Fantasy Football Today - Regression Alert: Better Days Ahead for T.J. Hockenson, Kyle Pitts, and Darren Waller? - FFT in 5 (05/29 Fantasy Football podcast)

Starting point is 00:00:00 When it comes to Smart Water Alkaline 9.5 plus pH with antioxidant, there's nothing to overthink. So, while you may be performing mental gymnastics over whether the post-work gym crowd is worth it, if you'll be able to find a spot for your yoga mat, or if that spin instructor will make you late for dinner again, don't overthink how you hydrate. Life's full of choices. Smart Water Alkaline is a simple one. Metrolinks and Crosslinks are reminding everyone to be careful as Eglinton Crosstown LRT train testing is in progress.

Starting point is 00:00:39 Please be alert as trains can pass at any time on the tracks. Remember to follow all traffic signals. Be careful along our tracks and only make left turns where it's safe to do so. Be alert, be aware, and stay safe. Regression or progression. Tight end edition. Next on Fantasy Football Today in 5.

Starting point is 00:01:07 Welcome to FFT in 5. I'm Chris Towers. I'm here with Dan Schneier. We're talking about some tight ends. Taking a look at what they did last season and whether we think they're going to be better or worse than they were a year ago. And, you know, we just recorded, you heard it on your feet on Friday, some bounce back stuff. And we talked about Mark Andrews. I don't think we need to go into him. I think everybody expects him to be better this season than he was last season. But let's start with one of the big surprises of last season, TJ Hawkinson, who ended up being the number four tight end in points per game.

Starting point is 00:01:41 He was number two tight end in overall scoring last season, obviously played a huge role after that trade to miniatura minnesota do we think he's going to be better or worse in 2023 i'm gonna go with worse here chris i just think what we're looking at this minnesota team a lot of what we saw with hockington last year was volume based now you bring in jordan addison who quite clearly at this stage of his career versus adam dealin is going to offer you more from a separation standpoint that dealing could could give Minnesota last year. And so I think Addison kind of becomes,

Starting point is 00:02:08 and especially in the ways that Addison wins, it's in similar areas to where Hawkinson wins. It's those layup routes, as I like to call them. Those get open quick and present as target right away for the quarterbacks. It doesn't have to hold on to the football. So if that rapport starts to build with Cousins and Addison early, that's when I think you start to jump off the Hawkinson trade. To me, he's not worth the premium price that it costs to get him.

Starting point is 00:02:28 Yeah, I mostly agree with that. I think he's... It's always tough when you're talking about the tight end position because when you're playing fantasy football, I play and analyze fantasy baseball, and the rosters are so much bigger, right? You're starting 23 players in a Roto League. In fantasy football, you're starting nine. And it's a kicker and a defense right? You're starting 23 players in a Roto league and fantasy football.

Starting point is 00:02:45 You're starting nine and it's a kicker and a defense. So like you're actually good players. There's only a handful of spots for them. And I want as many possible difference makers as I can in each spot. And TJ Hawkinson, like it's nice to have a tight end that you just don't have to worry about. Right? Like he's probably going to get like eight points

Starting point is 00:03:06 at minimum every game he's going to catch four passes for 40 yards in his worst games right and you'll get the occasional you know eight catches for 90 yards and a touchdown kind of game from him but like he's probably not going to be a consistent difference maker and that's a tough player to to invest in especially if it's going to cost a fifth-round pick like it might with Hawkinson. So that's a tough one. A guy who certainly has difference-making potential. And I think I don't want to speak for you, but I certainly assume Kyle Pitts is going to take a big step forward from where he was last season. What do you think?

Starting point is 00:03:41 This is a tough one for me, Chris. I love Kyle Pitts' prospect. I've been in your camp. We've both been drafting him way too much the past season i just know it in auction leagues i've gone crazy i put him in the but i love the talent but i am very concerned that desmond ritter will be as bad as marcus mariotta was as a passer and now we have bijan robinson in the mix there in atlanta who's going to take a lot more touches than the Atlanta backs took last year on a percentage basis, who potentially could be a lot more involved in the passing game than those backs were last year. And I don't know if I see the pie like for him to get where he needs to go to become this fantasy difference maker. So I am

Starting point is 00:04:19 very concerned with Kyle Pitts. Obviously, if you just looked at a season long, he's going to be better because he was injured last year, but on a per game basis, I'm going to say same. Yeah. The one thing I will point out is, you know, Ritter and his four starts averaged. It was right around five to six pass attempts per game, more than Marcus Mariota. And you know, that doesn't sound like a huge difference,

Starting point is 00:04:41 but over the course of the season, you're talking about a hundred plus passes. So, you know, that's where I think even if not much changes, even if Desmond Ritter isn't very good, I do think Kyle Pitts, he'll get back to the 800 yard range, I think. But whether he can get to 65 yards per game, I think that's a different question. What about Darren Waller, progression or regression from him? I hate to answer these questions with the giant stuff in my background, but I can only see progression going forward with Darren Waller progression or regression from him? I hate to answer these questions with the giant stuff in my background, but I can only see progression going forward with Darren Waller. He's already been taking really well to the,

Starting point is 00:05:11 to the coaching and to the system. He's picked it up fast. He in OTAs just recently today when we're recording, he was a star of OTAs. That means nothing. They're in shorts and shells. I get it. But Daniel Jones is like,

Starting point is 00:05:21 I haven't had a six foot six player in my entire career. And he's a true six, six. And I just feel like what we saw last year with Brian Dable, Mike Kafka was, they found a way to maximize Daniel Bellinger, Daniel Hudson. They had Lawrence Kager off waivers in the red zone who were scoring

Starting point is 00:05:36 touchdowns for them. So in the red zone specifically, that's where they really shine with these tight ends. We saw Kafka do it with Travis Kelsey, obviously in some of those backup tight ends when he was with the chief. So I just think Waller is a really good chance to get the double digit touchdowns. And that alone makes him give some progression from last season. The one thing I would point out is this is a 31-year-old or soon to be 31-year-old who has

Starting point is 00:05:57 missed a decent amount of time over the past couple of seasons with soft tissue injuries. He also hasn't had 80 yards or more in a game since week 11 of the 2021 season. So, you know, it's not just bouncing back. It's, you know, staying healthy. And obviously the opportunity is there, but I'm not 100% convinced that I want to pay a premium for him. What about Evan Ingram coming off a career best season with the Jaguars?

Starting point is 00:06:23 Do you think he's going to be better or worse in 2020? Regression for sure here, Chris. I just, there's not enough balls to go around that Jaguars offense. A lot of talented players. Calvin Ridley comes back into the mix. Trevor Lawrence takes a progression from a passing standpoint, starts to throw more downfield. A lot of those layup throws that were going to Ingram

Starting point is 00:06:38 are no longer going to Ingram. They're going to Ridley or even Christian Kirk on the vertical plane. So look, I think it's going to be, he's still going to have some blow up games, but they're going to be, he's going to be a much better best ball player. Yeah. He had that three game stretch where he caught 11, eight and seven passes from weeks 14 through 16. You look at the games that were around that one. It was one catch for four yards, five catches for 30 yards, one catch for 16 yards, and then had one good playoff game, one bad playoff game. So, yeah, I think we kind of remember the big blow up during the fantasy playoffs,

Starting point is 00:07:10 and that might make us think that Evan Ingram was a little better than he was. But, yeah, I don't expect him to take a step forward. And with the addition of Calvin Ridley, I think it's entirely possible he's a little worse next season. So, again, not a guy that I want to pay any kind of premium for with Evan Ingram. If he falls to me, I'm okay with it. But that's going to do it for FFT in five. We'll see you tomorrow. Deep in the ocean, an orca pod is on the hunt.

Starting point is 00:07:42 These aren't your average orcas. These guys are organized. Marketing team, did you get those social media posts scheduled for the seal migration? Aye, aye, Captain. We even have an automated notification for all pod managers when they go live. They use Monday.com to keep their teamwork sharp, their communication clear, and their goals in sight. Monday.com. For whatever you run, even orcas.

Starting point is 00:08:06 Go to Monday.com to dive deeper.

Fantasy Football Today - Regression Alert: Better Days Ahead for T.J. Hockenson, Kyle Pitts, and Darren Waller? - FFT in 5 (05/29 Fantasy Football podcast)

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.