The Fumblerooski Podcast - Uptight -Ep 30 the Fumblerooski Podcast

Episode Date: June 30, 2021

We count down our top 10 Tight Ends going into the 2021 NFL Season after giving our takes on the NFL approving alternate helmets for the 2022 season, and Pro Football Focus releasing their current top 50 NFL players.

Good evening. You are listening to the Fumble Rooski podcast by Power 88 Dean Radio. I am your host, Adam Wright, along with Justin Tucker, our co-host. Now, we have tight ends to rank going into the 2021 season, as always. We're going to transition into offense now. So we're going to go into wide receivers next week. It's going to be, no, it's running backs next week. Then we have quarterback uh why then we have wide receivers then quarterbacks uh and then we'll have a couple

of predictions for the season some player awards individual player awards like comeback player of the year predictions uh mvp predictions stuff like that uh but before we go before we get to our rankings uh we're going to get into as as always, the current news in the NFL. So alternate helmets have now been approved for the 2021 season. So that does mean that throwback uniforms are coming back. So all the Patriots throwback uniforms, the stuff that they wore in the 2010 season, that can come back. Some of the Eagles stuff. I'm not sure if they're going to do that.

There's going to be a couple teams that will decline to do that. But the 2022 season, we can now have some throwback uniforms. So, Justin, how are you feeling about this? What are your thoughts on it? I was ecstatic when I heard the news. I was like, first off, I kind of always liked the Patriots throwback uniforms. They were just, you know, I always thought they were good looking. So I was like, I can see those again. That's nice when I'm up in New England with you.

I always thought the Eagles, as green as it is, I thought it was a nice little touch. Especially, I think it was the first time I saw it it was against the Green Bay Packers when Michael Vick was still on the Eagles. So I think it's a good one. But some of the other uniforms that may or may not be making a return, I don't know. Denver, it depends on which Denver uniforms they have. But other than that, overall, I think it's pretty exciting. We're starting to see more and more opening up from the NFL now. Yeah, I really like that they're kind of getting, being a little more open and they're kind of being more open-minded in some ways. They've made a lot of big executive decisions over the past few years from moving to 17 games. They've added it.

There's this. You know, one thought I do have on the Patriots for their throwback uniforms is which ones they're going to do. I'm sure they're going to do the ones that they did in 2010 where they had the where they had the patriot who was getting ready to snap the football that one's cool obviously everybody loves that a lot of people want to see that but what i wonder is if they'll bring back those 90s patriots uniforms you know what i'm talking about no i'm not as well versed in 90s patriots uniforms it's like what they have now except it's it's interesting you just have to see it i'll show you a picture but it's uh i i'm sure a lot of you patriots fans listening i'm sure you guys know what i'm talking about but there's these patriots uniforms that were kind of after uh the original ones and before the ones that we have currently.

So it's really interesting what they have, and I kind of hope they bring that back. But anyways, pro football focus, what's that? I'm kind of curious about the Seahawks one because they had the neon color one, and that one kind of looked cool. Yeah, they do have a lot. So i'm intrigued by what they bring back and i'm intrigued by how it looks in like the modern day like bringing everything bringing these back we know what the 2010 patriots won or i keep on saying 2010 patriot we we saw the patriots throwback uniforms because they used them in 2010 but other

than that we really haven't seen much. Dolphins, I actually thought the Dolphins had really good uniforms back in the day. What did you think? I thought they were really good. They're Dolphins, so they're good uniforms. But again, it's the Dolphins. They still have good uniforms. I'm sure Sean out here, Sean, our favorite Dolphins fan who's been on our podcast a couple of times,

I'm sure he's listening and thinking. He probably agrees with us. But I would love to see their throwback uniforms. A lot of uniforms I'd love to, I'm intrigued by, but it's going to be interesting when the 2022 season comes around you know it would be interesting if they kind of had like just the entire league just wore their old uniforms for just one year and they just brought them brought everything back for like one season what do you think of that idea but i'm not sure roger would allow that but we'll see this is a this is a baby step in hopefully in the right direction yeah well we'll

see what happens uh i'm i'm intrigued so i'm not sure i'm sure it's i wouldn't think it's a bad thing i mean it's not like all nfl teams are changing things so like i'm intrigued by what they're gonna they they're getting more creative now. But anyways, Pro Football Focus has released – so they've actually decided to copy what we're doing, and they put out some player rankings of their own. So obviously everybody just wants to be like us, and they decided – and yeah, of course. Everybody wants to copy our ideas but uh they released their top 50 players uh right now so basically going into the 2021 season uh so we have a couple of thoughts on that but uh justin would you like to start well obviously we're not gonna obviously we're not gonna name off the top 50 players here and just dissect it it's too long and we have our own rankings to do for ourselves.

But Justin, do you have any, any, what are your thoughts on this? First and foremost, how the hell is Lamar Jackson off the list? I don't know. What? You're telling me there is 50 players in the NFL, not 10, not 15, not 30, 50 players that are better than the unanimous MVP that is Lamar Jackson. I couldn't believe the list when I saw it. I'm still confused about the list. Some of the names I saw before him, I'm like, they're not better better than him at their own position let alone let alone overall i'm like uh how did they mess this up and and i guess when they came up with the list they said moving forward they don't see how lamar jackson is going to be ahead of

everybody else let me tell you something this guy had a bottom five ranked wide receiver core and they upgraded it this year. He'll be just fine as far as passing is concerned. So I believe he will be a certified top five to top three quarterback in the league. And that is not even up for discussion. Where do you think Lamar Jackson should be on this list in the top 50. I'm being conservative and saying top 15. Top 15, okay. I really don't think it's like – I believe there's like four to five quarterbacks that are better than him or like arguable.

But other than that, nah, I don't think there's many like overall players better than him or like arguable but other than that nah I don't think there's many like overall players better than him I mean Aaron Donald sure and then there's a few others that you can make a case for but not easily at minimum top 15 so you don't think top 20 could be a possibility no like who wouldn't like no well we'd have to name off all of the like we're talking about all the players so like this is like you guys so you guys listening i would go on go online look up their top 50 players um we can't really give it to you right now um because number one it's a lot to just go over and we have our own rankings to do but um there's a lot of different players on this list and there's a lot of there's a lot of i mean it's really controversial some of the

stuff that they have in there for example um what's in what i found interesting is tom brady is number seven all right um there's nothing wrong with nothing wrong with that. Very good for Tom Brady, especially going into his age 44 season. He has all the momentum going with him coming off a Super Bowl victory through 40 touchdown passes, just 12 interceptions, and for 4,600 yards. What I find intriguing about this is Aaron Rodgers is ranked number 10 going into this season. Aaron Rodgers is ranked lower than Tom Brady. The reigning MVP is ranked lower than Tom Brady, three spots lower. Now, what this could mean is that people are factoring in the possibility,

and now we can talk about how much of a possibility another time, but the possibility that he could opt out of the 2021 season. There could be all the drama. And even if he does play, all this drama going on, all of this all these tensions that are swirling within their organization, this could be an issue for Aaron Rodgers. We could see some dysfunction in the team, and maybe it could affect his play. Maybe it's that. And when you look at the other side with Tom Brady, he has all the momentum on his side. You can make a case that he has all the momentum on his side because he just won the Super Bowl, obviously.

He just threw for 40 touchdown passes. And the team went on a long run. They were, what, 6-5 at one point in the season? 6-5, 7-5? and they just won every game since then. So you wonder if they have some momentum going. Tom Brady is going to be in year two in his new system. He just got his knee repaired. So you just wonder if all of this momentum is going to result in Tom Brady.

Maybe you can give some credibility to Tom Brady being, I mean, call me a biased Patriots and Tom Brady fan, but maybe you can give some credibility to Tom Brady possibly having a better season than Aaron Rodgers next year. You're a biased Tom Brady fan. Only you can look at that list and say, and talk about a rivalry between Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady. Only you could do that, but you are a Brady fan. So you think you can't make an argument that Aaron Rodgers is going to have a worse season than Tom Brady? You can make the argument, but at the same time, I don't think he'll have a worse season than Tom Brady. Not by far. I think he's, when Aaron Rodgers is motivated, I don't think there's a better quarterback alive than him. So do you think he is motivated right now?

Yes. However, I don't think he's motivated to play. I think he's motivated to get out of there. So he was motivated last season and things didn't work out. Could you see him just throwing up his hands and then saying, you know, this isn't working out. I just want out of here. I don't want to play for this team anymore. I mean he skipped OTAs and he skipped mandatory minicamp. If he continues to hold out, maybe – I mean if he were as motivated as you say he is, then I'm thinking this guy just doesn't have the motivation to play with his team anymore.

He just doesn't have the drive to win with his team. I'm sure he wants to win. Everybody wants to win. But my question is, does he hate losing? There's a lot of – everybody likes to win. But there's a lot of – those who who they they hate losing they just they can't stand the thought of losing those are the players who are separated from the rest um now i i just i just wonder if is aaron rock is aaron rogers frustration just getting to a point

where he's just throwing up his hands just saying like just i i can't be here anymore yeah i think it's starting to get to that i think we're at that point now i think he's just proud of this situation and he just he's ready to move on the problem is he still has like three two or three more years on that contract so it's like he can't move even if he wants to he has to like hope and pray that the Packers organization wants to move him. And they've made it very clear they don't want to move him. So it's like, okay, I guess this is where we're at at this moment in time. going into the – I think he's going to play for the 2021 season. I don't know about you. It's just a matter of how good his season will be. And, I mean, it's hard to be better than what he was last year. I just don't see him replicating those numbers.

He could still have a good year. But will he be MVP? Probably not. I could see it anything I could see it because I think Bakhtiari is coming back healthy and he has Devante Adams yes well sure he had Devante Adams and David Bakhtiari last year Bakhtiari got injured towards the tail end of the season was Was it an ACL tear or was it an Achilles tear? If it is an Achilles tear, then that's tough.

It's one of those two injuries. I just know he was out for the remainder of the season, which was a heavy blow to that team. It was. It was. It could be part of the reason why he was on his ass half the time during the NFCc championship could be could be he was he was getting the crap kicked out of him especially in the beginning of that in especially in the beginning of that game they were coming at him uh and and that was that's really the formula to how the buccaneers win games is that if you get to the quarterback

and you keep your quarterback on your feet, you're going to win, you're going to win the game. Tom Brady, if he's on his feet, he's he'll pick any defense apart. Doesn't matter how talented that defense is. But the trick is keeping him on his feet because he's not the most mobile quarterback. Anyways, we're going to get into our top ten tight ends. As always, we're going to split it in half. So we're going to go to the bottom five, so ten through six first, coming up next. And then after that, we're going to have the next,

the top five tight ends in the entire National Football League. So stay tuned. You're not going to miss this. You are listening to the Fumble Rooski podcast. Okay, let's get started. Without further ado, we have our top 10 tight ends coming into the National Football League. We have number 10 coming up right now. So this is our first week of offense.

Justin, do you want to kick us off here at number 10? This might shock people, but number 10, I put Kyle Pitts. Kyle Pitts. Yeah. All right. Elaborate. So do you think he's high or do you think he's low? Is that in what way? I think since he's a rookie coming into the league, I think that's a fair placement for him. We don't know how good he'll be because he hasn't played an NFL game yet. Once you figure out what he's good at and what he's bad at on the NFL level, then you'll be able to place him. And based off the hype, he might become one of the top Titans in the league. If all goes well, knock on wood.

But I think 10 is a solid place to start from not too high not too low it's just a good foundation because he was picked in the top five so you like everything you see on tape you just need to show it on the field so that's an interesting one uh and I have I i have pits a little higher so i'll talk i'll give you um my uh i'll give you my input on kyle pits i mean i think it's not a matter of if he'll be knock on wood it's not a matter of if he'll be the right player for this for the for the nfl it's more more so like when he'll be the right player for the nfl like when he'll actually pan out i mean because it's because nf tight ends in the nfl they always take a couple of years to develop it's never um it's very rare that you see a rookie tight end come

out and just light it up in year one usually it takes a year or two um but anyways at number 10 i actually have hunter henry um now hunter henry um he's always been like around uh among the top tight ends in the league not not top of the top but he's like around he's been hovering around there like at around number 10 um and the the main the biggest knock on hunter henry is not his performance because he always performs well it's mainly the fact that he just can't stay healthy he has a very long injury history and i would have him higher i mean the other guys that i have in front of them aren't too special either i mean it's not that they're not special it's just that they're they're not it's you can make a case for uh a lot of a lot of tight ends being over the other but the reason i have hunter

henry below everybody else is because he's just he just can't stay healthy and until he can prove that um then he'll then i'll have him much higher so if he has a better season than maybe during uh uh next summer at this time we could i could have him at say uh top six top seven but i just don't see it for now i i have him at number 10 what do you think i i have him a little higher that one surprised me i thought you were gonna let your bias get away from you with Hunter Henry and John Lou Smith. I really thought that was going to get you. But that's a fair ranking.

He's not my number nine guy. My number nine guy is Mike Gusecki, tight end out of Miami. I agree. He's my number nine guy. Yeah. I don't think he my number nine guy. Yeah. I don't think he's better than my, I don't think he's bad. It's just that I think he's solid is the best way I can put it.

I think he's a very athletic tight end for his position. All in all, I think he just needs another year under his belt with two affirmed or actually like really flash like top five, like tight end potential. Because I've seen flashes here or there with Miami, especially against the game against Kansas City, when he made that spectacular catch in double, triple coverage for a touchdown, or at least in position for a touchdown. So I know he has the potential to have big playmaking ability. I just want to

see more of it from that team and hopefully two it takes a step in the right direction and i believe mike will take a huge step this year all things considered yeah great potential uh great athleticism his hand eye coordination is incredible uh did you he's had a couple one-handed catches where you just look at it and it's like wow like he i mean he he had a bit of an underwhelming season um people had some expectations for him for last season and he was a little underwhelming but he showed flashes so this is a guy where uh and especially towards the back end of the season where he kind he kind of started to show more life and he started to show what he really could be. This is a player who looks like he's ready to erupt and he could absolutely,

with not much of an injury history either, he's a player who could actually explode if all goes right. Let's say hopefully his quarterback plays well, Tua, and he's able to have a great season. So I have Mike Jasicki at number nine for that reason. He just needs that one year. So I agree with you on that. Who's your number eight? My number eight guy.

Johnny Smith. Yeah. Yeah. Explain. Him and Hunter Henry kind of go hand in hand. I think they'll play well together because they're great at what the other is not. If you're looking at precision route running and not if you're looking at like precision route running and concepts you're looking at hunter henry if you're just looking at raw and freakish athleticism you're looking at john smith that's why i have hunter henry just a tiny bit higher than

john smith but yeah i got john smith eight. Last year, he showed flashes of the playmaking potential he truly has. I believe he's a freak, especially at tight end, with all the freakity freaks they have at that position. And I believe in that Patriots to tight end offense, he'll get more targets and he'll have more opportunities, especially in the red zone, to score. So there's a couple issues I have with Jonu Smith, and he didn't even make my top ten.

The issues I have with Jonu Smith is that Jonu Smith, not only has he had injury problems, but outside of some early season success last year, he hasn't really shown up this season really. Well, in his career really. And not only that, but – and this is another thing that I should have mentioned for Hunter Henry at number 10. For another reason why he was only at 10 and not higher is because he doesn't exactly have an upgrade at quarterback. He has Cam Newton, who is a run first quarterback. Superman.

Run first quarterback. He gives my guy a hard time. He doesn't throw it. He just tucks it and runs. He does throw it. Stop that. He throws it, but not enough for for us to say that hunter henry's gonna have a better season than he did last year we don't know that give it time

he he's just not gonna have a better season and the only reason for hunter henry to have a better season is if he stays healthy then he's able to get more reps. Him and Johnny Smith are going to be the top options. Like, let's be real. I don't see either Kendrick Bourne or Nelson Aguilar to end up being the number one guy unless they have these incredible seasons. But if they get more reps, if they stay healthy, and if Cam Newton doesn't suck as much as he did last year, then Hunter Henry will have a better season and he could climb up this list. But we can't sit here and say that Jonu Smith and Hunter Henry are going to be top seven, eight tight ends in this league.

All right. First things first. I can't let this go. What do you mean Nelson Aguilar can't be a number one for the Patriots? You saw what he did to you on the Super Bowl. my number eight is kyle pitts okay kyle pitts um like i said this for this guy it's not a matter of it for me it's not a matter of knock on wood again it's not a matter of if he'll be a great tight end it's a matter of when he will be. How soon will he make a great impact? Kyle Pitts has all of the tools to be a superstar in this league.

He has the athleticism. He has the speed. He has the strength. He has the size. He has all of it. So all he needs is to put it together, and it's a matter of when he'll put it together. Now, like I've said, tight ends typically, they don't often pan out very soon. Now, like one of the higher, a couple of the top guys on my list,

they didn't come through until a couple of years into their careers. It could be the same with Kyle Pitts. Kyle Pitts, he's a freakish athlete, and he's going to be – it's just a matter of what sort of an impact he will make. It may take until year two or year three, but this is a guy who is eventually going to be a superstar in this league or at least be a very good tight end at the very least. But for now, he's my number eight tight end.

Yeah. You just won. I agree with cal if it's i i just want to see it on the field that's all that's why i haven't met him i'd probably have him a little higher i just want to see him play that's all and if they use him like the raiders use darren waller yeah, he'll be a tough outside and no problem. Right. I mean, I'm not saying I'm not saying it's obviously I need to see it, too. But I'm just saying that I would lower your expectations for this season. I just don't think it's just a matter of it's a matter of how much of an impact he'll make. He has all this. He had all this hype going into the, and he has all this hype going into his NFL career.

But pump the brakes on Kyle Pitts. It's going to take some time for him to become what we think he can be. If he does, I still think he's going to, at least as a floor, he's going to be a very good tight end in this league. But whether or not he turns into a Travis Kelsey, George Kittle, or Rob Gronkowski back when he was back during his playing days, that could take a couple of years. If he does turn into that. If he turns into that in year one, I'll be shocked,

and he could end up being one of the, by the end of his career, being one of the great tight end, one of the, in the conversation for one of the, for one of the greatest tight ends in the history of this league. But anyways, give me your number seven.

My number seven is Hunter Henry. Yep. Hunter Henry. Yep, Hunter Henry. You're still in disbelief about that. I mean, I'm as big a Patriots fan as there is, but I just, I can't have those two that high. I just can't do it. I can, because, you know, their quarterback is Cam Newton. He'll come through for you.

Jeez. But in all seriousness, their quarterback is Cam Newton he'll come through for you but in all seriousness I do believe Cam Newton will be better than he was last year because last year he was coming off an injury a shoulder injury at that so of course he wasn't at peak Superman performance I believe this year he's taking another step away from the injury and taking another another step in the right direction as far as progression. I think he'll play better, hopefully, for you Patriots fans out there. Cam Newton will play better for you because Mac Jones is a year away. So I think he'll have a better understanding of the offense. Cam loves Titans, so he'll be able to target two of them now, which is why I have Hunter Henry higher than usual because of the position, the skill set, and the offense they're running, which is a two-Titan offense.

So, yeah, I think he'll get more opportunities, more receptions, more everything. It's just a matter of, can he stay healthy? And knock on wood, he does stay healthy. Hopefully he does stay healthy. And he'll prove to you he's number seven. You know, I'm glad you have all this optimism for this Patriots offense, but I mean, and I hope you're right, but I don't know. One thing you can look at is back during Cam Newton's Carolina days, his best years were when he was utilizing Greg Olson back in 2016 and also 2017. 2017, when one year he won MVP, the other year he didn't quite, well, he wasn't that good, but his best production did come from that season, did come from Greg Olson still. So I sure hope, I sure hope you're right. And these are, like I said, these are very,

like I'm not trying to, I'm not trying to trash on them. They're very solid tight ends with very good potential. But the issue is they have injury issues. They've had a long injury history over their career, so I'm a little skeptical about these two guys. And honestly, I'm not surprised if we go into this season without one of them for a few weeks. One of them gets hurt during training camp. Next thing you know, they're sitting out.

Or one of them gets hurt during preseason. Next thing you know, they're sitting out the next few weeks. Then he comes back, and then the other one gets hurt for a few weeks. And then you have one, and then that one comes back, and the other gets. I could very easily see just they're rarely on the same field together. But if they're on the same field together, oh my, oh my. I hope so. And then you also have to hope that Cam Newton pans out.

You see how many question marks we have here? It's so hard for me to predict this, that this is going to work out at like we like we hope it will man i think i showed you a video of cam noon during like the training camp and you were not happy of what you were seeing he's he airmailed like kendrick born was it kendrick born or i forgot but it, it was somebody and it was atrocious. It's like you, dude, you expect to, you expect, you talk, he talked, said all this stuff about how he, about how he improved his, his, um, his mechanics that he made some mechanical

adjustments. And then he goes out and he makes that throw he does that thing really really do you know how many touchdown passes he threw in 20 in the 2020 season do you know how many touchdown passes total that he threw in 16 regular season games 10 do you know how many and i hate to make this about tom brady but i'm going to anyways do you know how many – and I hate to make this about Tom Brady, but I'm going to anyways. Do you know how many touchdown passes Tom Brady threw during the postseason in three – what was it, three, four games? Ten. Against teams that are not pushovers, by the way, in the Super Bowl and during the playoffs that Cam Newton did against the AFC East and over a 16-game regular season. Let that sink in for a little bit. So before you keep on saying, oh, Cam, Cam Newton, Cam Newton, he's going to come through. Just think about that.

He threw 10 touchdown passes. Anyways, we're getting off topic. All right. My number seven is Noah Fant. Noah Fant, he's another. What's that? Really? Yeah, I have Noah Fant.

Look at his statistics. He actually had a pretty decent season and with some injury issues coming along with that. So if he didn't get hurt and if there weren't so many quarterback issues in Denver, then we could be talking about this guy as being in the top five, to be honest. I mean, I loved Noah Fant going into last season and he started out the season great.

He's just, Denver's a little bit dysfunctional on offense um and i don't i'm not a big fan of drew lock i i think that team needs to move on from him uh but anyways uh noah fant had a had a very underrated season kind of under the radar he had some hype on his sophomore season going into the season but then after after the beginning of the year he kind of got hurt and he kind of became this forgotten man but he still flew under the radar radar he still had a decent season um i had his statistics up i'll pull them up now um but anyways he had so we have noah fant noah fant had 673 receiving yards and he had three touchdown passes on 62 receptions, 93 targets.

So this is a guy who had a decent season. And I kind of expect it to get better. I mean, he had some injury problems. And if that gets better, then he should climb up this list. So I really like Noah Fant going into the 2021 season. Yeah, he didn't make my list. He didn't make your list. So Jonu Smith and Hunter Henry made your list, but Noah Fant didn't.

I don't know. With Noah Fant, I feel like it's something to be desired from him. And even if you say, say oh it's the quarterback position and you got on me about cam it's not like denver has an all pro at their position either they have a lock in teddy bridgewater which may or may not be an upgrade and that's debatable at this point in time like no serious argument but no offense is better than hunter henry and johnny smith that is your opinion but again and he was they were still he was still able to have a very good season just in spite of that and it wasn't just that there was one season where they had to use a running back

as a quarterback was it a running back or a wide receiver it was one of the wide receiver but that it wasn't because the quarterbacks were bad it was just they all caught covid that's not his exactly so that that's not that's not on no offant meaning even even with poor quarterback play he was still able to he was he didn't have his quarterback at some at some points. And in the beginning of the season, he was lighting it up before he got hurt. And he was kind of, he was on and off the field all season long. I'm forgetting, I need to look up how many games he played because I'm pretty sure he missed quite a few games. Noah Fant. Noah Fant. All right, we'll go to pro football focus uh sorry pro football reference uh so he played so he did play 15 games okay this past season but i mean if you looked at the game

at the games that he was playing he was he was exiting some games early uh there i think there was a lingering ankle issue um so we didn't miss much time so i was wrong about that but i mean i i was i had him on fantasy on fantasy it felt like it felt like he was he he always had a lingering ankle thing i'm pretty sure it was an ankle thing and it just it was just lingering and he had to exit the game early once yeah it was just it was just brutal so i mean a fully healthy noah fant i think he'll be better no offense was to you what christian mccaffrey was to brian last year yeah but christian mccaffrey had a great season the season prior yeah and then brian i was just expecting nothing yeah brian our old co-host he uh he

had the number one overall pick and he drafted christian mccaffrey last year and for those of you fantasy football guys out there uh you know christian mccaffrey was i mean he was good in the games he played but he hardly played so he was kind of a bust never here's a here's a nickel's worth of uh fantasy football advice. Never take the consensus number one guy. Just don't buy into that. It never ends up working out. I can't name a time where it has.

Remember David Johnson being the number one pick back in, what was it, 2017? And he didn't play a game. He got injured in like the first half. The next season it was Todd Gurley. He had a great season at first, but then he had a knee injury and he was out for the fantasy football playoffs. The next guy was

the next guy who was the next guy at number one? I'm blanking on him. Saquon? It might have been Saquon. Another bust. It never works out.

Watch that bust word here. From last year? He wasn't good before he got in. We're getting way, way off topic. We're here to debate tight ends, not running backs. That's next week. That's next week. Yes.

Anyways, give me your number six. Give me your number six. My number six? Yes. TJ Hawkinson. TJ Hawkinson. Okay. No offense.

Yeah, he's his rookie year, there was a lot to be desired, but he made improvements in the running game and in the passing game. He became a better blocker and a better pass catcher for Matt Stafford in those Detroit lines. A year of down spots. He was probably one of the few bright spots in that offense. And, yeah, if they won a game, I'm pretty sure he was helpful in that. And he was a pro bowler. So, yeah. All right.

Now my number six guy is Dallas Goddard. Now Dallas Goddard, if you look at his statistics, it didn't exactly jump out to you but if you put it into context he had he had Zach Ertz he was playing behind he had he had a uh a dysfunctional offense that they were playing with where Zach where uh uh Carson Wentz was playing just very poor football and um that but then um then they changed quarterbacks and once they did once they moved to uh was it Jalen Hurts once they moved to Jalen Hurts he just he just started playing better. And another year with Jalen Hurts in the system, with him making short passes to Dallas Goddard,

and without Zach Hurts, by the way, he's going to be gone most likely. He's not anticipated to be on the team. They're looking to get rid of him. But given these two factors, I think Dallas Goddard is the type of player who could absolutely explode. And he's the type of player who you expect to get better. I have Dallas Goddard at number six. That's funny because he's my number five and all for those reasons oh let's see he was my number five guy I pulled that thought about

number five we'll go into the top five in the next segment but um you got any thoughts on my Dallas Goddard number six? Well, you have MS5, I guess. Yeah, but I can't hate it. All right. So we're going to go into our top five coming right up. These are the top five tight ends in the National Football League. Stay tuned.

You're not going to want to miss this. You're listening to the Fumble Rooski Podcast. All right. league stay tuned you're not going to want to miss this you're listening to the fumble ruski podcast all right let's start up with our top five tight ends in the nfl these are the best of the best tight ends so without further ado justin why don't you kick us off since you've spoiled uh your top your number five five guy in the last segment. Why don't you start us off? My number five guy is Dallas Goddard. Tight end, Philadelphia Eagles. He was playing behind Zach Ertz, who was having a down year, a terrible offense that Carson Wentz was starting behind

and wasn't playing up to snuff. I like Carson Wentz, but my God, he was playing terrible. But when Jalen Hurts started to play, you actually started to notice his stats improving and you saw, hey, look at this. The Eagles don't need Zach Hurts anymore. Ravens throw and give the Eagles a seventh round pick. Just throw it at them and see if they'll bite on Zach Ertz. But besides all that, I believe Dallas Gardner will have more reps now that Zach Ertz, I believe, will not be on the team.

He'll have more touches. He'll have more opportunities. And I think he'll be a beast in the red zone. I think he'll be a genuine top five tight end. And what I've noticed about tight ends more so than other positions, last week we were struggling about trying to figure out which pass rushers belong to which. Tight ends are like top heavy as hell. That's what I'm noticing.

And we're going to explain just why it is so top-heavy in a little bit. But my number five is Mark Andrews. Now, Mark Andrews – Hold on. Yes. I can't let that slide. Hold on. Wait a minute.

What's up? He is top five, but go ahead. I want to hear this. I have your guy at top five in the league. He's top five. Go on. So we have Mark Andrews, who over the past couple of years has been one of the top five tight ends in the National Football League,

arguably top four, but I'll explain to you why I have them at five instead of four. Mark Andrews had a great season, and then Lamar Jackson's play dipped a little bit. And with that, so did Mark Andrews. Now, during Lamar Jackson's MVP campaign, they had Hayden Hurst, and they had Mark Andrews, of course. And Mark Andrews benefited from that.

Now, in the year that he fell off, we had Mark Andrews. He was still a very good tight end, but he had to play on the line a lot more. He had to block more. And there was also, with less targets out there, with Nick Boyle being hurt during the season,

and with Hayden Hurst now moving to Atlanta, that gave the defense an opportunity to put more of their attention onto Mark Andrews and also Marquise Brown as well. Not that he needs that much attention, but anyways. Why? Mark Andrews kind of dipped, so he will get better. So that's why he didn't dip too much on my list because they did go and get some help at wide receiver. So it won't be too bad. It'll be better than it was last year, but he's still stable at top five for me.

And don't forget that this is a run-first offense. So Mark Andrews, his ceiling could only be so high. Okay. He's my number four. Mark Andrews is number four. I tried so hard to put him top three, but I can't put him over guys that can have literal thousand yard seasons. I can't do it. I tried so hard to do it, but I was like, I can't justify this any way, shape or form. But in the end, it doesn't even matter. Yeah. He's number four. He's number four. Mark Andrews at number four give me so the thing about mark andrews is he also he wasn't a hundred percent because during the season he was dealing with covet and he had to deal with

and blocking and dealing with more like people scheming for him now now that they don't have three tight ends that people can focus on them more like you said and overall I think the team just dipped a little bit from where it was last year I mean we were on a record-setting offense last year so of course the play is going to dip a little bit especially Mark Andrews play but overall I believe if the Ravens had everybody like completely healthy for the entire season which they didn't I believe they would have been a little better. And Mark Andrews especially, I think his production might have been a little better. But there were certain points in times where even quarterbacks weren't healthy.

Lamar Jackson had to miss a game because of COVID. I'm not sure if that was the same game Mark Andrews did. But if he was able to play in that game, I believe Mark Andrews' production would rise up a little bit more. But overall, I believe he'll have a major bounce back season to be a top three Titan, I hope. But I can't put him top three because, oh, we'll talk about it in a minute. All right. Well, give me. So your number four is Mark Andrews. My number four is TJ Hawkinson.

Oh, gee. Oh, God, no. And the reason I have TJ Hawkinson is – so like I've mentioned, it's hard for a tight end to become a top tight end in their first – in their first one to two seasons in the league. It usually takes a little bit. And you can see a gradual incline of TJ Hawkinson's career where his first season he had about, what, 400, 500 yards, and then he goes up to over 700 yards in his next season. And now, granted, that was with Matthew Stafford,

but with Jared Goff in there at quarterback and a better offensive line, I do see – I don't see jared goff being being that much of a he'll be serviceable enough for him so that he can have he can make bigger strides and he will um he'll end up becoming um what he had the potential to be when he was drafted when he was drafted at, what was it, number eight overall? Jared Goff. Number nine. No, not Jared Goff. Jared Goff is a puppet. Penance Lee? No, I'm talking about TJ Hawkinson.

Yeah, he was top nine. I think he was number nine. Number nine. Yeah, that's what I was thinking, around that area. But obviously he had a high ceiling, and he continues to gradually get better, and I think that trajectory is just going to continue. He hasn't had any injury issues. Even on a down year – even on a down game that he has, he catches a touchdown pass or he'll catch a few passes.

He's the – he was the guy on that team. He was the guy. Even Kenny, Kenny Galladay wasn't reliable. He was getting hurt. Marvin Jones in games would disappear when you expected him to show up. But but TJ Hawkinson was just always there. And he was just he had a steady floor and he had a high ceiling i think he's just that's going to continue and it's going to get even better i have t.j hawkinson being uh the top four tight end in the league and maybe better this guy right here actually said he's better than mark andrews i can't believe it i still can't believe it. I still can't believe it, even with the justification. That's, no, absolutely not. But I can't. Oh, man, I can't. I can't get over that.

TJ Hawkinson, he's going to be great. Just remember the name. Remember the name, TJ Hawkinson. I know. He's on my list. I know. He is going to be great. Just remember the name. Remember the name. TJ Hawkinson. I know. He's on my list. I know. He is a pro bowler for the NFL. He's not better than Mark Andrews, but okay.

All right. So I think – Should we just move into our top three? We should. So our top three, I have a feeling that we have just about the same top three, which is basically the same top three everybody has yeah so on a count of three do you want to just like just shout it at the same time you ready yeah yeah ready three two one Darren Waller and George Kittle and Travis Kelsey Darren Waller, George Kittle, Travis Kelsey. Darren Waller, George Kittle, and Travis Kelsey.

I agree. That's our top three, and that's just about everybody's top three who isn't a 49ers fan or maybe a Raiders fan. Now, what I say about this list is you can – people make an argument for George Kittleby over Travis Kelsey. And you can understand that because he's working with a worse – because he's – George Kittle has never had a quarterback the same caliber as Travis Kelsey. Um, but Travis Kelsey has been, has been able to not only succeed with, uh, with Alex Smith, but he's also been able to succeed with, well, not only with, um, Patrick Mahomes, but also with Alex, Alex Smith. And, um, I, not, that's not to knock on Alex Smith, but you know, Travis Kelsey, I mean, he's going with Patrick Mahomes throwing to him. I just don't see his statistics dipping.

And George Kittle, not only does he have some injury issues that he's had, I don't know. I just don't see him being as good as Travis Kelsey. And same for Darren Waller. I don't see Darren Waller being better than George Kittle or Travis Kelsey. So it's just it's one, two, three. And it's pretty hard to argue against that. As far as the argument for Darren Waller, I don't think he'll have the team success in order to be like up there with George Kittle or Travis Kelsey. George Kittle, if you're making the argument for George Kittle, you're basically saying that his blocking and his route running ability far outweighs like Travis Kelsey. His blocking does, but his receiving ability does not. And also since George Kittle is also coming off an injury, he's not, I don't think at this moment in time he's 100% better

than Travis Kelsey. I think Kelsey has him right now because he just came off a Super Bowl appearance as well. And what really pains me is that Darren Waller, who's actually my favorite of the three, was an actual Baltimore Raven. He was, to put it in perspective, we had Darren Waller, Mark Andrews, and Hayden Hurst on our roster at the same time. That hurts in ways you will never understand. Just let that sink in.

Darren Waller, the top three tight end in the league. He's one of the teammates with a top five tight end in the league. Oh, my God. I'm happy for Darren Waller now that he's on the Raiders and is finally clean and sober and is getting the success he much wisely deserves. But, man, I wish he was on the Ravens. I really do. That team would be vicious.

It would. It would. How does that feel? It hurts. But, again again i'm happy for him i'm happy i'm glad he's not on the team anymore because he's able to shine in oakland i guess he's in a system that works uh but anyways there we go so there you have it what do you mean it's a 3 000 yard rushing system that yeah that works pretty well, I do say so myself. Well, I guess it didn't work for Darren Waller, didn't it? And he had to go into a new system that just worked for him.

I think he would have been fine here, it's just things just didn't click at that time. That's wrong. Chandler Jones we have in our top five. Chandler Jones we have up there in our rankings for pass rushers because of his days in Arizona. His numbers weren't quite as great when he was playing with New England. Why? Because he went into a system that allowed him to rack up more statistics and get got him more involved he was still very good for us here i'm glad we had chandler jones but he wanted a lot of money and the arizona cardinals wanted to use him more than more than bill belichick did and i i'm happy for him just as you're happy for darren

waller but he's just they're both in systems that work all right anyways there you have it we have our top 10 tight ends for the NFL um so I'll probably put this out on our Instagram page I know we didn't do that for defense but I think that would be fun to sort of put out uh top 10 tight ends going into the top 10 players at each position going into the national football league for 2021 sort of like according to Justin Tucker according to Adam Wright going to the National Football League for 2021, sort of like according to Justin Tucker, according to Adam Wright, according to the Fumble Rooski podcast. You know, I'll put something out like that so you guys can look at it and you guys could comment your top ten and tell us why you're wrong. Tell us why I'm wrong.

Tell us why Justin's wrong. Tell us why we're both idiots and that we should have George Kittle over Travis Kelsey and why we just kind of just put it out there. But anyways, next week we have running backs. The week after that we have receivers, then quarterbacks, and we're going to go from there. I can't wait for quarterbacks. I can't wait. Our finale. I need to see that. I can't wait for quarterbacks. I can't wait.

Our finale. I need to see that at least. Ranked for quarterbacks. I'm already thinking about that week. You already have Brady number one. I can see it. I can see you having Brady number one. No spoilers. No spoilers now.

All right. But anyways, so that's what we have coming up. We'll also have our latest news, as always. But anyways, that'll do it for us tonight. Thank you for listening to us. Make sure you subscribe to our YouTube channel. Check us out on Spotify and Google Play. Also, be sure to follow our Instagram at FumbleRooski underscore podcast

to keep up with our podcast and the latest coverage on the NFL. Otherwise, we will see you next week. Over and out.