Tight Ends are the MVP of fantasy football!
Fantasy football is one of the largest online games in the world. There is an infinite amount of strategies and ideas on how to construct a roster. Whether it is a seasonal league or a dynasty start up, the draft is key to your team’s success. Some people have specific plans in place for these drafts and some just go with the flow! Either one of these strategies can work, but there is one thing you must remember. Always draft a tight end early!
League Construction
The fantasy football world is always finding new ways to play the game. Superflex PPR TE premium leagues, are some of the most popular today. The scoring in these leagues heavily favor tight ends. Typically the rosters will be constructed of 1 QB, 2 RB, 2 WR, 1 TE, 2-3 Flex, 1 Superflex. This is not the only league format out there, some have no premiums and some play with one quarterback. The format dictates player value, SF increases the value of quarterbacks and Non-PPR increases running back value. No matter what your league you play in, one positions value stays the same. This position is Tight end!
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Why is this?
The answer is simple really—the market! This position is the shallowest of any position in fantasy football. It carries the biggest point differential between players of any position. There are only three elite tight ends in fantasy football, Travis Kelce, Darren Waller and George Kittle. This season proved that more than ever. After the top three, arguments can be made that having TJ Hockenson or Mark Andrews is just as good. This is not true, they are both very good assets and can produce solid point totals, but not on the level of the other three. The gap between the big three is further than the gap to the rest of the field for these two.
The Numbers
Kelce and Waller led the way this year, both posting very respectable point totals. George Kittle sustained an injury early on this season, causing him to be sidelined for most of the year. Using the point totals from 2020 will allow us to see just how much of an advantage the top tier players hold. Kelce was TE1 with 312 PPR points, he outscored Waller who was TE2 and had 278 PPR points. A 34 point difference between TE1 and TE2! This was not that abnormal though, as other positions had just as large of a gap between their top two players. Alvin Kamara finished as RB1 with 378 PPR points, outscoring RB2 Dalvin Cook by 40 points. Also Davante Adams finished WR1 with 358 PPR points, outscoring WR2 Tyreek Hill by 30 points.
What is most important about these numbers though is the difference between the rest of the position. As stated earlier Waller was TE2 with 278 points, who was the TE3 this season? Robert Tonyan of the Green Bay Packers, as he finished with 176 PPR points. The gap between TE2 and TE3 was an astonishing 102 points, no other position has a gap this large. After that the gap begins to narrow but is still significant, TE3 and TE6 are only separated by six points. However, then there is a 20 point gap between TE6 and TE7. After the seventh ranked tightend the point gap starts too close as TE7 through TE12 only have a 10 point difference. There lies the Advantage folks! The gap between the top tier tighends is so large that missing out on one of the big 3 puts your team at an extreme disadvantage.
Draft Day
Now when draft day arrives, remember you have to stay ahead of the “run”. Over the past few weeks I have taken part in some early startup drafts. These top tight ends will be gone by the fourth round in most of these drafts, if not sooner. This will mean passing up on one of the top running backs or wide receivers. This is okay though! The depth at both of those positions in fantasy football drafts is much greater than it is for the tight ends.
In a non Superflex league don’t be surprised to see Kelce come of the board in the first or early second round. He will be followed closely by Kittle, meaning Waller is not that far behind. Tight end premium leagues, Superflex or one quarterback, Kelce and Kittle will be gone before the end of the second round, as they should be. In Superflex leagues quarterbacks tend to take over the first and second round. Kelce and Kittle will most likely fall to the late second or early third. Being bold enough to take one of them in the first few rounds could end up winning you a championship.
