like, even today, way, way after the season. Uh, yeah, his like you said, the low center of gravity and the fight for it was just really outstanding. He had a route against Roquan Smith, just an out route, a little bit of a push off, and just explodes right past. And there were a couple like screens, third and 12 situations, throw the ball to him. There's four Raiders in the area, he's able to navigate it and fight. Uh, and then he had a dunk on you touchdown in the red area, like you said, as his ADOT kind of uh, improved down the stretch there as well. So, no David Njoku. I think that matters just as much as inserting Casey Kuhlman and Denzel Boston here. I do think there's a chance Boston's a little bit better than the quarterbacks that they had this last season. The new offensive line, and like legitimately five starters out there. So, there's tons of moving parts here. I do think that you can just take Harold Fannon being such a good football player is probably going to keep him in the tight end one mix. If he's like as good as we think, there's a chance that he like really outdoes this ADP. At the same time, this is the Cleveland Browns, and uh, I'm expecting um, things to go sideways.

Todd Monkin in his past, the last few years with the Ravens, we can bring up the Mark Andrews, we can bring up the Isaiah Likely. He also had Charlie Kolar. He also had Patrick Ricard. So, these were multiple different types of tight ends and fullbacks out there. The Browns also, among the other tight ends that I mentioned, also brought in Michael Burton, who has played fullback with the Denver Broncos. So, it's not the same types. I would say. Uh, now the primary is the receivers and Andrews and Likely, and maybe you can make a connection here with Harold Fannon. I say all that because some of the frustration that we've gotten over the last few years at the Ravens was that it was either Andrews or Likely, and then at times Andrews couldn't get there because of his route participation and the snaps played and all that type of stuff. Again, just staring at the depth chart, I don't know how we can have that same concern here with the Browns. And that gives me more confidence because when I went and watched his blocking stuff, Hayden, I had less confidence in him as a player. Um, I thought he really struggled in a lot of situations as like a pure sixth man in the dirt offensive lineman, one-on-one situations against defensive ends. He had some tough assignments, but he failed a lot of them. I mean, Lucas Van Ness treated him like a little kid when blocking him one-on-one. He kind of stopped his feet on contact, even versus linebackers and even defensive backs when blocking those field players. Like doesn't get a lot of push at the line of scrimmage. I thought he wound up on the ground way too often, lost ground even when getting to the second level against linebackers. So that and other situations can remove again some of route participation and snap shares. But based on the roster at this moment, I don't think we should have that concern. Yeah, there's no Miles Garrett. So, I mean, the Browns could end up in maybe some more fourth down shootout situations where they're just chasing, and here comes a bunch of Harold Fannon garbage time stuff. Yeah, there, there's definitely the blocking stuff. He's just a boy out there. I mean, that's just the reality of the situation. He's 240 pounds. Uh, I think he's pound-for-pound strong, but at the same time, mass matters. He's just he's a movement blocker, you know? He's just not going to be an inline guy, and they they were going to have to figure out exactly what they're going to do. I do think this is a team that might use like a six offensive lineman or something like that. There, there's going to be some way that Todd Monkin's going to figure this out. I did hear Todd Monkin talking up that fullback that they just signed as well. So, I know he's looking at this and be all right, I've got my work cut out on how I'm going to make all of this go. Uh, by the way, in the five games without David Njoku, Harold Fannon almost had a 25% target share. That's only uh, was only behind uh, Trey McBride. Um, so there, there are some crazy on-off splits without David Njoku. I I do think a lot of that kind of gets countered by the concepts who we both like. Denzel Boston's a real player in the red area. So, yeah, I it's impressive that Harold Fannon could be ranked this high given the circumstances, you know. Um, but it's hard to push him much higher than this without getting really nervous about, you know, the Browns infrastructure.

Totally agree with all that. Okay, there's a pretty large drop down to the next name, all the way down to the 11th pick of the 12th round, and still being selected as tight end 16. That is A.J. Brown, who was a fifth-round pick last year, 165th overall, was quite silent until week four, excuse me, week six, uh, where then he caught seven for 68, then seven for 164 and one, then five for 77 and one, then five for 68, and then outside of one or two games the rest of the season went incredibly silent.

>> Yeah. So, when going back and watching all of A.J. Brown's stuff during his rookie season, can we solve this puzzle right now for the people?

>> Yeah, he's really awesome as a receiver and then really terrible as a blocker. I mean, it's it's as simple as that, you know, like he's he's way worse than Harold Fannon as a blocker, you know?

>> So much worse.

>> It's he he's pretty much >> the numbers to that. >> PF charts positive blocks and negative blocks, and I don't always agree with the negative blocks. Um, but Brown had three positive blocks all season long compared to 34 negative blocks, and it showed up when watching it. I mean, >> he can't reach block on the backside, and so those backside edge rushers then get tackles for loss on the front side.

>> He whiffs on second-level targets. He can't anticipate the linebackers and the safeties and all that type of stuff. He gets blown back when blocking defensive ends one-on-one. And then he also struggles to then pin those defensive ends in pin and pull situations. And then even when you tried to hide him with like the split flow stuff, there were just way too many whiffs anticipating when that defensive end was going to be. So >> it was like really rough. And >> yeah, >> that's frustrating because as Reeves pointed out, no tight end in the league across all years averaged more yards per catch with 13.6 with as many receptions as A.J. Brown did last year. But that shows you why they went out and signed Charlie Kolar, David Njoku, and also Bob and Alak.

>> Yeah, we see it the same way. Brown's just it it's as much of a physicality issue as it is just an assignment issue, which makes sense because at Syracuse, he was basically in an air raid offense operating as a slot wide receiver. Now, there's a reason why he had that role and there's a reason why he had that role as a charger. He is a like almost like a very legit wide receiver just in a tight endish body here. I thought he made as many spectacular catches down the field as anybody in this class. He'll go up and high-point it. He's really acrobatic out there. Justin Herbert, because he throws the ball on a freaking laser beam so many times, the ball's up and away, and Brown can kind of track some of those things down. There was also moments where underneath in cuts where he has the fluidity and the ability to sink his hips uh, and make those positive plays. He's got enough speed as well. I firmly put him in the Mike Gesicki to Darren Waller type of tight end, where I think there's a very real wide receiver here and a very real reason that he's probably not going to get as many snaps as we want. So like during that week six to week 11 run, Quentin Johnston missed some time, Keenan Allen was kind of hiding, and then Brown was going crazy because the Chargers were in some shootouts. Even in that stretch, he had a 19% target share and he was still only hovering around, it was uh, 75% of the snaps. After the week 12 bye week, they get more information. His snaps on average sink under 60% of the time. That's before we have the two uh, new additions here. So, I think he's going to be at best a 50% snap player. The routes will be higher than that. He's going to have some spike weeks in baseball because he's awesome. The Chargers are going to be awesome. Consistency on a week-by-week basis, I don't believe that's going to be the case in redraft leagues for this year. Maybe in week six, send an offer for Dynasty because he's awesome. He's attached to Justin Herbert long-term. Maybe they can figure this thing out. I think Dynasty outlook looks better than the redraft one.

>> Should he be going in the same round as Dallas Goedert?

No, he just can't be. I have him like ranked 170 in half PPR right now. It's what, 27ish spots after where he's going. Um, I I think he's going to have some moments. Um, I just think we will be chasing them too often. Yeah, I don't know how he can go seven picks ahead of Chigoziem Okonkwo right now, who he probably compares to favorably, but Chig is in a situation where they arguably don't have a like true tight end one who is coming now into a system who >> you know, David Blau played under Ben Johnson, who utilized someone of Chig Okonkwo's size like Sam LaPorta in a lot of different various ways, and they don't have a wide receiver two on the roster. So, I I don't know if I've drafted A.J. Brown one time. Maybe that's a blind spot for me, but he's just not the type that I chase after when I'm doing this, you know, three late-round tight end when we go from round 12 to round 18. And it's just because like he's just not an every-down player and even close to it. I mean, the Chargers only ran the ball on 30% of the time when Brown was on the field last year. Mike McDaniel has been known to, you know, be obsessed with his rushing schemes. And that is why, like, I put a real out there on Twitter. Very evident why they brought in these three other players that are going to play just probably more than A.J. Brown this year, even if I'm going to miss out on like one or two or three spike weeks this season.

>> Yeah, they can use a fullback. They've got multiple running backs, too. So, I think the general snaps here are going to be problematic. Where where are you at with him just as a receiver? Cuz eventually we have to nail just how good of a receiving guy he is. He he works almost in like the Kyle Pitts area where everything is intermediate downfield. Only 1% of his uh targets were screens. He's really like a operating as a wide receiver when he's out in the route. It's very much not the just I'm out in the flats, catch checkdown, you know, like prime Jason Witten. It's a totally different ball game out there. I think he's pretty good at it. I'm not sure if he's Darren Waller good at it. Uh, which, um, I'm hoping he's like I think he's more fluid than like Mike Gesicki. So, I'm hoping between Gesicki and Waller's kind of where I'm hoping for Brown, which would be a fun player with Justin Herbert long-term.

You know, Gesicki tested like a freak athlete, but he turns like a boat. You know, it's really tough for him to have these breaking routes, but he's straight-line explosive. Brown is way more fluid. He's like way more in control of of his frame and just his limbs and, you know, ability to stop and start and turn on a dime and and all this type of stuff. I mean, the Waller thing is interesting because we know Waller played for Mike McDaniel this past season because of, you know, a coordinator on the roster had a history with Darren Waller. And even Waller last season had some splits and had some games of like big-time performances, and that was after taking a whole season out of football. I mean, right when he returned, he caught two touchdowns, then a 78-yarder, and another touchdown the next week. I mean, he had six touchdowns in a six-game span, basically. So, maybe they can turn A.J. Brown into like a red zone weapon on top of it, too. At the same time, you also have like Trey Harris, you also have Quentin Johnston, you have a bunch of different types out there. And I don't have the confidence that other drafters do that A.J. Brown's going to be a 50% snap player on this team.

I will say this, there's going to be weeks where on the show I will be touting him because like I think it's when the Chargers are in going to be in a shootout, and all of a sudden they're in like pure passing situations, Brown's going to be out there and he's going to be effective. And like in those, we have to like target him because I do think he's going to be able to put up some big games. Juwan Johnson's another comparable where the the Saints were kind of they didn't have enough like targets to kind of go around and Juwan Johnson all of a sudden had a tight end one season on an offense that's not nearly as good as what we're hoping for the Chargers. So like just because the snaps aren't there does not mean I'm going to be totally out on Brown. I just want to like keep this thing kind of in check and like it's it's what happened late in the season, and I think that should be like somewhat of our baseline projection here. Like fully acknowledging that like there are some goods here where I could see like a tight end 14 outcome for him.

Two skill sets are on polar opposites of the receiving and the blocking was just downright atrocious.

It was bad.

Really, no team is going to want to >> It's like Eli Sterns. We just did this.

I mean, I think it's even worse than that. I mean, it was so bad.

Uh, and that's what this entire offseason has been about in the league is having people that you trust in in those situations. Okay, Gunnar Helm is next. He's being selected as a tight end 25, the ninth pick in the 15th round. Hayden, this is the second most tight end that I've drafted this offseason. What did you see from Gunnar Helm?

Plug your ears. Um, I was expecting more as a blocker. I'll start there because he was obviously like the more inline guy versus Chigoziem Okonkwo. He's got decent enough size. He's like 6'5. He doesn't like feel like fully uh, filled out in terms of his frame quite yet. And I did think that there

There were some times where he kind of got rag-dolled, and there were some times where he had some rookie mistakes. I'm hoping that he gets a little bit bigger and that, you know, the experience is going to help him out there. Um, so I would not call him a great run blocker yet. There's a chance that he can turn into that.

In terms of the yards after the catch stuff, not a whole lot. I will give him credit. I do think that he has a nice like catch radius, and there were some plays by the sideline where he was going up and catching the ball. There were other times where he had to drag his toes and extend away from his frame, and I liked him doing that. I thought there were some times when the ball was low, and he didn't really have the athleticism to adjust there. But I do think there's a kind of this like crossing route up and out type of guy, uh, scrambled drill, come back to the sideline. I think that he can do that.

So, he's a he's a better athlete than when he, you know, broke his ankle in the combine running the 40-yard dash. But at the same time, he was the guy that sprained his ankle in the 40-yard dash, and I kind of felt that on tape a little bit. Don't get me wrong, I don't think that Gunner Helm is one of these day three tight ends that has this massive ceiling and he's going to explode. But when you just take a top-down view of this roster, the other tight ends on the team are Daniel Bellinger, who has a history with Brian Daboll; Kylin Gransson, who, you know, has bounced around the league quite a bit. That there is a pathway for me that Gunner Helm just simply explodes when it comes to just his opportunity and time spent on the field. He only ran a route on 38% of his dropbacks last year. I could see that easily double this season. Uh, he should be an every-down, nearly every-down tight end for this team.

I didn't have the same concerns as you as a blocker. Like, everything's just going to be a stalemate. He's not someone who's going to move anyone off the line. If it's just, "Hey, we're stuck at the line of scrimmage and I accomplish my assignments and the runner goes the opposite direction or cuts off me," then that's totally fine. That that's all I want to do. Does he have the athleticism to shake defenders in the open field? Probably not. Is he explosive? Not really. But, as you said, he does make tight-window catches. He snatches the ball away from his frame. He sits in zones with subtle moves and makes himself pass-friendly. And I think he utilizes size in a bunch of ways. And so when we're talking about Dr. Frankensteining these late-round tight ends, he is someone that I really am attacking because I think it's kind of fitting that he's staying next to AJ Barner in drafts. Now, there are very different types because AJ Barner is a freak of a blocker, but it just shows you that if you're on the field in all these sets, then you have a great chance of just simply catching touchdowns when you're on the field. And I think Gunner Helm has a chance of doing that this year. I think he definitely has a chance to do that.

I think, like you said, the ceiling's pretty low here, especially in the Titans offense. Um, it really kind of comes down to is Wandale going to be a guy? Is Calvin really going to be a guy? Cardell Tate, because if he is like the fourth guy in the pecking order for targets, which is how I would project it, I think it's a little bit difficult to get there, even if he's kind of an every-down player. And I would not discount, you know, Dave Ball and Bellinger, you know, like that. Just like I can see this one kind of sneaking in there a little bit here. Um, yeah, there was one uh uh chart that I had where it was catchable ball rate and EPA per target, and he quietly had a really high catchable ball rate, which, like, caught me by surprise because, you know, like all the other Titans did not have that, and he just did like very little with that. And I think that's just like, I think the lack of wiggle out there in general. So Barner, I think, like my like Greg Dulcich, I think offers more of a receiving uh profile than Gunner Helm if I'm going to take a like dart throw. I don't really see Dulcich and him as comparables because Dulcich was like purely a receiving type that's prone to this blocking. Okay. Yeah. This is more just like ADP. I just need someone who I think is going to, like, be on the field enough and catch enough passes, and there's like nobody that Dulcich is uh competing with where I think that Ridley, Wel Robinson, and Cardell Tate is light years better than what the Dolphins are kind of dealing with. So, it's not that Gunner Helm's like the worst pick ever. I just think like if he starts picking up steam here, I would there get back to the tape. Everybody come back to me. Make sure that you want to really double down on this.

Well, I mean, again, we're talking about the 15th round here, so I know I'm gushing with optimism, but we're also again having it in the context of who he's being drafted around. Uh, you know, Nick Singleton, the fifth-round rookie running back on his own team, is being selected, not our favorite, three picks later. Uh, earlier in the round is Aaron Rodgers, Isaac Tesla. You know, like the tight ends in this round are Dalton Schultz and AJ Barner. So, he's very fitting here. And I just think from people maybe underrating his skills because of how little he played last year, there is a chance that while he's being drafted the tight end 25, he finishes like the tight end 16, like where AJ Barner finished last year.

All right. Yeah, I see it a little bit differently, but that's that's why we have a podcast. Okay, let's keep the podcast going because next up is one of the more uh eyepopping statistical profiles last year in the league. Terrance Ferguson is the 11th pick in the 17th round. Still the tight end 31. Now, this is on the Rams, who still have Tyler Higbee, still have Colby Parkinson. They added Maxx Williams in the draft, but Terrance Ferguson had 31 targets last year, Hayden. 15 of them were 20-plus yards down the field. Uh, what did you see when watching my guy T-Ferg?

You can say this is like the most unique tight end season like of all time if you wanted to, just because his AD was 18 yards down the field, like you said, 18 yards. I mean, the next closest, if you hit the right threshold here, was Darren Waller, who was at 10.3. He almost doubled him up. Uh, and the way that he would play, he was not often in one or two tight end sets. So, he was in like the three-tight end sets, and then he was operating as like the downfield clear-out guy, and on occasion worked all the way back on a corner route where Matthew Stafford would hit him wide open for a touchdown. So, it was as unique of a a a profile as you can get. The reason why Sean McVay uses him in these ways, and by the way, he also, like, third and five, he would be the tight end that would be out there just like as a pure receiver, is because he can run like the wind. And like that's where he's just trying to find the mismatches way down the field. He's like, "All right, you're in base personnel. You're the third linebacker on the team, especially against like the 49ers without Fred Warner. Like, are we going to guys that probably shouldn't even be in the NFL? Let's send Terrance Ferguson down this the seam and see what happens." My question is, was there anything else that got you fired up? And is anything, the second part's even bigger, has anything changed because they resigned Tyler Higbee this offseason to multiple years? Colby Parkinson's, I think, really actually a pretty solid player for him. Has anything actually changed here?

Okay. I'm fired the [ __ ] up about Terrance Ferguson. Okay. And sure, it might not happen this year, but we can also be sitting in this same exact spot next offseason, and we could be looking at just the 12 personnel duo of Terrance Ferguson and Maxx Williams pretty easily. And that's extremely exciting for a team that is going to love running these heavier personnel sets. But just from this season, okay, in a way, and stick with me here, he kind of replaced Tutu Atwell last year in terms of like target distribution and the areas of the field that he attacked.

Correct. Um, you ask me what else gets me going about him. He gets after it as a run blocker. I really think so. Like he drives into defenders. He plays until the whistle. He works down the field. He goes from again, stop to start. He he wants to get after it in that area, and he is so explosive. Like he might reach that "moves differently" tier when just running in a straight line down the seam and getting vertical. So if we get more production this season, it could come in this one area. What if Colby Parkinson, who has dealt with a ton of injuries, who is 27 and a half years of age, uh, who is not as explosive here as Terrance Ferguson, uh, what if he either gets injured or is on a decline or something like that?

Last season, Colby Parkinson was among the league leaders in terms of red zone targets. I mean, the only players with more red zone targets last year: George Pickens, Ja'Marr Chase, Hunter Henry, Jake Ferguson, Christian McCaffrey, Davante Adams, Trey McBride, Amon-Ra St. Brown. That's it. He had 20 red zone targets and six red zone scores. So, if I'm just looking at this, could we get to a point where it's Tyler Higbee, Terrance Ferguson, and Maxx Williams? Like Maxx Williams is the weird part about this. If if he wasn't added, then I could make the stronger case for T-Ferg. Um, but just another year in the system, I do wonder if maybe he absorbs some of those high-value targets.

He has to to like even get on the radar. I mean, he caught seven receptions, including the postseason, in one or two tight end sets. In three tight end sets, he had five receptions. So, like he h he has to do that and then do more is what my my point is. After sitting here, nothing against Terrance Ferguson. I think he's a totally fine player. He's an exciting, unique player. I I enjoyed what Sean McVay was cooking. We have to start drafting Colby Parkinson. I mean, Colby Parkinson, there's a reason. Do you know why he's probably a red zone threat? Is it because he's like 6'9"? Is that maybe the reason why? You know, he's a big guy. He can block. He was doing the play-action out in the flat stuff. Colby Parkinson was the tight end 17 last year. Goes undrafted. Look, it's not the most exciting pick. Colby Parkinson on a just pure baseline outcome definitely projects better than Terrance Ferguson. If you want to sell me on the 95th percentile outcome being better for Terrance Ferguson, by all means, go for it. And in basketball, I understand that's what we're somewhat trying to do here. But Colby Parkinson's is there for a reason. And then it was I kept going back to the Tyler Higbee contract, and I could not believe he got another two-year extension this offseason. It feels like every single offseason he's getting a two-year extension. I kind of like Maxx Williams on top of that. Davis Allen has been around the program for a while, so I don't know how they're going to sort this thing out. I just got nervous. I'm like, "Okay, Sean McVay has a like pathway to get Terrance Ferguson the ball. There will be a couple long touchdowns. They will be very fun. I'm a little bit nervous that we're going to end this season with 19 receptions, and I'm just not sure if I want to sign up for that."

Again, I'm sure Sean McVay reviewed all the tape after the season. He saw what Terrance Ferguson put out there with his athleticism, again, in my eyes, his willingness and competitiveness as a blocker. Why do you think then that he leaned to it even more and drafted Maxx Williams? Because this is one of those players that if Maxx Williams wasn't on the roster, then I would get very fired up about Terrance Ferguson and the leap that he could make.

I don't know. I don't know what happened in the draft. They spent a pick on a backup quarterback and then a the tight end four on the roster. I I don't know why they did that. I Colby Parkinson is totally like a very totally fine NFL starter. Higbee is obviously aging, but they for whatever reason love them. And then I think Ferguson did enough, like we said, reviewing the tape. I will say Ferguson did not come down with a couple contested catch situations. I was kind of on my nerve a little bit. Now, contested catches are a little bit different when they're, you know, 35 yards downfield. Those ones are a little bit harder to corral than like an eight-yard, you know, hook where the linebacker is coming over the top. But there were a couple explosives that he did not come down with for for a variety of reasons. So, that's nitpicking. I just think I was like, "All right, Colby Parkinson's going to be out there a lot unless Terrance Ferguson like eats his lunch." Uh, and that's possible. I just don't think it's like the the more likely outcome here.

Okay, let's move on. The next three names that I'm going to bring up uh were are not being drafted in fantasy leagues out there. Uh, everyone knows the New York Jets selected Keon Coleman in round one. That was after taking a round two player in Mason Taylor, 42nd overall, just this past offseason. Uh, Jason Taylor's son. Um, I wanted to bring his name up because we're not expecting a whole bunch of receiving production, but at the same time, you know, this team also has three wide receivers on the field. So, what are you expecting the balance of Keon Coleman and Mason Taylor to be after re-watching Mason Taylor's rookie year?

I thought Mason Taylor was a pretty solid player in general. I thought he had maybe the best blocking tape out of all of the guys that we were talking about. I thought he really got after it. I put like him and like Colson Lovelace maybe as like the top guys here, but I thought he was actually pretty effective at it. He's got great balance and then athleticism. So like any of these like second-level blocks he can really handle. And then I think he's got a lot of power, um, for like as an inline guy given his size. He's not like 260 pounds here, but he's 251. Uh, and I wouldn't be surprised if he's a little bit bigger than that. So I thought he totally passed the test as a blocker. He's got a future being an inline guy. Maybe a little bit nervous for Keon Coleman that like Mason Taylor could sit out there and block a lot. Um, in terms of receiver, I think that he's, you know, on, you know, he's he's Dalton Schultz. Is he Jake Ferguson? He he's not clearing that. Yes, it's that he's I think very reliable. I didn't see him making a lot of mistakes. I did think that he had a couple times beating linebackers to the first down marker, which I thought I saw in college as well. There's nothing really flashy beyond that. I thought he had some tough grabs over the middle, but it was definitely more on the lower ceiling tight end uh in terms of the receiving stuff, but did feel like somebody that if we didn't have Keon Coleman out there, I think on tape review, I'd have been like he he's on pace to be a second-round tight end. Not Sam LaPorta, but just being like an effective player. Um, but now he's got, you know, multiple first-rounders to deal with.

It's interesting. Uh, I think I could use all the words that you brought up, and you spun it in like a positive way. I think I can use all the same words and kind of spin it in a negative light too.

Yeah. Whereas like, what's his standout trait? To me, I didn't find one. He's like very physicality-ish. Yeah. He's he's very vanilla. I mean, even his maybe we just disagree on his blocking. Like he spent a number of snaps as the move/H-back guy and in a two-point stance this past season. Now, obviously, he's expected to be the primary inline guy, but I didn't see someone as consistent or dominant as a blocker that if Keon Coleman, despite being a smaller player, shows competence there, that will then keep Coleman off the field. Now, that's what they want to do, right? This is the 12 personnel looks they want Mason Taylor to grow into. I just think overall he's an extremely replaceable talent. And while I liked him as a fluid player, uh, the fluidity shows up more in the routes, but not after the catch. I mean, he's just not a YAC threat at all. He falls down without anyone touching him. He doesn't stay up through contact. It just looked like above-average to average athleticism. So, uh, yeah, he's just now I've I've said Koton has been replaceable in the past, and no one has replaced him for many years, too. So, uh

Same. Like, these guys kind of hang around. They they they didn't spend a first-round, you know, top 20 overall selection on Keon Coleman.

If Coleman is Vernon Davis, then we will not be talking about Mason Taylor often. If Keon Coleman, you know, is Noah Fant, then I think then Mason Taylor will be annoying, is kind of where I'm at here. Like he, if we were redrafting it, I think he would go definitely go after Harold Finneran. Uh, but I do think he would go ahead of Elijah Arroyo in those types, and I would not be surprised if he's like a late second-rounder after kind of watching him. I just think the upside cases, I think are a little bit hard to to sort out, especially what they did with the draft here.

Okay, let's talk about Elijah Arroyo since you brought up his name. I mean, this show last offseason made me watch AJ Barner more than I was anticipating, and it made me bring up AJ Barner's name in a big way all offseason, and especially when Noah Fant got cut. Uh, I said, "Hey, pay attention to AJ Barner. He's going to be out on the field." And my mentions were filled with, "No, you idiot. It's Elijah Arroyo season." Uh, now, those people weren't the only ones saying that. Do you remember John Schneider saying that someone on the staff believed that uh he could play X wide receiver?

Now, the Seahawks know a thing or two. They just won the freaking Super Bowl, but that was the most pointless statement of all time. So, do you think there's a pathway for Elijah Arroyo to play more this year?

Um, maybe a little bit more. Not enough to be fantasy relevant. I mean, I think Barner is like teetering on like if you're doing top top 10ish tight end in the league, like all-around. So, I think that's going to be a problem. And Arroyo can really run, and there were some elements of that on his rookie tape. It just happened on such low volume, but there were some times where it's very clearly, "Hey, we just don't think that this linebacker can keep up with Arroyo." And usually they were right on that. There just there's very little in between that in terms of, you know, the blocking reps or getting out into the flats and like more underneath manufactured touches. It's more like, "Okay, we just believe that he's faster and let's use him in that capacity." Now, if the Seahawks aren't quite as good this year and they're just throwing the ball uh more times per game because they're not blowing everybody out like they did last year, then sure, like the the overall depth chart here is not so outrageous beyond JSN that somebody else could kind of creep up. Um, I would guess it's just going to be AJ Barner. So, I kind of want to double down on your take from last year where AJ Barner to me is like the late-round tight end this year. He's not going that late, but I do think he's really good. I do think that the depth chart in general in Seattle is up for grabs, and I would be, you know, betting on AJ Barner winning out.

Arroyo just didn't play enough last year. And it's to the point with me that he has the same issues as a run blocker that he did at Miami, where he's just a waste bender that if you move out of the grass for him, then he's going to lose. He's going to let go of his latch. That like if something happened to AJ Barner, one, I think Seattle's offense would take a step back, and then two, I'm not certain that Elijah Arroyo would just step in seamlessly by committee. They they might trust Eric Saubert to do that a little bit more than than Elijah Arroyo. Like he can be a fun role player. Um, but even as a pass catcher, he's a notch down from Isaiah Likely, for example. Like he might just be a notch down Likely overall, unless he takes, and there is a chance that he is, and you know, makes a leap as a run blocker. I just didn't see it at all from his rookie season.

Yeah, I think there's a chance. I mean, he's he's got like 15 pounds on Isaiah Likely as a comparison there. He's he's definitely just straight-line speed is the calling card, and then everything else is in development. And then with AJ Barner, he's not as fast as Elijah Arroyo, but he's very good at everything else. So, I I don't think there's a "Wally Pipp" that's going to happen here. It's going to be AJ Barner first, and then Elijah Arroyo, and like, you know, and and pick them not for, you know, redraft.

Okay, two more. Uh, one, Jackson Hallauer. Don't need to say much. He really is a sixth offensive lineman. He can catch a few extra passes. And it's to the point where the Bills were among the league leaders in terms of sixth offensive lineman use. And once they drafted Jackson Hallauer, they just stopped doing that and ran more tight end sets. So, yeah, uh

You know, we talk about players progressing as blockers, but not necessarily progressing as wide receivers and and pass catchers. I'm not sure if there's a lot of upside for Jackson Hallauer to progress as a a pass catcher here.

There's not. But he did have like three catches like 30 yards down the field where it was just like, "Oh [ __ ] there he goes." And, you know, Josh Allen could put it on the money down the the field. So like he could have five touchdowns in a season. Like I would not put that past him. Is he going to be a target share guy? Absolutely not.

And the final one is Mitchell Evans of the Carolina Panthers. Uh, I think we both really enjoyed him coming out of Notre Dame. Just a very solid player, was a mid-fifth-rounder. Uh, and then immediately comes in and kind of makes his mark. Like the Yeah, he's better than Ja'Tavion Sanders.

Yes. Like I I just am never buying into this Ja'Tavion Sanders stuff. He's, you know, built as an athletic tight end, but then show me the athleticism. It's just not there. So Mitchell Evans to me, at the very least, is, you know, out there in 12 personnel. But one, Tommy Trimble misses time, or two, if Mitchell Evans takes the next step, I could see him playing the most snaps of all tight ends on the Panthers roster. I I thought Mitchell Evans showed a lot of like compete. I think that he needs to kind of fill out his frame just maybe a little bit more for being the type of player that he wants out there and like not necessarily super reliable yet. Uh, he was dealing with a bunch of injuries in college. I wouldn't be surprised if one of these years he's like clearly viewed as an NFL starter. I'm not sure if we're chasing that much of a ceiling, but I think on like the craziest deep dynasty leagues, like he absolutely should be on people's radars.

Did I miss anyone? Anything else you want to say? I mean, this is an awesome group.

It really was. Yeah. We were debating like, "All right, we want the Tuesday show to be a little bit lighter because we know we have running backs and wide receivers." And when we realized how many tight ends there were, we realized the tight end group is about as deep as the wide receivers were straight up.

Yeah. And again, we are asking you to make Colson Lovelace a vital key piece of your fantasy team in the fourth round, or Tyler Warren in in the sixth round. And so, we wanted to spend some extra time on those picks. That's for sure. Because drafting the right tight end just gives you like a natural advantage every single week in your fantasy lineups compared to your friends' frustrations of when they are, you know, picking someone up from the waiver wire and drafting him just because he caught one touchdown on one catch the previous week.

Yeah. After doing all this research, like looking at these guys, kind of the breakout candidates, it still makes me just want to draft the top 12 guys and not I'm just struggling to find like the quality late-round guys that we had in previous years. Some of the guys that we mentioned, it just was not getting me fired up enough.

Okay, I I'll do my preview real quick on the Dr. Frankenstein. Yeah. Late-round three tight ends that I have been doing, and it's it's really disgusting. We'll do a tight end sleeper episode here in a couple weeks.

Uh, mine, I think my most frequently drafted one has been, if we count Dallas Goedert, he's in there, but if not, Chig, Gunner Helm, and Greg Dulcich are are three of my highest drafted late-round tight ends.

I'm done. That's what I'm talking about. All right, everyone. Thanks for tuning in. Shout out to producer Weaves and Mosho behind the scenes. Again, we have running backs and wide receivers coming up. If you enjoy this episode, help us get to 175,000 subscribers. If you have made it this far, leave a thumbs up, a like on this video so more and more and more people can see it. We are on the road to 200K. The only people that can get us there is you. Up the villa. Talk to you all soon. See?