Fantasy Football Today - 2026 TE Tiers DISCUSSION! Rankings, Projections & Draft Strategy (07/16 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: July 16, 2026

We kick things off by looking at the key stats that matter most for evaluating fantasy tight ends (2:00), then cover the latest news and notes (10:50) before diving into our tiers. We discuss why Colston Loveland cracks Heath's Tier 1 (17:35), the value of Harold Fannin Jr. and Tucker Kraft in Tiers 2-3 (26:30), and whether Kyle Pitts and Sam LaPorta belong among the elite options (36:40).Later, we break down George Kittle coming off an injury and Isaiah Likely's move to the Giants (50:10), debate whether Mark Andrews is primed for a bounce-back season (56:03), and highlight Tier 5 options including Oronde Gadsden II, Brenton Strange, and Hunter Henry (58:00). We wrap things up with Tier 6, discussing T.J. Hockenson and Evan Engram (1:01:41) and where they fit into your 2026 fantasy football draft strategy.Fantasy Football Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcastsWatch FFT on YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ SUBSCRIBE to FFT Dynasty on Apple⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠FOLLOW FFT Dynasty on Spotify: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/2aHlmMJw1m8FareKybdNfG?si=8487e2f9611b4438&nd=1⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

This is fantasy football today from CBS Sports. What a play! Can you believe this? It's a no idea. It's time to dominate your fantasy league. Off to the races and he stays on his feet. It's just going to go the distance. Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath.

The top five tight ends in fantasy in 2025 were drafted in rounds 3, 12, 6, 12, and 8. last year. That would be Trey McBride, Kyle Pitts, Travis Kelsey, Jake Ferguson, and Tyler Warren.

Those are your top five overall, not per game. That doesn't include George Kittle, doesn't include Brock Bowers. Those guys were top five per game, but that's just...

Tucker Kraft. He was, let's see what round Tucker Craft was last year. He was 111th overall. That's a round 10 pick for Tucker Kraft. So, greater late, it was in effect again last year.

What's up, guys? Good morning. morning. Okay, well, that's all I have. That's, uh, that's the show. Don't draft. Good show. Good show.

Let's see how messed up Heath and Jamie's tears are. Yeah, it's, it's once again. It's like there's just one or two tears early that if they were just combined for one of you, your tears would be almost the same. But, uh, tight end, luckily, not as many names to throw at you. But here are some group chat stats to throw at you. All right. First of all, only four tight ends in the last.

10 seasons have finished top five at the position and not been first or second on their team and targets. So keep that in mind. Maybe Colson Loveland will be first or second or maybe he will just buck the trend. This I love. Trey McBride had 15 more targets last year than Tucker Kraft has had his entire three-year career. Interesting.

It's great to that. Yeah, but Kraft has taken those 13 fewer targets and gained 312 more yards than McBride with four more touchdowns. And you know what? I was thinking like I was thinking about Tucker Kraft, but also I wanted to say that over the last three years, Christian Watson and Jaden Reed are both top five in fantasy points per target or something like that.

And Tucker Kraft is basically the new George Kittle. Is it just Matt LaFleur's offense? Heath, because Jordan Love has been hyper-efficient. I mean, that Packers offense, man, they just deliver on a per-play basis. Well, we've seen, yeah, I mean, we've seen the 49ers do it for years. And it's easier to do it when you're,

run heavy team that doesn't throw the ball near as much. And they've taken that to the extreme over the last couple of years. And Jordan Love, I don't think we should give the floor all the credit. I think we should give Jordan Love some credit. We must give Tucker Kraft some credit. So yeah, they're a very efficient offense. How many tight ends do you think will be first on their team of targets? Great question.

Two, right out of the gate. Bowers and McGrath? Yeah. I can see Kraft winning steam targets. You look at the targets on the Packers. I only looked at the last three years. I don't think anyone's reached 100. In fact, I'm a positive.

No one's reached 100. It's usually quite bunched up. You have had guys who've been on pace for more than 100. I think Romeo Dobbs had a season like that. But, I mean, there was one season where like four guys had 70 to 80 targets. So, yeah, Kraft will be. I'm going to say three or four. Who?

I have, I mean, Bowers McBride are the two obvious ones. I have Colston Loveland tied for the team leading targets. I think there's a chance that Tucker Kraft leads his team in targets. And then if Malik Naber starts the year on the pub, Isaiah likely might. I think you could see Dulchitz, lead his team in targets. You could see Tyler Warren. I think you could see Tyler Warren lead his team of targets. You could see Harold Fanon do it again.

For sure. Last year. You could see Kittles a stretch. just because of health, but Kelsey could. Oh, man, I don't know. With Rice back, I don't know. I mean, I'm not projecting it that way, but Rice is at a hard time playing full season.

Travis Kelsey could be a steal. He was tight in. Like we could if neighbors misses the first five or six games. That's a good point. Yeah, I just don't think he will. I think he'll fly up the draft boards if he starts a year. Also, I was being a smart ellick, because I said that two minutes ago.

I pulled the tape, sorry. Well, Kelsey, Kelsey top six per game with Patrick Mahomes last year. All right, a few more group chat stats. Tucker Kraft has averaged 9.1 yards after the catch per reception in his career. Yeah,

I'm guessing that's the most ever in NFL history, but it's the best yak per catch for Tucker Kraft, best yak per catch of any tight end since True Media has been tracking the stat. Harold Fanon Jr. averaged 15.9 ppr points per game in five games without David Najoku or with Najoku or with Najoku leaving early with an injury. And that doesn't include week 17 where Fanon played 23% of the snaps and caught a long

touchdown was awesome. Here's one. Heath, how many touchdowns do you have Kyle Pitts projected for? Obviously six. Yeah, obviously six. Why is that obvious? Because every year of his career, he scores one more. He had won his first year, two, his second year, three, four, five.

This is year six. So he's going to score six. That's right. The Falcons, though, have been 24. or worse in touchdown passes in four of Pits' five seasons. Do you really have him projected for six? Let's look at the actual projections. Like I knew what it was.

I have him at 5.5. So basically. It would be funny if he's at like four going into like week 14 and they just, you know, do the McBride thing that we saw two years ago. Yeah. He's never been a big touchdown guy though for sure. I'll say if he scores six in the first half of the season, sell. Dalton Kincaid led all tight ends and yards per outrun,

tight ends with a minimum of 40 targets. And Sam Laporta has been tight end three, tied in nine, and tight end seven in his three seasons. And right now he's being drafted, I think is tight end seven, six or seven. He's Titan seven,

95th overall Sam Laporta. And I know Heath's going to really like that one. A couple things to promote. Oh, draftathon, you say? Yeah, it's pretty much that time of year. It's July 16th. And later today, we'll have our mailbag episode, our Festivist mailbag episode where Dan and I will air grievances about what we did at FSGA last week, fantasy sports and gaming association conference. But while we were there, our main goal was to recruit people to be in the FFT open.

And we're going to have some more big names from around the industry. I won't say anything yet until it's official. But I've been talking with some people, I think you're going to be really excited about who's. you know, captaining a division in the FFT Open? What is the FFT Open? Well, it's a tournament that's gone from eight leagues to 12 to 24 last year. 36 leagues this year.

So you have that many, 396 spots, I guess that is, available. And you play in a 12-team division. And if you win the division, you move on to the tournament rounds. And if you win the FFT Open, you rock. Now, this year, we're going to give the people, who won the division last year, the chance to buy a spot in that same division, or I guess

any division, I don't know, but I think in that same division before the spots are open to the general public. So if you won your division last year, you can get first dibs at being in the FFT Open. Jamie, congratulations. You won your division last year. You can be in the FFT open this year. Thank you. But anyway, it's $250 a spot. It all goes to St. Jude. And if we sell out all of our spots this year. That is $99,000 we'll raise for St. Jude. That's just part of Draftathon, which is coming up in the next couple of weeks. It'll start and continue through the rest of draft season. Oh, and Scott Fish is in the chat today. Scott Fish is one of our division captains in the FFT Open. You can be in the Scott Fish division, for example. I invited him on the mailbag show. He hasn't responded yet. Oh, let's go, Scott.

It's at 1 p.m. Eastern on Thursday. So it's in the middle of a work day. So I don't know if he'll be able to do it. Yeah, he wants to be on the grievance show, but we'll see. The other thing I want to promote is we had an amazing episode with Scott Turner, former offensive coordinator a few weeks ago. He's coming on Tuesday for his second edition of FFT. If you have any questions for Scott Turner,

please email Fantasy Football at CBSI.com. That's the letter I. Fantasy Football at CBSI.com. Put something like Scott Turner question in the subject line. and we'll gather them and ask him some good questions next week. And don't forget to wish Dave a happy birthday. Yes. For the entire month, yeah.

News and notes. All right, Jamie, the Saints, they reworked Alvin Camara's contract. Yay. So he'll be back. He turns 31 next week. He averaged a career low 3.6 yards per carry. He also averaged a career low 5.6 yards per catch. He's been pretty low, like three years ago, he averaged six.

point two yards per catch and then rebounded with eight the following year. They also had a really bad offensive line last year. But anyway, what does this mean for Camara and E.T.N? I mean, for Camara, it's really just you're taking a late round flyer on him at this point. So, you know, handcuff,

pass-catching role, you'd love for him to be, if both guys stay healthy, like Kenneth Gainwell, but that's just not Kellyn Moore's offense to throw to his running backs to that level, at least based on his track record in the three previous. stops he's been and even last year with the Saints. It just lowers the ceiling for Travis E.

You know, I think the potential is still there for him to be a very successful fantasy running back because he's going to be in an explosive offense based on what we saw last year with Tyler Shuck and obviously Kellynne Moore's history. But if you were hoping for him to be, at least for me, you know, top 12 guy, someone that you should take in the first three rounds, I'm out. The earliest I would take a chance on him as round four, and that might even be too soon. Heath? Yeah, I don't really know. What I was really kind of thinking about this morning, and I've kind of, this felt like one

of those things where somebody in every draft was drafting him as if Camaro was going to be gone at some point. Like, whoever took him in round three was drafting him kind of like, well, Camara's not going to be there. And so now, like, I agree with Jamie, the guy that I'm kind of struggling with. him with is Tony Pollard. It's a better offense, but I'm not sure that he's going to have

more touches. And I have those two back to back right now, RB21 and RB22. I mean, they are not even close in ADP, right? So ETN on CBS is going 38th. Tony Pollard. Where's H.C.N. Chan.

And the thing is, I went back and I watched this press conference because people are saying that I was pronouncing it wrong when I said A-chan. And he said A-chan. And then he even spelled it out like A-chan. So I just, I hope it's not confusing for people. But Travis E.

is going 38th, I think I said. And Tony Powell is going 69th. And on fantasy pros, it's basically the same. He's going 39th. Travis E. Chan for the Saints. And Tony Pollard is going 74th. All right. We'll talk more about that some other time.

Let's do a few more notes here. Ian Rappaport thinks Patrick Mahomes is on track for week one. Cool. David for owner, don't know how to pronounce the name. Foroners of the Sun Sentinel, sorry, David, said that Jalen Tolbert appeared to be the top target for Malik Willis this offseason.

And that's not the first time we've heard something like that. So is that the guy if you were going to draft a Dolphins wide receiver, Jamie? Would you draft Tolbert? He was the one I had ranked the highest. And then there was the last offseason report, um, minicamp or whatever, that it was Malik Washington.

So I think it's those two guys based on their track records as the two you want to target if you're looking for who probably has the best floor. I still think if you're looking for who has the best ceiling, you're hoping Chris Bell is going to be healthy and able to play week one, the rookie that they drafted at Louisville coming off in ACL tear. That being said, it's just such an open canvas of anyone could be the guy for Malik Willis. And really, I think the reality is, is like you hope just Devon, A. Chan gets a lot of opportunities, but that's what we're skeptical of. We're going to talk about

Greg Dulshitz a little bit in terms of what his chances are because he could be the guy from Miami. It's just, I think you get to the end of your draft. It's similar to the Raiders at a lesser scale. Just take a shot on a Dolphins receiver. And if that guy gets off to a hot start, then you may have had a pretty good sleeper and some of you got with a great pick. And Jim Wyatt of Tennessee Titans.com thinks that Taijay Spears has a chance for a bigger role as a rusher and a receiver this season. And he also, Jim Wyatt, expected a bigger role for Spears last season,

but then Spears hurt his ankle in the first preseason game he started the year on IR. So it's possible that he just has a bigger chunk. Maybe he just wasn't really healthy last year. So after week five, because week five is the first game back and he only played 25% of the snaps. After that, he averaged 9.5 touches per game.

not a lot I think when you're when you're talking you know we who's going to be the next this next that to me Taijay Spears could be the next Kenneth Gainwell yeah he's their third down guy I mean he had 45 catches on 50 targets

in what 12 games I don't know but we can look it up he had 45 catches on 50 targets in 13 games but technically he had zero targets in one of those games so he did have 45 catches on 50 targets and 12 games

Again, like, I don't think of Tony Pollard's healthy, Tadze Spears is great as a standalone running back, but he could be a potential flex in deeper leagues in PPR. Yeah, I mean, it wasn't a huge difference. If you look at the last two years, Tony Pollard, I mean, it's kind of is a big difference, right? Tony Pollard in 2024, average 13.9 carries when Spears was healthy, like played a normal snapshot. So that number went from 13.9 in 20204 to 14.5 in 2025. So that's not nothing, I guess, half a carry per game. And there's the wild card of Singleton, the rookie that they drafted.

Yeah. And there's the break that we're going to take. And when we come back, how many tight ends in tier one? Is it just the two guys or did Colston Loveland sneak in there? Depends who you ask. We'll be right back on fantasy football today. All right. obviously these guys agree that tier one is just the top two guys it's bowers and mcgo oh no never mind

it's three guys for heath so for jamie it's bowers and mcbride for heath it's bowers mcbride and colston loveland really interesting heath why is lovelin in a tier with those two studs because i didn't want to put colston lovelin in a tier by himself and mess up the graphics for the next 17 tiers but turns out that happened anyway i have colston loveland close much closer in terms of my rankings and projections to McBride and Bowers than I do to the guys who are behind him. I think if there is a guy who makes the leap and outscores McBride or Bowers, Loveland is definitely the most likely guy to do that. I would have no argument if somebody wanted to have Bowers and McBride in Tier 1 and Loveland in Tier 2 and then another Tier 3, but I was just trying to put some guys together. So, Jamie, how did you approach it with Loveland? He's obviously not in the Bowers-McBride.

tier, but did you think about putting him in his own tier? Yeah, I agree with Heath. You know, he's, he's the one that's got the most potential to take a leap. I mean, obviously, Tyler Warren could, Sam LaPorte could, Kyle Pitts could, you know, all those guys could. But Loveland, just based on the way he finished last season, the loss of DJ Moore, Ben Johnson's offense, his history with tight ends, like, there's just everything to love about this guy.

And I do think if there's anybody that's going to be drafted in the first three rounds, along with Bowers and McBride, it's definitely a loved one. So I did consider putting him in a tier by himself, but I kind of lumped him with the next group of guys, which I think is where most fantasy managers are going to try and target their tight ends because a lot of people just don't want to reach

for Bowers or McBride or McBride or McBride Bowers, whoever you have it ranked in the first two or three rounds, I guess. So on CBS right now, looking at average draft position, McBride and Bowers are going at the one-two turn and Colston Lovewin is...

One-two-two-two-two- turn or two three turn? Thank you. Two, three turn and Loveland's going about 40th overall. On Fantasy Pros, McBride, it's similar. McBride's going 27th. Bowers is actually going 20th. That's a huge difference and a little surprising to me anyway. And Loveland 44th overall.

And I do think that it brings up an interesting dilemma if you have a pick, you know, around the one two turns. So you have one of the first three picks, maybe more like the first two picks in the in the draft and you're up in round two and you're going there's just no way i can get colson lovelin 47th 48th that just seems like so you're saying the two three turn again what do i say i say one two again he said one two again sorry thank you all right so you're sitting there at the two three turn and you're like i don't know if i want micbrider bowers but there's almost no way i can get loveland you know what do you do are you jamie or you just what do you at the at the two three turn

when it comes to tight end? I think your philosophy makes a lot of sense if it's a two-receiver league or a three-receiver league. So if you are in the three-receiver league, I'm probably looking wide receiver there. If you're in a two-receiver league, I'd be more inclined to take the tight end. You know, so if Bowers McBride, they're not a bad spot.

Look, Loveland has a tremendous opportunity to take a huge step forward. So does Tyler Warren. So does the other guys that I listed. I think if you're not comfortable taking the tight end there and you love the other players, whatever round you're up, but you love the other players there.

You can wait probably around. Laporta is kind of the one that slips. Pitts is the one people are scared of. Likely is still going to be there a little bit later. I think the healthier George Kittle gets, that's a great value pick. Travis Kelsey, as you noted, it was the first 14 games of the season last year

because Patrick Mills got hurt week 15. So 14 games of what Travis Kelsey gave you at 35 years old. I know he's 36. And I know Rashi Rice is back, but still great value pick as well. It's just, you know, year of the tight end. We say it every year. But last year was really the year of the tight end. And I think it could be replicated based on the talent that we have.

So I would probably wait unless you just love the potential of what these guys can be and don't love anybody else on the board. Really that latter part of it, I think, is what stands out. Yes. That's exactly what I was going to say is like if you're at the two, three turn, I'm just not drafting a tight end there and I'm not going to get Colston Loveland. I'm going to take one of the guys in the next tier in round five or six or seven or eight. Okay.

Yeah, just be aware. I mean, I don't think you need me to tell you. But if you don't take, if you want one of those top three tight ends, then you're up at the two, three turn and you don't take Bowers or McBride. You're probably not getting one of the top three tight ends. Just to finish up on Colston Loveland, you know, we spent a lot of time talking about these guys and there'll be more time to do it. but I you know the last three sophomore tight ends that were hyped up all flopped Kyle Pitts Sam Leporta and Brock Bowers

they all had circumstances that were sort of out of their control especially Pitts and Bowers you know Bowers obviously the knee injury in week one pits he played only 10 games and they had one of the worst passing offenses they had Marioada and Ritter and they added Drake London Laporta And he was hurt

Yeah he said yeah He was hurt Yeah um Loporta also I think came into the year He did he came into the year hurt He got off to a pretty bad start I think he was tied in 16 in his first 11 games But James and William's got more involved That was a big difference between Leporta

In his rookie year and his second season and he wasn't bad or anything. He just, he wasn't great. He closed the season, fantastic. He did, but they all did. And when he closed the season, fantastic, like Jared Golf was throwing 40 times a game was on pace for 5,500 yards.

It was just an amazing environment for everyone on that team. But it is worth noting, like these three young tight ends, they just did not live up to the hype in their second season. They all had extenuating circumstances. I don't know if it's, I don't think it really applies to Colston Love one. Hopefully he doesn't get hurt.

That's basically my takeaway. And they've, yeah, right, and they've removed a wide receiver. They didn't add a Drake London. They removed DJ Moore, who didn't have that many targets. And that's kind of like we're going to see that I'm trying to just push Harold Fannin back up because I hate after last year being lower than him on everybody else. But that's kind of the difference between the three second year tight ends is Loveland, they removed a wide receiver.

Warren, they removed a wide receiver. Fanon, they added two wide receivers. At the same time for Loveland, O'Dunzee, did miss a chunk of time and Luther Burden didn't even have 50 targets, right? So, you know, things, things will even out, I guess, a little bit from terms of targets. Okay, let's go to tiers two and three here. Ooh. Yeah.

So. Look at that. Right. So for, for Jamie defeats the whole purpose, but you got the, you got the names the same at least. Right. That's what you're trying to do. For Jamie, this is tier two for Jamie. Right.

It's Loveland, Warren, Lepard. Leporta, Kraft, Pitts, Fannin. So Loveland, who, you know, we already discussed, Warren, Leporta, Kraft, Pitts, Fannin. That is eight tight ends deep at this point. For Heath, tier two is Leporta, Pits, and Warren. Tier three is Fannin, Kraft, and Isaiah likely. So that's the only guy that's just like not in Jamie Zee.

second tier. So we'll come back to likely in a minute. But Heath, the reason I put the graphics up like this with Jamie having Loveland, Warren, Leporta, Kraft, Pitts, and Fannin all in one tier. And Heath having Leporta, Pitts, and Warren in one tier, Fanon and Kraft in a different tier, I want to talk about that. Why Heath are Leporta, Pitts, and Warren in a different tier ahead of Harold Fannin Jr. and Tucker Kraft.

So for the, like, the simplest answer is, I have those three guys projected for more targets than the other three guys. Tucker Kraft, if he is a full go in training camp, may jump into that tier two for me. Harold Fanon, if Shador Sanders wins the starting job, could move up a little bit for me. I'm pretty terrified of Deshaun Watson. And I also like the Brown's offense, I think, is definitely the worst of all of these guys. so that who who is the third no there isn't a third for jamie so yeah and i have a hard time putting colston loveland in the same tier as harold fanon because my expectations for the two of them are not

um are not anywhere similar yeah i mean i think jami already said he could have put lovelin in a tier by himself so we we understand that but again heath has leporta pitts and warren ahead of fanning and craft, not just ahead of, in a tier ahead of Fanon and Isaiah likely for that matter, whereas Jamie has Warren Laporta, Kraft, Pitts, and Fanon Jr. all in the same tier. So Jamie, I guess you don't see quite as much separation. I mean, there's definitely separation, you know, so there's almost like tiers within the tier. But I think just looking at it, like,

this is the, you know, early mid-round group of guys, if that makes sense. You know, so like rounds three through six, three through seven of where I expect most of these guys to go. The one that is sort of the wild card for me is Kraft coming off the injury. If he was not hurt, he might be tight end three because of what he accomplished last year or was on pace to accomplish last year. And then you're removing two guys. You know, we talk about the other guys that are losing players, Loveland losing somebody, Warren

losing somebody. Kraft lost one significant player in Romeo Dobbs and another part-time player in Donovan Wix, but now we're hoping to see concentrated targets in Green Bay. And if Kraft is healthy based on what he's done and again, was on pace to do as a breakout tight end, was number two in terms of points per game last year. There's just so much to love about the situation for him. So as the reports get better, you know, he may jump Laporta for me. I don't think he'll get ahead of Warren or Loveland, but I mean, the chance for Tucker Kraft to be a superstar is there. I did see one of the Twitter, is it, I don't mean this to

The Twitter doctors talking about the Packers being one of the more conservative teams when it comes to bringing players back from injury. So I guess I'm just a little bit more concerned that they slow play it with Kraft. And I would say like the other guy that I have in this tier, Isaiah likely is kind of the opposite. If Malik Neighbors is a full go-in training camp, he's going to fall out of this tier. But if he's not, then likely he'll be up here. And, you know, I think Kraft himself has said, he expects to be full go for week one. So we'll see.

And for what it's worth, Christian Watson coming off an ACL tear later in the year. Yeah. Was healthy much sooner than a lot of people expected. And also for what it's worth, Watson and Kraft, I think they played one game together, maybe one and a half.

So we never really saw them on the field at the same time. However, when Kraft was healthy, you had over 50 targets in eight games for Romeo Dobbs. So you still had that guy, like Jamie said, that was getting a lot of targets in Romeo Dobbs. And the good thing is, you know, Jamie, you mentioned rounds four through six. Well, on CBS, you, Sam Leporta is a mid-round six pick.

Warren, obviously, is ahead of that. He's a round five pick. But Fannin, or Pitts, Fanon, and Kraft, they're around seven guys. And on Fantasy pros, Pits is 91st. Fannin is 99th. Craft is 81st, and Leporta is 95th. So people are not drafting these guys in rounds four through six,

at least according to Fantasy Pro's ADP. And that's pretty cool. Because even if you don't like some of them, you're like, I'm nervous about Kyle Pitts. I understand the arguments for Pitts, but I'm nervous about him. But at Kyle Pitts is ADP, at 91st, yeah, I'll take him every day, any day. And that makes it really difficult to take the top tight ends at the two to three turn. However, if we just focus on this tier or these tiers for Heath,

I'm going to save likely for a little bit later when we get to him and Jamie's tier. Like, does it make set? Okay. If Tyler Warren is a mid-round five pick, how early would the other guys have to be going for you to say, I'm just going to take Tyler Warren. In other words, I'd rather have Warren in the fifth than Sam Leporta, Tucker, Kraft, Kyle Pitts, and Harold Fann & Jr. in the maybe the seventh round.

But if they're in the ninth round, they're in the eighth round, I'll just take the, I'll take the non-Waron guy. Heath, does my question make any sense? And can you answer it? It makes more sense to Jamie because I like Leporta and Pitts more than Warren. Okay, then Jamie, I'll ask you, how much separation does there need to be between Warren and the other guys for that to say, like, okay, I'm not taking Tyler Warren anymore. Now I'm just going to wait for the other guys.

Probably two rounds, and it kind of goes back to the last two shows that we've done, because that's the range of some still good running backs and some excellent wide receivers. So, you know, again, whatever tight end you want to talk about, if you look at the board and you say, because it's still early enough, your team is not by any stretch complete, and you say, wow, three receiver league, I love this as my second receiver, maybe even more importantly, your third receiver or this is the second running back that I want to dive into and, you know, put on my roster. And I can wait and hopefully get one of these guys later. And again, that factors in, for Heath, likely in in this group, for me, likely it's just a little bit later. And then Kelsey

and Kittle, like, there's still very good tight ends that are on the board. So I think if you just don't love the receivers and running backs or you haven't taken your quarterback yet, don't like that guy either, then pull the trigger on the tight end and know that you're getting a potential breakout candidate because Tyler Warren was excellent with Daniel Jones last year and now, loses 111 targets with Michael Pitman going. I sure do. And guess who led the team in targets? It was Tyler Warren by one over Michael Pittman.

I was just looking. That's another one. I have Warren projected to lead his team in targets. So I'm going to say four to five tight ends lead their team in targets. He also led the team in red zone targets and green zone targets. In the first seven games of the year, he was the number three tight end per game. Then he cooled off a little bit. But in 12 games with Daniel Jones, Tyler Warren was the number seven tight end per game.

And then in five games without Daniel Jones, Jones, he was horrible. He was on pace with 116 targets, but no touchdowns just like dreadful. I know Harold Fanon probably should be in this conversation, but as Heath alluded to with the receivers that they added, he's probably not. But Warren's first half of the season, beginning part of the season, first 10 games with Daniel Jones,

Colston Loveland was miserable during that stretch. Colston Loveland was amazing at the end of the season, into the playoffs, 10 targets per game. We saw everything that he was capable of doing. if Warren had finished the way Colston Loveland had finished, and then you say you're losing Michael Pittman, see some comments in the chat about, I'll take Warren over Loveland,

I'll take Warren at his cost over Loveland. It's not hard to see a better season for Tyler Warren. Yeah, it's obviously I don't really know what I'm doing when it comes to breaking down tape, but when I watched the two of them in college, I liked Warren a lot more than Loveland. When I watched the two of them in the NFL, I like Loveland pretty significant.

I don't know about a lot, but more than Warren. I don't really know why. They were very different players. One thing I like about Warren is that they ran a, they designed a lot of plays for him. A lot of screen passes, a lot of easy stuff for him, whereas Loveland was more of a downfield guy. I don't know how he ran kind of a slowish 40 because he looks super fast out there, Colson Loveland. But Warren at least would get these like easy catches, but he just didn't look as

explosive to me as as Loveland. It was weird. I think we have our our gronk, Graham, our Gonzalez Gates. Like, these two guys are going to be pretty special for a long time. I hope so.

Obviously, I think people are going to favor the Bears offense, except I just will remind everyone the Colts were the highest scoring team in football with Daniel Jones. But I also favor the Bears offense. And that's what I'll come down to. Before we go to break, for a lot of people.

Before we go to break, Heath, the arguments for Leporta and Pitts, how much of it is the new head coach or offensive coordinator and their tight-end tendencies? That is maybe half of it. And then I think it's probably worth saying that rookie year Leporto

was better than any of these second-year tight-ins that we're excited about. Last year, Pitts was better than any of these second-year tight-ins we're excited about. like they are not bums who just got new tight-end centric coaches and so now we're elevating them up. They are exceptional tight-ins in their own right. The Porter, I think, is the one that you have to have a little bit more,

you got to make a little bit more of an argument for, not because of his talent, because I think it is evident. It's just, is there enough opportunities for him because of, Amon Rost, St. Brown, who's going to, you know, get the final say in play calling? Because I still think there's some questions that as a season unfolds. I don't think going into the year, I think it's going to be petting. But, like, we can see why petting has used his tight ends. We can see where he's come from and Kevin Stefansky's offense.

But I think, and I know you're not doing this, but I think if anybody's like, I love Sam Leporto because Petting did this with Tray McBride. He did this with Tray McBride because McBride is a different play. and that offense is different, and they needed McBride. They don't need Leporta to be McBride. And so Leporta, if he gets back to his rookie level production, which for the most part, a lot of his success came from his touchdowns. He scored 10 plus touchdown.

If he can get back to doing that and maybe add a little bit more, he doesn't have to score 10, but, you know, 8 plus, if he could do a little bit more. And hopefully, and this is the, you know, pro con versus Jameson Williams, keep James and Williams a little bit in a sort of third tier type of role. because as we talked about with Jameson Williams, he didn't really take off until Leporta's back injury. And so if Leporta's healthy,

can everybody contribute and be successful, it's hard to imagine that. So you know what St. Brown's going to do. And then it really comes down to what Leporta does versus James and can both of them coexist and be successful fantasy options. I'm going to lead more toward Loporta. We'll see how it all pans out.

Adam, we always talk about how tight-ins, I think you already said it once on the show, like tight-ins who are good are generally top two on their team and targets. what's your expectation for the target share for Leporta, Jameson, and Gibbs? Because he doesn't have to beat out, like he's not, he didn't have to ding St. Brown at all. He just has to, he has to be the clear number, he has to be the number two. Yeah. And he had a, he was in the first, in the, in the, in, before his injury, he was the clear number two,

but he still only had 49 targets in nine games. My expectation is, I would say Leport. full season about jeez 100 to 105 targets pretty close to jamison Williams and then Gibbs maybe 75

just the numbers out I've got it 116 for Leporta 99 for JMO 87 for Gibbs yeah everything is everything's on the table there I like I like Loporta better than Pitz

do we all like Porta better than Pitts? Yes. Yes. Okay. But Heath has Laporta and Pitts ahead of Tyler Warren, which is different. And we'll take a break and get to the next tier. And good players, still good players that you might be living in this world at tight end.

Tiers 4 and 5 or 3 and 4, depending on which analyst, we'll be right back on FFT. That game was so good yesterday. Oh, man. The soccer game. Jesus. I'm so happy we get one more messy game and it's not France. I tell you, why are you happy that it's not France? I don't know.

I just, I really grew to dislike them, watching them. So I was cheering against them. And I'm very happy about it. I'm sorry if you like France. They really, this World Cup's been incredible. Yes. Listen, I don't know much about, I don't know much about soccer, but I do know it's not usually this good.

It's amazing. What did you say? It's been a fun tournament. Yeah, it really has. Okay, let's get to the next tier. So this is basically tiers three and four for Jamie and tier four for Heath. And they both have Kelsey, Kittle, Andrews, and Goddard,

in some order. Kelsey, Kittle, Andrews, and Goddard. And also, Jamie has likely in here. So, let's, Let's just say we're at the point we're toward the back end of the top 12 and maybe a little bit past that. We're looking at guys at rounds probably nine or later for the most part. Kittle, or let's say eight or later. Kittle, Kelsey, likely, who was a tier earlier for Heath, Dallas Goddard and Mark Andrews.

But Jamie has Chig O'Conquo and Dalton Kincaid in here to have O'Concoe and Kincaid in the same tier as Future Hall of famers George Kittle, Travis Kelsey. Not the same tier. Oh, damn it. I'm sorry, right, because we combine them. Crap. This is how you messed things up, Adam. Yes, good. You're banished.

We have Adam gone. Adam's face gone again. This is fantastic. I actually got a little bit, I maybe shouldn't have done this because there are some guys that are in similar projections with my tier, whatever this is now from Adam. I think it's my tier four. you look fantastic at him

but I kind of just went with the old guys who might be awesome in Kelsey Andrews, Kittal, and Goddard Okay All right, so Jamie, I'm sorry to mix that up there Your tier three is Kittal, Kelsey, and likely Your tier four is Oconquo, Goddard, Kincaid, and Andrews All right

So what are we looking at here, Heath, in terms of old guys likely to be awesome how bad could they be though, Kelsey, Andrews, Kittal, and Goddard? I mean, I think Andrews and Goddard could be bad just because they're bad, don't score touchdowns. They are the touchdown dependent borderline tight-end ones, but they also have shown us, and especially in their offenses, that they may be amongst the most likely guys to score 10 touchdowns in a season, even though they may not have 100 targets. Kiddell could be bad because he's not healthy

or his yak's gone, which it was last year. I think the worst Kelsey's going to be if he's healthy is just kind of mid. I think he's going to be a top 12 tight end just because he's going to get the targets and at least in full PPR, maybe not none.

And Jamie, when you consider the fact that based on average draft position, Isaiah likely is absolutely in this tier. what's different, you know, why wouldn't I draft from this tier? Kittal, Kelsey, likely, Goddard, Andrews, compared to, you know, the Fannins and the Porta's and pitts of the world? It's fantastic. I mean, again, you know, this first time, I said this few weeks ago, first time since Kelsey's rookie season, that he's not a top five tight end based on ADP. Kittle is the hardest one to, you know, sort of rank and project because of his injury, you know, suffering an Achilles tear in the wildcard round of the playoffs.

And, you know, I mean, it's easy to be optimistic about it after you see him with the video footage from Tid NU and he's running around and looking fine. Like, that's extremely encouraging. Last year, he didn't have the same type of talent around him from a receiver standpoint. Now they have Mike Evans, they have Christian Kirk, they have a second round rookie and Deshawn's dribbling. There's competition that he didn't really have to deal with. And listen, he's had a hard time staying healthy. Last year he missed the first half of the season or a good portion of the first half of the season with a hamstring injury. So at 32 coming off the Achilles tear, but his track record is so amazing.

Eight straight seasons. We've posted our tears. Dave's, again, I said this yesterday. Dave's are done. Mine will be done this week. I actually wrote tight ends last week, so just one little switch that I made after I sent in my tears. I switched Andrews and Kincaid from a ranking standpoint.

But Kittle, eight straight years of 10 plus half PPR points per game, which is unreal of what his just consistency has been. Now he misses time, so you have to understand that, but just track records there. Likely, I love the upside. I mean, couldn't agree more with Heath of, I think, where he could end up, especially if neighbors misses part of the season.

But we keep hearing this drumbeat about want to run the ball, want to run the ball. And it's not just that they added likely. I think we kind of overlooked the fact. I know Dan and maybe he reiterates it today if he still feels the same way. When they signed Darnal Mooney, he was so excited about Mooney and the fit for Jackson Dart. Malachi Fields is going to, I think, take away some touchdown opportunities if he does see the field enough. And then obviously if neighbors is there, I think likely ceiling could be limited. That being said, he's never had this opportunity before.

And there's a reason I think he goes with Harbaugh, Harbaugh hopefully will unleash his potential, nine games in his career with at least six targets and averaged over 16 PPR points per game in those nine games. You know, so like just give him opportunities and he can be an absolute stud. So if you don't want to go early with the two tight ends, you don't want to jump in with that group of Loveland, Warren, Pitts, Leporta, whatever. Like wait for Kittle Kelsey or likely, whatever, or you think they're going to go. and even waiting a step further for O'Conk was kind of in pencil because I think there could be somebody coming in Washington, which would take him out of this group. Goddard, 11 touchdowns last year, top 10 tight end for almost every year of his career, six years in a row for sure.

Kincade, you mentioned targets per round run was amazing last year. He's got to stay healthy. And Andrews, no likely a tight end guru in Declan Doyle, I made the joke half-heartedly. he's related to Mike Ditka. He was a tight end's coach in his previous two stops. Like, tight end is in his DNA. And if he doesn't use Mark Andrews, who should be second on the team of targets,

I don't know what he's doing with this Ravens offense. And we don't really talk about Goddard without A.J. Brown enough. Well, maybe we just don't boost him that much, whereas I feel Devante Smith obviously got a huge boost. Four games about him. He was great. Yeah. And obviously all the touchdowns last year.

but as you mentioned, Jamie, I have him as top 10 per game in five of the last six seasons, top 13 per game in seven straight seasons, and that's in full PPR. He's usually a little bit better and non and half PPR. In four seasons with A.J. Brown,

he's been fifth, 12th, 10th, and sixth per game. So he's got an opportunity here to be even more involved. He's only at 82 targets in 15 games. Why do we think Mark Andrews Heath can be great with two years in a row of him just really not being targeted. Isaiah likely's gone, and Lamar Jackson's awesome, and they only threw 420 times last year,

and they're probably going to throw maybe 20% more this year, and Andrews has shown the ability to score double-digit touchdowns. Yeah, just two years ago, he was eighth per game at the position, but he did that with a, 11 touchdowns, I think. 11 touchdowns on 69 targets in 17 games, which is bonkers. Last year he was 26th per game, Mark Andrews. Okay.

Jamie, quick thoughts on Ocunco and Kincaid. I know you said O'Concoe was in Pencil, but do you really think he could perform like Goddard and likely and Kelsey and Kittal and be even close to them? Well, I guess he's in a difference here than Kittal, Kelsey Unlakelykeightly. But Godd and Andrews and Kincaid, I guess. Yeah, O'Connell and Kincaid discuss. So a lot of vacated targets with Debo Samuel and Zach Ertz gone.

I think it's like 150 targets in that range, 99 for Samuel. I think it was like 40 some odd for Eertz. Ertz in 2024 with a healthy Jane Daniels was a top 12 tight end. And so now you're giving opportunity. You have a quarterback that has leaned on his tight end before, at least that's a track record. Oconquo, similar to what I said about Isaiah likely. I don't have the numbers in front of me, but a small sample size. Six plus targets.

he's obviously had success. So, you know, again, assigning target opportunities to him, that should be huge. Look, once you get past for me, the first 11 tight ends, because I think that's going to be what it shakes out based on average job position. Maybe Cotter sneaks into that group, if people are concerned about Kill, I just haven't seen that. Maybe the same thing with Andrews, again, if we get a setback for any of the tight ends that are dealing with injuries. But tight end 12, I think there's three guys. Goddard and Andrews are easy to say. because they've done it before.

Goddard coming off the season just had loses AJ Brown. I think O'Conco, there's always these guys that kind of take that step forward, and this is his chance. Now, he's had trouble dropping the football. You have Jane Daniels injury, but you said at the start of show, first or second on the team of targets. He could easily be second on the team in targets, not a stretch. And so Goddard has the McCoy Lemon potential problem there.

Andrews is just falling off at 30 years old? And let's not forget, they also drafted two rookie wide. receivers that could be a factor for Lamar Jackson as well as Ashad Bateman being there. So maybe Andrews just is not good anymore. But I would buy back into him. But still, I'm looking for upside, and that's kind of where I look at with O'Concoe. We had a good comment from the chat says I rarely use two tight ends, but this year I may flex a second tight end.

I remember like my second year at CBS, I drafted Kelsey and Kittle or Kelsey or Gronk. And Adam told me it was the stupidest thing anybody's ever done in the draft. But just for reference. these guys in tier four for me and most of the guys in tier three or four for Jamie I have projected right around wide receiver 44 in full PPR right around RB 33 in full PPR.

So I don't think it's insane like if you already have a tight end and you really like Kelsey's been there in round 11 of some of our drafts or Kittles there and you want to just plan on flexing a tight end. You can do that. Sure. can please do it in my league i think did i did i did do it last year also i think i think i did bowers and mcbride right in the ffti league yes i don't remember how i finished that league but i

made the playoffs and yeah i i think i mean correct me if i'm wrong here but it's going to be more likely to be doing this pun intended i guess if you're in a three receiver league you know then i can see your flex being a a tight end but if you're in a two receiver league two running backs two receivers and your flex is a tight end, I think you probably don't have good enough receivers. Well, if you're in a two receiver league, then you should have a double flex. You should, but a lot of people don't. Dalton Kincaid, you know, look, the guy's actually, he gets targeted a lot, a lot, 27.2%, 24.3% target per route run rate the last two seasons, but he just, he's been

so bothered by injuries, he's not been able to run a lot of routes. Unfortunately, they added DJ more so, but he's still probably a good player. First round pick. All right, let's go to our next tier here. Tier 5. Big one for Jamie. It's Jake Ferguson, Greg Dulcich, Orande Gadsden, Brenton Strange,

Gunner Helm, Dalton Schultz, Joanne Johnson, and Kenyon Sadiq, Ferguson, Dulcich, Gadsden, Strange, Gunner Helm, Schultz, Joan Johnson, Kenyon Sadiq. And interestingly, only two of those guys are in Tier 5 for Heath,

Schultz and Strange, but Kincaid is also in Tier 5 for Heath. He's a tier earlier for Jamie, and Heath has Hunter Henry in this tier. All right. We don't want anyone. I don't know.

I don't know why. Oh, that's fantastic. You know, he was once upon a time. I don't know why you didn't put my tier six on here so that we could have more of the guys matched up. Listen, man, I don't know what I'm doing anymore. I'm so glad Tears Week is over from a video standpoint. But we don't want any of these guys to be our starters, right?

No. Ideally, no. And ideally, you shouldn't have to, you know, especially, sorry, Heath. Go ahead. No, I was, I had muted. I was telling somebody that was knocking on my door that I was currently on a podcast. I think from the perspective of if you factor in the previous tier, like if you believe in, Andrews, Goddard, O'Conquo, you know, I guess if you want to throw these guys for Heath,

you know, Schultz and maybe Strange, Kincaid as well. Like, that's kind of where I think it should cut off. Fourteen teams leagues a little bit different. Somebody's going to take two tight ends. You might get screwed. But like you should be able to find one of the, at least for, you know, my list, one of the top 15 guys to be your starter and I'd be okay with that. Okay. So the two players to me that sort of stand out as a little different in this. Megateeer for Jamie out of Ferguson, Dulcich, Gadsden, Strange, Helm, Schultz, Johnson, Joan Johnson, and Sadiq. I guess I'd say Dulcich because he has a chance to be number one on the team in targets. And I guess I'd say Gadsden because he might be the most, well, Sadiq is the most, maybe the most explosive.

But, but, you know, he's a rookie. It's going to be tough. Yeah, I, I want to move Gadsden up. the chargers are not making things easier. It's like every week they leak another player's name that they are really excited to get the ball to. We've got now, Amarian Hampton, Kamani Vidal,

and Keaton Mitchell are all going to have a role at running back. We've got three wide receivers. We've got three tight ends. It was Charlie Kohler week this week, I think. They have David Najoku on the team also. It's just, I really, I don't like their lack of clarity. If they had not signed the Joku, Strange would have been two tiers up. Gatston.

I'm sorry, Gadsden would have been two tiers up. Strange is so much target competition that I don't even know that he would be worth starting if there was one injury at wide receiver. Right. You know, whereas Jake Ferguson could be a top five guy if there was one injury at wide receiver. It's funny to think about like Ferguson's year last year because it was so quiet in the second half of the season. Yeah. He still had 100 targets.

He was outperforming George Pickens early in the year. He was Kyle Pitts, man. He did everything when Lamb was out, right? Yeah. And Pitts did it all when London was out. I thought Ferguson had a little success early in the year when everybody was healthy. It was Lamb early in the season before Pickens became a thing. And then it was a little bit of before Lamb came back or sorry, right when Lamb came back when he still wasn't 100% healthy.

Well, okay, there's only two games before Lam got hurt. And, you know, he had six targets at Philadelphia at 7.3 points, Jake Ferguson. And then he had nine catches for 78 yards on 12 targets in an overtime shootout against the Giants. And then, yeah, he went bonkers. And with Lamb out, he scored 21.2, 17,

23.9 and 12.3 points. And then he had 21.9 points in Lamb's first game back against the horrible Washington team. And then he was pretty bad, like really bad rest of season. Didn't even reach 12 points the entire rest of season. So, yeah, I mean, Ferguson would be, if Lamb or Pickens missed any time, Ferguson would be the lead of the waiver wire column, Jamie. I'll write it for you now.

But it's tough. He's in a tough spot in that regard. I think you might have been discounting strange just a little bit. they do have too much target competition. But he's going to play, he's pretty much a full-time player. He's going to play 80% of the snaps most weeks or 75. And so I think he might be a borderline top 12 tied end even if nobody gets hurt.

And look, it happens every year. Someone from this tier is probably going to emerge and be really good. It's just, that's the kind of position this is. Obviously, injuries will play a big part of it because targets are everything at this position. What about Hunter Henry Heath? You have him in your fifth tier? He just kind of seems like he's always in this range.

He's probably going to average nine fantasy points per game, and he's going to have some touchdown weeks where he's a good streamer. I'm not excited to draft him. Tighten 14 per game last year. Obviously, the AJ Brown edition hurts Hunter Henry. What's that? And Dobbs. Yeah, yeah.

Do we have time for another tier? Do we even have another tier? You do. Let's see. Some guys on this list that used to be in earlier tiers like Nojoku, Hawkinson, and Ingram. So Jamie's tier six is Hunter Henry, Najoku, Hawkinson, Ingram, A.J. Barner, Terence Ferguson, Michael Mayer, Pat Friermuth, Kate Otten. I know a lot of names there to digest, if you're listening.

And for Heath, it's Joanne Johnson, who is in Tier 5 for Jamie, Greg Dolcich, who was in Tier 5 for Jamie. Jamie. T.J. Hawkinson, who is also in tier six for Jamie. Chego Conquo, who was in tier four, I believe, for Jamie, and O'Ronday Gadsden, who is in tier five for Jamie. When you look at Hawkinson and Ingram, who's most likely to bounce back? Hawkinson. I hope Hawkinson. Evan Ingram's going to have to bounce back to like eight years ago. and let's see is it disappointing to you that some of the year two tight ends are not in you know like you do have

terence fergus in here but but uh a royo is not in here i mean the tier two tight ends were in tier one we're in tier one and two there was like mason taylor elijah rio got crushed obviously for to the expedition. Ferguson and a royal are interesting. I think Ferguson's just got so much, you know, the fact that they added

another tight end from Michigan in the draft, that they still have Parkinson, that they still have Higby, like, you can talk about talent all you want to. It's just not opportunities there. All right.

I don't have much to say about this, but he... You don't need to. Yeah. Give me your thoughts on Joanne Johnson. We've talked about him. I'm Jordan Tyson's there now.

yeah okay well that was a good show let's get tier seven up there thomas just kidding uh that's it for uh for the tight ends oh very he he Jamie how excited are you for the mailbag I'm I was just gonna say I'm very excited I was gonna ask Keith who do you think is going to uh I'm I guess I'll play the role of judge like in the airing of grievances who do you think I went aside with um so I I hope Scott fish is there because he's so nice and these guys are going to be so unbearable that scott's going to have a hard time being nice um but i you know i think you'll probably side with dan because dan usually sides with you when he's on the show and so um that that that'll help and i it probably also depends as well as like whether adam brings the booster seat back or not because he has a more commanding presence when he sits a little higher in his chair

I don't have a booster seat, okay? One of my airing of grievances is used own fork for family-style serving. So I'm really excited to talk about that one. What a disgusting. He used his own fork in the community food? We were out at dinner, like a nice dinner in Philadelphia, and he used his own fork at family style. After he'd taken bites? Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah. Okay. Yeah, that's a good one. You win that one. No, but there's more to it than that. He's George Costanza. That's it. That's a little unfair to him.

It's a little unfair to him. I'm leaving out some of the context, but that is the headline. That's funny how you get upset about that. Why? What do you mean? What's that about it? Because that's my thing is I'll usually leave out a key point. Oh, you are.

Oh, yeah, for sure. For sure. Jamie was just like, Adam stole something from another company. And then it'll be like the most innocuous thing. All right. Anyway, Festivist episode. If you're a YouTuber, it's on Thursday. If your audio, it'll be on Friday. We'll air our grievances. And we will talk to you later on fantasy football today. On podcasts. Criminal Minds Evolution is back on Paramount Plus.

We are going to go where the evidence takes us. This season, evil is contagious. Once it starts, it can't be stopped. Criminal Minds Evolution. New season now streaming on Paramount Plus. Thank you.